Chinese research Ship in the Indian Ocean again
SJB – UNP finally join hands
Harini would make a move soon!
46 MPs to be independent
A big accusation against Harini
We revealed through this ‘Inside Politics’ column that there is a policy incompatibility, conflict, crisis and disagreement between Prime Minister Harini Amarasuriya, the members of the parliament and the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna within the two-thirds majority government of the Malima, two weeks before the presidential election was over. When no media outlet spoke about this, and no media outlet had reported any information about it, we made disclosure fearlessly at that time based on the many unique pieces of information reported to the column.
In addition, we have taken steps to report on the conflicts that have arisen between these two parties from time to time throughout the past. Finally, last week, we made another disclosure in this regard and said that this conflict came out of the mouth of President Anura Kumara Dissanayake at the JVP’s 60th anniversary stage. The President said that he was receiving various reports regarding certain circles within the government. While Prime Minister Harini was also was on the JVP stage, the President said, ‘I have heard that certain circles within the government are saying this in various places. The JVP should forget its history and move forward. But we are not ready to forget that history and move forward.’ The President said that the JVP can only be with the government if it is in line with its ideology, and if not, it cannot be in the government. However, after this controversial statement by the President, many people offered their analysis on the matter and said that the JVP-Malima conflict, which we have been reporting in this column since the beginning, has now come out in public. Many people were of the opinion that the conflict has now intensified enough to come out on the public stage from the President’s mouth.
This time, we are reporting further through the column that the internal conflicts, policy changes and crises that we have reported from time to time are currently brewing within the Malima government in a very strong manner. It is said that Harini is currently facing great opposition from the JVP, especially over the establishment of the Colombo Municipal Council. There had been some disagreement between Harini and the JVP since the beginning of the Colombo Municipal Council election. While Harini was holding discussions with various factions to nominate an educated and intelligent professional as the mayoral candidate for the Colombo Municipal Council as the Malima leader and Prime Minister of the Colombo District, the JVP Colombo group including Tilvin, Sunil Watagala took steps to nominate Vrai Balthasar, who was defeated in the general election, for the post without informing Harini. Reporting this incident for the first time on the ‘inside politics’ column, we said at the time that Harini, who was deeply disappointed by this incident, was likely to stay away from the election campaign activities of the Colombo Municipal Council. Confirming our revelation, Harini had stayed away from the election campaign in Colombo, and after our revelation, she took steps to address one or two meetings in Colombo.
Harini turned it around
To be honest, the JVP did not have much political power in Colombo during the past period. Neither the Colombo middle class, nor the urban class, nor the upper class ever voted for the JVP. But it was Harini who came to Colombo through the compass that changed all that for the JVP. After Harini’s arrival in Colombo, the JVP gained a lot of power through her. She represented the educated, middle class and upper class in Colombo. Although both these classes used to vote for the UNP, with the arrival of Harini, all those votes began to revolve around Harini. A large number of people who had broken away from the UNP and the SJB because of Harini’s appearance voted for Harini. This is why the compass was able to win a huge victory from Colombo in the last presidential election and the last general election.
Before even six months, the compass suffered a severe setback in the local government elections in the Colombo district. But many people do not comment on this setback of the compass based on political hypocrisy. Instead, they say that the SJB did not win Colombo. The UNP has been swept away from Colombo. But today, no one talks about the large number of votes lost by the compass due to Harini staying away from the Colombo election campaign.
Here, the JVP alleges that the main reason for this collapse in Colombo is that Harini did nothing to win Colombo. Some in the JVP are of the opinion that if Harini had given Colombo the necessary political strength as in the past, the compass could have established the Colombo Municipal Council alone. With this accusation, the information we have indicates that the sparks of the conflict between the compass and the JVP that has been under the ashes until now are being thrown out.
Harini on another path
In addition, many parties, especially social media activists and YouTube journalists who support the Compass, are saying that a cabinet reshuffle should be brought immediately with this collapse. They are expressing their views in various places that the post of Prime Minister should also change at the same time. Also, some people within the Compass government and on social media are currently analyzing that there is a suspicion within the JVP that Harini has started a special tussle with various parties in certain political camps that are not part of the Compass. In some places, discussions are being held that Harini has started a special tussle with other powerful politicians.
A week ago, we made a special disclosure through the column, stating that powerful countries with liberal ideologies, embassies, and liberal views are taking a special interest in Harini. They are apparently interested in Harini’s political rise and political journey. Especially countries like America and India, where Harini received her higher education, are currently showing a special interest in her. It is reported to the ‘State Secrets’ column that this situation has also contributed to the suspicions raised about Harini within the Compass.
An invitation from Milinda
While some ideas were being exchanged within the Compass government regarding this, it has been learned that the situation has become quite tense with the report that Harini had received an invitation from a certain non-governmental organization last week. That non-governmental organization was called ‘Pathfinder’. This private non-governmental organization, which is very controversial in terms of political activities, is headed by Milinda Moragoda, who has been a prominent figure in Sri Lankan politics for decades.
Milinda was a close associate of former President Ranasinghe Premadasa in the early days. However, it was UNP leader Ranil Wickremesinghe who brought Milinda into public politics. Milinda, who held various positions during Ranil’s government, is also known as a good political gamer. At that time, when the UNP was in the opposition, it was Milinda who carried out the political maneuver of bringing 17 senior members including UNP Deputy Leader Karu Jayasuriya to President Mahinda Rajapaksa. After that, Milinda, worked with Mahinda and then Gota, also took appointments as the Sri Lankan High Commissioner to India with cabinet privileges under Gota. Milinda is also considered to be someone who has played good political games with the international community. Milinda is said to have great relations with India as well as with America and Norway.
Accordingly, the ‘Pathfinder’ organization under the leadership of this Milinda organized a special event in Colombo last week. It was named the ‘Fifth Bay of Bengal Dialogue’. This workshop has been organized for the past few years, and this Pathfinder organization had taken steps to bring political leaders and heads of security forces from regional countries for this. In particular, Bernard Gunathilaka, a former renowned civil servant, is taking the lead in this. This time, former President Ranil Wickremesinghe attended the event as the chief guest. Accordingly, the media had also reported that Ranil, who attended the event, gave a speech there.
Was there any influence?
Although all these were apparent and reported by the media, there is another powerful story behind this that the media did not report. That story is that Ranil was not attending this conference as the chief guest. The chief guest was Harini Amarasooriya, the Prime Minister of the Malima government.
But the problem arose when it was suddenly reported to the heads of the ‘Pathfinder’ organization that Harini would not be attending this event. Accordingly, the ‘Pathfinder’ organization including Milinda decided to invite Ranil instead of Harini.
Accordingly, why did Harini initially accept the invitation and then decide to reject it at the last minute? Was there any influence from somewhere to do so? Everyone has a serious puzzle regarding these issues. Some may think that after Harini informed the President about this, the President advised her not to attend. Others may also think that Harini was pressured by another party not to attend the event. This is probably why there is a rumor in certain circles in the political sphere and on certain social media networks that the heads of the government have some doubts about Harini.
However, Milinda herself was seen attending this conference to welcome Ranil. Although Milinda had not attended these events in the last two or three years, this time Milinda, who attended, took steps to stay there until the end of the event. However, a suspicion that has arisen among many is whether the ‘Pathfinder’ organization has taken steps to build some kind of friendship between Harini and certain parties by bringing her as the chief guest at this conference. Whether the leaders of the compass took steps to prevent Harini from attending this conference for that reason.
Accordingly, many social media networks, as well as well-known YouTubers who have made political analyses in favor of the government, are publicly expressing their opinions and suggesting that the leaders of the Compass have taken steps to imprison Harini from all sides. Through this, it can be seen that they have also mentioned that some injustice is being done to Harini within the Compass itself. However, Harini has not yet given any public answers in this regard. Although she has only said on one occasion that some people within the Compass are working to create problems, she has not yet provided a detailed explanation in this regard.
Will it become independent with 46?
In addition, some people are currently reporting another serious story on social media. That is, there are 46 other MPs in the Compass directly with Harini, and that if Harini is removed from the post of Prime Minister; all these 46 MPs have decided to become independent with Harini. Their idea is that the current government was formed not because of the JVP, but because of the Compass. They are of the opinion that the Compass was able to gain the power of the people of the country with the coming forward of experts in various fields through the Compass. They are of the opinion that even if the government has a two-thirds power, or a five-sixths power, all that is going to change in a very short period of time and that was clearly seen in the struggle.
Against this backdrop, Harini engaged in another controversial meeting last Thursday. That was the meeting with US Ambassador Julie Chang in Parliament. In the past, various parties had publicly accused Julie Chang of being behind the struggle, and many people had paid special attention to the meeting between Harini and Chang. There is no doubt that the JVP had paid special attention to it under the current circumstances.
While we were mentioning this information about Harini in the column, Mr. Varuna Deeptha Rajapaksa, a former JVP MP and former Politburo member, had taken steps to post a special news story about Harini on his social media networks. There, Varuna had said that Harini was making arrangements to visit a special temple in Colombo known for political intrigues. Varuna had also mentioned on his social media network a person who had established a connection with this temple for Harini. Accordingly, it is said that many people have many questions about who Harini went to this temple and met, and what was discussed there.
Understand the hint
That is why we are reporting in this column today only to be particularly attentive to this special revelation we are making today. Anyone who reads this ‘inside politics’ column can easily understand that we have given some hints about many of the events taking place within the current government many months ago. We are reporting very accurate, behind-the-scenes political information in this column. We say ‘very accurate’ because we report that information in this political column only after confirming it with several other parties, not just because one person says it. Unlike on social media networks, a newspaper cannot mention all the facts that come to mind or all the information that is reported. We can only report them subject to the limitations of journalistic ethics and media morality. That is why we are working to provide some hints about certain extremely important political facts without publishing them outright. Almost all of the hints that we have revealed have now become a reality on the ground. Accordingly, today we reported on such a serious political clue through the ‘State Secrets’ column. It will be a very decisive clue in the coming period. Accordingly, we request our readers to clearly understand the clue behind this story we have told.
A Chinese ship has arrived
Amidst all this, there are signs that Sri Lanka is becoming a victim of the international power struggle. This is based on an incident involving Chinese research vessels. Sri Lanka has been embroiled in a serious geopolitical crisis over these Chinese research vessels not yesterday, but decades ago. During the tenure of former President Mahinda Rajapaksa, the government had taken steps to open the gates of Sri Lankan sea borders to these Chinese research vessels despite strong opposition from India. Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who came to power after Mahinda, continued this policy.
Although Ranil Wickremesinghe, who came to power, also opened Sri Lankan sea borders to these Chinese research vessels in the early days, Ranil imposed a ban on it for a year due to strong opposition from India. During the visit of Anura, who came to power after Ranil, the Chinese authorities took steps to hold discussions with Anura on this matter. There, they informed Anura that since this was a matter of pride for the Chinese government, the relevant agreements should be amended or Chinese research vessels should be allowed to enter Sri Lankan waters.
At that time, we reported from the column that Anura had agreed to the Chinese government to amend the relevant agreement and grant permission for this. Accordingly, Anura was able to obtain several huge investments and large financial assistance from China during his visit to China. It was seen that the government had also given a lot of publicity for this. However, since the President has not yet amended the relevant agreements and opened Sri Lankan waters to Chinese research vessels as promised to China, China has suspended all the investments and assistance it promised to give to Sri Lanka.
The lie is exposed
A few days ago, a powerful representative of China visited Sri Lanka. The Chinese representative, who met with the heads of the country’s security forces, directly asked them what had happened to the agreement that said it would be amended to allow Chinese research vessels to enter the country’s territorial waters. The Chinese official also directly asked the heads of the security forces whether they would allow it or not.
Information we are receiving from the Chinese side indicates that these heads had informed the Chinese representative that the relevant agreement has now been amended, and accordingly, permission will be given to Chinese research vessels to enter the Sri Lankan territorial waters in the future.
However, China, which is not very satisfied with this answer received from the heads of the country’s security forces, has taken steps to verify whether the story is true or false using its network in the country. It has been revealed to the Chinese authorities that the certificate allegedly given by the Sri Lankan side is a complete lie. The ‘State Secrets’ column has learned that not only have final decisions not been made in this regard, but that there is also a suspicion among the Chinese authorities that no discussions have even been held with the relevant sectors. The result of this has been the suspension of all aid and investments to be received from China.
A ship has come in stealthily
Meanwhile, last week, there was a shocking incident reported by the Sri Lankan security forces regarding China. This was after international media reported that a Chinese research ship had entered Sri Lankan waters and anchored there. The media reported that the Chinese research ship, named ‘Da Yang Yi Hao’, had entered Indian waters during the ‘Sindoor’ war operation launched by India against Pakistan. This Chinese research ship is designed with navigation facilities to observe the seabed. Many people refer to it as a floating laboratory that goes beyond a research ship. In addition to various research equipment, the media reported that this research ship also has strong military equipment, war submarines, and underwater vehicles. This research ship, which began its first voyage in 2019, can be seen to have been engaged in research in many famous ocean regions of the world. The report also states that the ship has now entered the Indian Ocean region and that it is likely to enter Sri Lankan waters.
However, India was deeply disturbed when this information was reported by the international media. Especially due to the war with Pakistan, India had initially suspected that Sri Lanka had given permission to the Chinese research ship to enter Sri Lankan waters. Accordingly, India immediately took steps to tighten security in the entire Indian Ocean region. However, they were later informed that the Chinese research ship had entered the Indian Ocean region without any permission and had started moving towards Sri Lanka. The media has reported that the research ship is currently anchored in Sri Lankan waters and that it is likely to move towards the Arabian Sea.
Accordingly, it is needless to say that this emerging situation is serious. The message given to Sri Lanka by China is also serious. That is the message that China has given that its research vessels can enter Sri Lankan waters at any time, regardless of Sri Lanka’s permission. It is also reported that India has also taken steps to position several huge warships in the Indian Ocean region in response to this, which can even stop warplanes. Through this, India has also given a serious warning to Sri Lanka that if Chinese research vessels are allowed to enter Sri Lankan waters, Sri Lanka will have to face the consequences. Accordingly, Sri Lanka is currently in a serious crisis like a betel nut caught in a trap due to the Indo-China conflict.
Opposition unites
Last week, a special discussion was held between the opposition parties in Parliament. The reason for holding the discussion was that several opposition MPs had recently received death threats, raising concerns about their security. Several MPs in particular from the North had pointed out to Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa that a number of serious issues had arisen regarding their security, and that they should immediately discuss the matter with the government. Due to these complaints received from opposition MPs, the Opposition Leader also took steps to invite all opposition party leaders for a special discussion. All those party leaders accepted Sajith’s invitation and met in Parliament under Sajith’s leadership last week to discuss the matter.
During this discussion, many opposition MPs had pointed out the problems they had with security and informed Sajith that they should draw the Speaker’s attention to them, so Sajith decided to go with all the opposition party leaders to meet the Speaker and inform him of this situation. The MPs who were present there informed him that they also wanted to attend the meeting because they had security issues, and Sajith took steps to include them in the meeting.
The Speaker was angry
However, when Sajith went to meet the Speaker with all these people, the Speaker gave an unexpected response. At that time, the Speaker said in a loud voice that it was unacceptable for MPs to accompany him when only party leaders were given the opportunity for discussion, and therefore all MPs should leave. Since the MPs had never faced such an experience before, the response of the Speaker made almost all the MPs feel very embarrassed. But since there was nothing that could be done, all the MPs took steps to leave the Speaker’s office.
However, the discussion that began with a confrontational incident did not go very well. At that time, all the opposition party leaders including Sajith took steps to explain to the Speaker at length about the security issues facing the MPs. The party leaders informed the Speaker that the situation was very dangerous and that the Acting Inspector General of Police and the Director of the MP Security Division should be immediately called to Parliament and discussed with them in this regard. However, at that time, no proper response was received from the Speaker.
Since the SJB MP group did not receive a proper response from the Speaker to the security issues they were facing, they took steps to discuss this matter further with Sajith on Wednesday. Sajith then took steps to explain to the MPs in detail all the incidents that took place in the Speaker’s room. After Sajith’s explanation, the MPs protested against the Speaker and pointed out to Sajith that strict action should be taken against his behavior. Sajith told the MPs that the protest could be raised later and that the primary issue at this time was the security of the MPs. However, the Speaker later informed the opposition party leaders that the Acting Inspector General of Police and the Director of the MP Security Division were scheduled to visit Parliament on Saturday to discuss the security of the MPs.
Another name instead of Gammanpila
Last week, the opposition leader Sajith Premadasa and his team were able to defeat the government with the executive presidency and two-thirds majority in parliament for the first time. This was by rejecting the name sent by President Anura Kumara Dissanayake to the Constituent Assembly for the vacant position of Auditor General, which has been vacant for 43 days. In this, Sajith was able to defeat the relevant nomination by firing the first shot against the government and enlisting the support of independent representatives in the Constituent Assembly.
Although 45 days had passed since the former Auditor General retired, the government had not proposed a new name for the position. The usual tradition is to appoint the most senior person working in the same department to the position after the head of the Auditor General’s Department, which is considered the highest authority to investigate government accounts, retires. Accordingly, Dharmapala Gammanpila, with many years of experience, was recognized by everyone as the senior who had fulfilled all the qualifications for the position of Auditor General. Accordingly, many people believed that the JVP, which introduces itself as a party that values transparency, cleanliness and does not engage in political interference, would follow that tradition and appoint Gammanpila as the next Auditor General.
However, to the surprise of many, the President, the day before the Constituent Assembly met, had also taken steps to nominate and send the name of a person named H.D.P. Chandana to the Constituent Assembly. Accordingly, many people were eager to find out who this Chandana named by the President was. Mujibur Rahman made a special revelation in Parliament that this Chandana was an inexperienced director in the audit department of the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation. Mujibur also said that he was a contemporary friend of the President at the University of Kelaniya, where he studied.
After Mujibur’s revelation, officials of the Auditor General’s Department also came to a media conference for the first time in history and expressed their views against the President’s nomination. Accordingly, the Constituent Assembly, which met that evening, took steps to defeat the President’s name by a majority vote. However, since the President had sent the same name to the Constituent Assembly for the second time, the Constituent Assembly took steps to reject it again. The result was that on Thursday, the President took steps to send the name of Mr. Gammanpila as the Acting Auditor General instead of Chandana. The fact that the Constituent Assembly expressed its agreement to this was a special event.
Those who are pulling Sajith’s legs
However, in the past, many people have accused Sajith of not having experience in handling the opposition. That Sajith has no backbone. Certain groups in the government and certain hypocrites in the opposition are making this accusation against Sajith, especially in a context where Sajith has taken steps to fulfill his parliamentary role correctly.
However, the saddest thing that has happened to the SJB is that several senior conspirators in it have not taken steps to market Sajith’s role as opposition leader correctly. Instead of taking Sajith’s program to the village, these senior conspirators are pulling Sajith’s legs from within. They attack Sajith by talking about Ranil’s games during discussions. They laugh at the way Sajith dresses. Even some people wearing white within the SJB today were publicly laughing with Ranil on Ranil’s platforms in the past.
But Sajith did not argue with any of these people. He did not argue. Sajith continued his program of building the SJB at his own expense. In the last local government elections, Sajith increased his vote share by more than 300,000 within 5 months by attending 109 meetings around the country. But some SJB seniors who are pulling Sajith’s leg did not even conduct proper election campaigning in their constituencies. They were waiting for Sajith and the SJB to be defeated in this election as well. After that, they changed the leadership of the SJB and took the SJB and placed it at Ranil’s feet.
It has been done before
This is not the first time that Sajith has leveled governments through the Constituent Assembly of Parliament. During the previous Ranil Wickremesinghe regime, Sajith was able to control Ranil’s arbitrary actions through the Constitutional Council in the same way. The best example of this was when Ranil sent his name to the Constitutional Council, nominating Mr. Deshabandu Tennakoon for the post of IGP, and Sajith took steps to defeat the proposal under the leadership of Sajith. Ranil took steps to send Deshabandu’s name to the Constitutional Council a second time, and Sajith took steps to defeat it that time too. However, Ranil took steps to appoint Deshabandu as the IGP based on a secret work carried out by the Speaker and Ranil. Due to this, the opposition later took steps to file a no-confidence motion against Speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena. Several cases are being heard in court against Deshabandu Tennakoon today, and in the future, his appointment is also expected to be questioned in court, according to the ‘State Secrets’ column. Accordingly, it has been confirmed today that Sajith had fulfilled his responsibility as the opposition leader correctly.
In addition, when a nomination was received by the Constitutional Council to appoint a judge who was friendly to Ranil to the Supreme Court, Sajith and the majority of the Constitutional Council worked to defeat that nomination. This is how Sajith acted to defeat the dictatorial madness that was in Ranil’s heart. The dictatorial path that Ranil was on was cut short because Sajith stood tall in the Constitutional Council.
Accordingly, we are clearly stating this time that Sajith is acting correctly in the Constitutional Council because of Sajith’s strong desire to pave the way for good and clean governance. Even though some conspirators in the SJB are unable to market Sajith’s fight, we report it from time to time through the ‘State Secrets’ column because we are ready to support Sajith’s fight.
SJB and UNP merge
Although there was talk in both places and in the public domain that the UNP and SJB should merge even before the presidential election, it did not come to fruition because many people understood that Ranil had implemented a cunning strategy to destroy SJB and Sajith through that merger. In particular, the ‘Mawrata’ state secret belt explained the ulterior motives of the discussions regarding this merger, because Ranil was definitely conspiring to destroy Sajith and SJB through that merger and seize power. Although the majority in the SJB had accepted our revelations, only a few who claimed to be senior were caught in Ranil’s trap and kept saying that SJB should merge with the UNP and Ranil.
When the local government elections were announced, many on both sides said that the UNP and the SJB should contest it together. But ‘Mawrata’ clearly stated that Ranil is preparing to field UNP candidates who cannot win any constituency from the SJB list and create a large group of UNP MPs in the villages. We also said that if the SJB is to be built as a single party, it must definitely contest the local government elections alone. It is clear that our stance has been confirmed 100% today when we look at the number of MPs that the SJB and the UNP have contested alone. While the SJB has produced over 1600 MPs across the country, the UNP has only been able to win a couple hundred MPs.
A big task
However, last week something unexpected happened. It was officially announced that the UNP and the SJB would join forces to establish power in local government institutions. As a result of numerous discussions that took place behind the scenes in a very secretive manner, UNP stalwarts, including Chairman Vajira Abeywardena, Deputy Leader Ruwan Wijewardena, Party General Secretaries Thalatha Athukoralath and Sagala Ratnayake, who arrived at the Opposition Leader’s office on Monday morning, discussed with Sajith and worked to reach these agreements. At this point, Sajith took steps to give a strong message to the UNP representatives. That is, that nothing related to this discussion should be announced publicly to the media. That individual media releases cannot be issued. When Sajith said that a joint statement should be issued instead, the UNP stalwarts agreed.
Here, something special should also be mentioned about the group that took the lead in preparing this discussion. A key figure in it was the party’s General Secretary, Thalatha Athukoralaya. When Sajith invited the UNP to discuss the establishment of power in local government institutions, it was Thalatha who went to Ranil and discussed it face to face. At that time, Thalatha had strongly informed Ranil that since Sajith had made the invitation, he must definitely attend. This strong insistence of Thalatha had been a reason for Ranil to give his approval for the discussion.
In addition, Ruwan Wijewardena and Sagala Ratnayake also played a major role in this. After the first UNP discussion held regarding the establishment of power in local government institutions, Ruwan, who spoke very cautiously to the media, said that the UNP was ready to establish power in the majority of local government institutions together with the SJB. Similarly, Sagala also said to the media at one point that the UNP was ready to provide the necessary support to consolidate power in local government institutions together with the SJB.
In this way, Sajith, who also brought the UNP together to consolidate power in local government institutions, took steps to meet other opposition party leaders last week and discuss the matter. At that time, Sajith also took steps to meet the national organizer of the Pohottuwa, Namal Rajapaksa. Sajith also took steps to meet the secretaries of independent parties at the Monarch Imperial Hotel in Thalawathugoda. However, it was noteworthy that Sajith took steps not to give any media publicity to any of this.
