Are our schools ‘exam factories’?

Ajith PERERA 

The word education is derived from the Latin word 'Educare'. The Latin word 'Educare' means 'to lead out' or 'bring forth' which indicates that through education students' knowledge, understanding and aptitude are nurtured.
These aptitudes, abilities and skills should be developed through education. Furthermore, this indicates that education is not conceived as a process whereby the child's mind is considered an empty receptacle, which can be stored with information. Teachers, parents and elders who use a variety of techniques and methods to fill the minds of the younger generation with knowledge and information make Aldous Hurxley's statement alive - 'Unlike filling a sack with goods a human mind cannot be mechanically stored with knowledge.'

Education entails the development of the 'whole man' where by the individual acquires a depth of knowledge and understanding. The recipient of such education is referred to as the 'educated man.' Since education moulds behaviour patterns in a positive manner, such behavioural characteristics should be agreeable to both individual and society. As education is a process of living, whatever knowledge that is acquired should be utilized to shape and mould one's life.

Ideal society

Socrates stated that, 'education is the process which necessary knowledge is acquired for understanding oneself.' The notion is relevant even today. For the process of living there is nothing more relevant than knowledge. One of the best known sayings of Socrates is 'I only know that I know nothing'.
The conventional interpretation of this remark is that Socrates' wisdom was limited to an awareness of his own ignorance. Socrates believed wrong doing was a consequence of ignorance and those who did wrong knew no better. The one thing Socrates consistently claimed to have knowledge of was 'the art of love', which he connected with the concept of 'the love of wisdom', i.e., philosophy. He never actually claimed to be wise, only to understand the path a lover of wisdom must take in pursuing it.
Plato who lived in Greece in the 4th century B. C. made education an instrument for the training of rulers and the establishment of an ideal society. In the Republic he says, 'education is the most noble and beautiful thing.' In the Laws he puts forward the idea that, 'the good that results from education is that not only does it produce noble men but such men learn to act in a noble manner.'

Child-centred education

Jean Jacques Rousseau who lived in France in the 18th century is not only responsible for bringing about an evolution in education but spoke vehemently for the freedom of the child in education. According to him education is related to nature. Being a naturalist philosopher, he says in his book Emile, 'the child's education should be in accordance with his/ her abilities, needs and interests.' He can be considered as the chief proponent for child-centred education.
The philosophy of John Dewey, the American philosopher says, 'education is a process of living and not a preparation for life.' He further says, 'education is the organization and reconstruction of experience.' He gives a dynamic meaning to the concept of 'experience.' While meaningful experience leads to meaningful education, it brings about the growth of the individual. According to him, in the traditional school the passive learning experiences the child encountered were not meaningful.
On the other hand when the child interacts with the environment and the active experiences gathered through problem solving, discovery learning, exploration, observation and activity learning is considered educationally meaningful.

Bertrand Russell the English thinker stated that 'education is the process through which a person's development is fostered, his cultural heritage is transmitted and a useful citizen is produced.' He refers to the socialization of the individual with the transmission of his / her cultural heritage. Evidently, a useful citizen is not only one who acquires useful knowledge and practical skills, but also one who is able to think creatively.
Mahathma Gandhi's ideas on education are incorporated in the 'Wardha Scheme of Education' put forward by him. He says, 'by education I mean the all round drawing out the best in child and man, body, mind and spirit.' He believed that education should foster the total development of the individual. He rejected the education system with its purely academic bias under the colonial rule. Since he accepted the fact that education should have academic as well as a practical bias, he implemented the Wardha Education System which proposed craft-centred education.
It was he who introduced 3H system to education. He said that improvement of head, heart and hand (knowledge, attitudes and skills) is the main objective of education.

School curriculum

The educational aims are broad. It takes a long time to achieve them. It is difficult to measure the outcome of educational aims. A teacher cannot achieve these broad aims by teaching one lesson in the school curriculum.
Having read the philosophic thoughts of the 'Precursors of Education' let us question ourselves whether we as parents and teachers encourage our children to acquire knowledge with experience for understanding themselves or to be exam-oriented?
'To produce a good citizen' is one of the stated national aims of education in Sri Lanka. It is not at all clear when this process of producing a good citizen begins and ends.
It has to be a continuous process. There is another similar aim; 'To produce a person with a good character.'
This is again a continuous process of which the beginning and the end cannot be seen. Such aims cannot be achieved directly by teachers, Principals of schools or planners of education. However these aims are relevant to education.
In the process of a factory we are aware that the row material is converted to an end product and the row material gets a different shape. For example, a lump of clay is turned into a plate or a pot. When clay is inserted to the machine we know outcome is nothing but a clay product. But in the process of education when a child is admitted to school at the tender age nobody can predict who this child would be at the end of the long process school education.
Principals of schools should not plan to achieve these broad aims. They should have definite and specific short-term objectives, which can be evaluated or measured at the end of the programme. Educational objectives should be directed towards educational aims always. 'Aims are the final out come of the process. They are idealistic in nature. We try to achieve aims. The practitioners had to develop educational objectives based on those educational aims.'
Education is a process in which all three important aspects; teaching, learning and evaluation are interlinked. It is vital to maintain a good relationship among these three aspects if we are to maintain high standards in the education process. It is necessary to have an understanding of each person's role; the role of the student, teacher, Principal, education planner and curriculum developer. Also it is important that there should be a good integration and good coordination among these parties.

Values and attitudes

The teacher is guided by the educational aims and objectives in his task to direct, guide and motivate students in learning and in selecting the correct learning activities and relevant teaching methods to achieve the learning outcomes.
The teacher should know clearly the results of teaching that is behaviour of students after learning. They should be aware of the new knowledge, new competencies, values and attitudes that students will acquire as a result of learning. Then only can the teacher perform his duties efficiently and productively.
It is easy for the students to learn when they know what is expected from the learning tasks. It is easy for the students to plan their learning tasks when they know what new knowledge, competencies, values and attitudes are expected from their learning tasks.
If the objectives are clear the teacher can easily find out how much the students have learnt and where they have gone wrong. Also it is easy to identify the teacher's mistakes and shortcomings. A meaningful evaluation or an assessment can be done only when the objectives are given. This indicates that when objectives are identified early then only can there be fair integration and coordination among teaching, learning and evaluation.
'The principal goal of education is to create men who are capable of doing new things, not simply of repeating what other generation have done - men who are creative, inventive and discoveries.
The second goal of education is to form minds which can be critical, can verify and not accept everything they are offered'
- Jean Piaget
The present system in our schools is deviating from these accepted norms because the teachers and Principals are pressurized before examinations.
The whole social set up is far from the principles of education and the values of education because the performance and the cleverness of the students are evaluated by examination results.
All these high principles are mere words that are holidaying in books. They apparently become useless before examinations. We are forced to run in this mad rat race where our innocent children become heartless machines or 'killers'. Students who are deprived of many treasures in life; nature friendly life, freedom, free thinking, enjoyment etc. become robots who claim their lives when they become failures before the demands of their parents and teachers who set goals in life.

Good citizens

If we ask parents who admit their little children to school what their main aim of sending their children to school, they have high ideals like making their children good citizens or making them fruitful people. Unfortunately they forget or they are made to forget these high ideals after few years especially before Grade Five scholarship examination.
The parents especially the mothers behave as if the particular examination is meant for them or if their children get failed as if they are black listed. This is a crime. I do not how long will it take the responsible authorities and parents to realize the crime behind this?
The school should be a place where children enjoy themselves while identifying who they are and designing their own future. If the schools are 'exam factories' the opportunities for such ideals are hindered. Finally our children are both failures in their exams and life as well. The government examination results provide enough evidence.
The writer is a teacher, lecturer of Child Psychology and Classroom Management

Denizens of the Ministry of External Affairs have no understanding at all of Foreign Policy

The more extreme elements in the Ministry of External Affairs have at last put their cards on the table in the form of an article by the wife of one of its rising stars. The same young lady kindly gave me an opportunity to engage in a strong critique of the viewpoints she represented, when she gratuitously attacked me some weeks back.

What is astonishing is that this article is based on the premise that countries like Cuba and Venezuela are anathema at present to Sri Lanka. I suspect it will be news to President Rajapaksa that Cuba is a failed state and that a positive view of Chavez ‘fundamentally undermines everything Sri Lanka has stood for since it inherited a liberal democracy post 1948’.

Certainly those countries have weaknesses which is why they should not be absolute models for us. But the same applies to the countries to which we are supposed to subscribe without question, if the article is accurate in suggesting that Sri Lankan policy will now focus on its ‘relationships with its traditional liberal democratic allies’, ie the West. It is claimed that this new departure is the reason that Tamara Kunanayakam and Dayan Jayatilleka are being sidelined, while ‘a career diplomat with proven ability to engage the West’ is now being sent to Geneva.

Oddly enough, the article completely ignores the fact that the attack on us as developed by the United States focused on what were seen as inadequacies precisely with regard to what Tamara and Dayan also noted. Their commitment to a pluralistic society with greater attention to Human Rights has never been questioned.

It should also be noted that they have both consistently stressed the need for both Reconciliation and truth telling. It was not they who attacked me when, three years ago, I noted that there had been civilian casualties, a position about which supposedly more ‘liberal democratic’ colleagues were in a state of denial.

What this latest policy statement of the Ministry of External Affairs suggests is that its denizens have no understanding at all of foreign policy. The West basically has three reasons for its continuing assaults on us over the last few years. The first and the one publicly proclaimed was the argument that Sri Lanka was violating Human Rights consistently, and this had to be prevented.

The second was the pressure applied by the diaspora, which exercises a disproportionate amount of influence on some government. Finally there was the desire to bring Sri Lanka into its sphere of influence, and in particular prevent China from gaining a strong foothold here.

Everybody knows, from the continuing support to dictatorships provided they support the West, that the first is not the most important consideration. Rather, Human Rights is used by strategists in the West to promote their own interests, and this has become entrenched with for instance the US government’s massive funding for its own pet causes through the National Endowment for Democracy.

However we must also recognize that at least some of those who promote Human Rights, and are therefore vociferous in their criticism of the Sri Lankan government, genuinely believe that we violate these systematically. Whilst this is not true, certainly violations occur. We should work hard to stop this, not only because we owe it to our own people, but also because such violations strengthen the feelings of those who do care about Human Rights, and are grist to the mill of those who make use of Human Rights to attack us.

The Ministry of External Affairs did nothing to promote Human Rights when that subject was entrusted to it. The communications of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights were ignored, whereas when Dayan was in Geneva and I was Secretary of the Ministry of Human Rights, when we had one, we made sure that all letters were answered promptly.

My staff at the time, some of whom had been absorbed by the Ministry, were badly treated, and it was only because the then Attorney General and I pushed hard that we managed to produce the National Action Plan on Human Rights that Cabinet finally adopted.

Similarly, with regard to the second reason for Western pressures, while I believe that some elements in the diaspora are still committed to the LTTE agenda, the vast moderate majority were ignored, which is why many of them have now gone back to supporting extremism. Efforts to engage were minimal.

It was only because of the efforts of our Honorary Consul in New Zealand that arrangements were made for me to meet diaspora groups in Australia and New Zealand , and the question they put was, why had this not been done before?

Later, because of the indefatigable efforts of our Deputy High Commissioner in London , and later the current High Commissioner, similar arrangements were made there for wide ranging discussions with the diaspora, along with media interactions.

In Chennai too, through the excellent connections established by our Deputy High Commissioner there, a Tamil who has now been prematurely transferred, I met several opinion makers who indicated that this should have been done earlier.

I am sure there were other examples of this, though my interlocutors were of the view that actual discussion and efforts to explain points of potential difficulty had not occurred before. But my point is that there should have been a systematic programme of engagement, and the failure of the Ministry to have suggested something of the sort and planned programmes was a pity.

Indeed it was left to positive thinking NGOs such as International Alert to arrange tours for bright young Members of Parliament , to engage with the diaspora and British Members of Parliament. The MPs who went were unanimous in defending Sri Lanka even while disagreeing on other matters, which was certainly food for thought for those in the diaspora who believe that the government’s actions in getting rid of terrorism are deplored by all those not in government.

Dayan in his own way has extended ties with all members of the diaspora. But what then happens to him? When he engages bright young Tamil staff, he is attacked for promoting Tigers, whereas Ministry personnel who actually give contracts to Tiger agents get away scot free.

The inbuilt prejudice against minorities of our so-called ‘liberal democrats’ can be seen from the fact that there were efforts, three years ago, to make me call the Tamil doctors in the North traitors and LTTE agents, when I was interviewed about statements they had made. I refused, and said that as far as I knew they were professionals who were under tremendous pressure, which it is clear now has been understood by all in government, including those who wished in the past to score brownie points by attacking others.

Thus what I believe we should be dealing with rationally, the call for a better Human Rights dispensation and reducing the pressures from the diaspora (including through political reconciliation in Sri Lanka ) are ignored, and instead what is advocated is total adherence to Western judgments and contempt for countries such as Cuba and Venezuela – and implicitly China . S W R D Bandaranaike would be turning in his grave, as would his widow, and Lakshman Kadirgamar, while I have no doubt that the effects of this type of policy reversal would be to drive the present President to an early political grave.

Sadly, I suspect the adherents of the current policy would not mind this. After all, the nastier elements in the West have made no secret of their desire for regime change, and given that, despite the current policies of the Ministry of External Affairs, President Rajapaksa is not likely to be a slavish adherent of the West, they will soon decide that it would be best to have him replaced – and those in the Ministry of External Affairs who declared that a military victory was out of the question would do what was needed, having destroyed all possible defences.

The proof that they will stop at nothing to destroy the President’s defences and those of the country can be seen in the manner in which they upset India , and continue to do this. I am aware that there was much pressure on India from the West, and perhaps they would have succeeded in getting India not to vote for us, but two blunders by the so-called ‘liberal democrats’ certainly helped in the final decision, as we have quite categorically been informed by Indian diplomats

The first was the publicizing of the claim that India had committed to supporting us, which led to massive pressures in Tamilnadu. The second was the denigration of Tamilnadu politicians, which naturally increased the pressures on the Centre to stand by its own.

These pronouncements may well have been blunders, but it would make sense for the Ministry to check on whether anyone were consulted before they were made. I should add that I do not think those who made the statements did so with deliberate intent to upset India , but that there are others with such an agenda is now manifest.

The clear proof that there is a deliberate effort to drive a wedge between India and Sri Lanka – and thus make us more dependent on the confrontationalists of the West, who want India also in the same boat – was the effort to deceive the President about the Indian Parliamentary delegation.

A deliberate lie, which his more responsible Ministers had to refute, was told him, which nearly led to the cancellation of his meeting with the Indian delegation. Worse, he was also deceived about senior SLFP Ministers, which I believe is designed to cut him away from his natural base.

For what the article inspired by the extremists of the Ministry ignores is that it is the SLFP that represents liberal democracy in Sri Lanka , in accordance with the vision of its founder. He rejected the urban capitalism of the UNP, but equally he rejected the doctrinaire socialism of the Marxist parties.

He was like Nehru in this effort to follow a centrist path, but later, their successors, who were both rejected by the West which wanted total adherence or nothing, moved closer to the socialists in the oppositional international politics that the Cold War engendered.

However, it should be noted that the basic principle of Non-Alignment, which also involved building close ties with those Asian countries that were not involved in Western military alliances, had also been the policy of the UNP under Dudley Senanayake.

He too used brilliant minds such as Shirley Amerasinghe and Neville Kanakaratne, from outside the foreign service, and also Gamini Corea, to assert an independent perspective. These individuals, like Dayan and Tamara, believed in pluralism and human rights, but not because these were Western values (which indeed in those days they were emphatically not).

It was only when J R Jayewardene replaced Senanayake as the leader of the UNP that a different policy, going against the national consensus, was established, and as we know this involved dismissing both Neville Kanakaratne and Shirley Amerasinghe from their positions. The disasters of the slavish adherence to the West that followed, which included hostility towards India in those days, are well known.

Fortunately Jayewardene’s efforts to invoke Western military aid against the Indians proved abortive – though my contacts in the British Ministry of Defence told me that Mrs Thatcher had wanted to comply, until the Foreign Office had dissuaded her.

Despite his initial anti-Indian rhetoric when Jayewardene’s foreign policy was proved a failure in 1987, Premadasa as President also soon saw the light, and used the services of Neville Kanakaratne to rebuild relations with India.

However, though the Jayewardene excesses were avoided, following the end of the Cold War, there were those in our Foreign Ministry who thought that we had to accept Western models wholesale in a unipolar world. But Mr Kadirgamar had a very different vision and, though at times he found the Ministry more conservative, he revived commitment to the Non-Aligned ideals of the party he had joined.

This did not mean anti-Western socialism, as had happened in the seventies when confrontation was the order of the day. Rather, it meant picking what was best from all models.

The West certainly has much to offer, and I believe we should work together with idealists there, as opposed to practitioners of ruthless self interest, to promote pluralism and Human Rights. But we should also – and how can the President not do this, given his whole political history? – follow other models with regard to ensuring better social indicators, promoting equitable development and above all strengthening regional groupings.

I do not know if the groupies who now run policy at the Ministry of External Affairs will understand all this, or even bother to try to do so. I don’t think it occurs to them that we have a duty to the Sri Lankan people to move swiftly towards political reform that will empower all our people and facilitate equitable development with input from relevant stakeholders.

I don’t think it occurs to them that we have a duty to the Sri Lankan people to ensure that their Rights are preserved and advanced. And I don’t think it occurs to them that we have a duty to the Sri Lankan people to preserve our sovereignty and make sure that we do not become a tool for confrontational agendas.

That was what was planned in the eighties, when the enemy of the West was India , and India intervened to prevent misuse of Trincomalee and Iranawila, as the Annexe to the Indo-Lankan Accord makes clear. I hope similar bases are not contemplated now, in theory against China , but possibly to be used against India too in time if India develops into a respected and independent leader of the Third World as Nehru dreamed.

But while I hope such stratagems are not needed in the world of modern technology, we owe it to our people to ensure that this land is not used for hostile moves against any other countries by anyone, Western or Eastern or in between.

Improving relations with the West should be on the basis of principles that we share, and Dayan and Tamara share those principles and have the courage to say so unlike others who believe their political careers might be blighted if they open their mouths.

And so, given the silence of these lambs, we have a situation where we simply react to crisis after crisis, with no effort to develop principled approaches to the world or to our own political difficulties.

Doubtless this will continue until the crisis gets so bad that change will be essential. I can only hope that those who desire regime change, against the democratic will of the Sri Lankan people, will not have their way

Needed: strategic approaches to crime prevention

Over the past few decades, crime in Sri Lanka has skyrocketed, and so have its costs. The government is spending increasing amounts on the Police, prosecution, court and prisons. Crime control uses up a substantial amount of our gross domestic product every year but this spending has done little to reverse crime rates or reform offenders. The number of repeat offenders among former prisoners remains discouragingly high.



It is in this context that we should view the statement made by Most Venerable Aggamahapanditha Kotugoda Dhammawasa Anu Nayaka Thera recently. The Most Venerable Thera said the time has come for the government to appoint a Presidential Commission to investigate the causes for the rise in crime in the country.

This valuable statement should make all our political and social leaders sit up and think. And, think honestly and seriously because the time is running out.

Causes
The starting point to preventing crime is the right understanding of what causes crime. Publicly, politicians tend to oversimplify crime prevention policy, arguing that 'more Police equals less crime'. Yet international studies suggest that more Police do not necessarily reduce crime and there are better and cheaper ways of reducing crime through investment in programmes that tackle the causes of crime.

To tackle the causes of crime, we need greater investment in programmes that tackle the causes of crime rather than greater investment in Police and prisons; greater investment in early therapeutic and diversionary interventions particularly for at risk young people; and to expand court programmes which address the causes of offending.

Lowering the crime rate also involves addressing each of the factors that cause crime: from early intervention with young people at risk of involvement in crime, to working with those with substantial criminal histories to address the causes of re-offending.

Explanations
Multiple factors cause crime. While there is debate about the importance of various factors, most agree that multiple factors cause crime, and causes of criminal behaviour vary between different people and between different types of crimes.

Bizarre or not, three explanations have emerged. The first is that crime is not a social and economic problem but have a genetic cause, predisposing some people towards aggression. The second is that there can be no inevitable link between unemployment and crime because years ago when more youth were out of work, the country was experiencing lesser crime. And the third is that a country's morals determine whether it is a happy and safe place to live.

Politicians favour tough penalties because they are cheap and psychologically reassuring, but in reality, harsh penalties may make things worse. Politicians are not alone in recommending harsh penalties to combat crime. Many theories advocate imposing maximum penalties, which can include massive fines, life sentences, or even the death penalty - it does not really matter, so long as the hypothetical penalty is harsh enough to deter all but the most criminal element. Though such punishments are often unrealistic (or morally questionable), these theories draw on some sound logic: enforcing laws and conducting investigations are expensive, but deterring crime through harsh penalties is cheap, which according to existing theories, makes them the most efficient deterrent.

But we don't experience penalties like this in real life, particularly in democratic countries. The reasons for this include mankind's propensity to make mistakes, society's general sense of fairness, and the impossibility of implementing certain maximum penalties, such as sufficiently large fines.

Permissive society
But the most obvious cause of crime is the collapse in our traditional family structures and the ending of sexual and social taboos. This is real 20th-century revolution in most countries, including our island. Many believe that increased freedom has brought some unhappy consequences. Robert Reiner, Professor of Criminology at the London School of Economics, says that culturally repressive societies had the advantage that citizens did not need to be coerced into behaving themselves. They had 'a policeman in their heads' which kept them out of trouble. The policemen seem to have gone, but we are not about to set aside our personal freedoms to bring him back. The question is, can we restore a more morally responsible culture without loss of civil liberty?

One can disagree with Professor Reiner questioning him whether permissiveness by itself bring crime. Sweden and the other Scandinavian countries are very permissive, but law and order in those countries are not a great problem because the markets are strictly controlled by liberal policies but with social democratic interventions. In other words, their cultural climates are permissive, but their economic climates are more controlled.

Curbing desire for crime
The difficulty for Sri Lanka is that we have the worst of both worlds. We have the free economic market and permissiveness at the same time - economic and moral laissez-faire. There's no point in telling the young people to be responsible if you won't intervene on social democratic lines and offer them the reward of a place in society. You can try to preach, but they won't listen.

A good social crime prevention programme can work at eliminating causes that may lead a young person to crime, such as inadequate parenting, poor early education or bad physical and mental health. The community can lend a hand by teaching young people about the rule of law, building up local Police/community relations and setting up educational/recreational centres for unemployed youngsters or voluntary treatment programmes for drug addicts. This strategy has yielded astonishing results in some Far Eastern countries.

Thwarting organized crime
Crime prevention has also become increasingly popular to combat organized crime. In such situations, key strategies include counteracting the appeal of criminal groups through social and cultural programmes in schools or the media, boosting efforts to discourage juvenile delinquency and reducing opportunities for organized crime by limiting illegal markets. For example, good information campaigns may squeeze criminal markets by reducing the demand for illicit drugs.

Preventing crime in the future
Although numerous projects undertaken by government and Non-Government organizations have shown that good crime prevention programmes are becoming successful, roadblocks still remain. Most difficult obstacle is the lack of government funding, which has traditionally been directed at building up criminal justice systems rather than preventing crime.

Although spending on community and situational crime prevention has risen over the past decade and such issues as child development are beginning to attract more interest, money is still desperately needed for future research.

Funding will be needed to apply crime prevention techniques to more contemporary crimes, such as transnational crime, crimes against tourists and computer-related crimes. The current levels for these offenses will rise sharply as our trade become more global, business and leisure travel expand and traditional borders open up.

Any effective crime prevention strategy should be based on the premise that well-designed interventions can have a positive influence on behaviours; crimes can be reduced or prevented by addressing risk factors that can lead to offending. Successful interventions have been shown to reduce not only victimization, but also the social and economic costs that result from criminal activities and the costs related to processing cases in the criminal justice system.

This overview addresses the following key elements of the strategy;

1. Expanding the knowledge base of risk factors associated with the likelihood that individuals will engage in criminal activity;

2. Identify individuals at different stages of development who exhibit or are exposed to these risk factors; and

3. Build on the body of knowledge on effective interventions for addressing these risk factors.

To conceptualize and evolve such a far reaching national programme, it is indeed a good idea, as Most Venerable Aggamahapanditha Kotugoda Dhammawasa Anu Nayaka Thera suggested, to appoint a Presidential Commission to find ways and means of tackling the national issue of crime prevention from a new perspective.

‘Gota’s war’ book launch function turns into an India bashing session

by R.K.Radhakrishnan


The Indian intelligence agencies had a big hand in planning and executing terrorist strikes in Colombo in the mid-eighties, the President’s Secretary Lalith Weeratunga said. Reading from a book, Gota’s War, at its launch here, he said the role India played in Sri Lanka needed “intensive discussion.” He described the events described in the book as “home truths.”






Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa was under intense pressure from India, United Kingdom and France to stop the Eelam War IV in April of 2009.


But “he did not cave in to external pressure,” Mr. Weeratunga has revealed.






Mr. Weeratunga was privy to the meetings. The Indian team, led by its then National Security Adviser M.K. Narayanan, had arrived here in April, just as the Lok Sabha elections were on in India, and just before Tamil Nadu went in to vote. For different reasons, Foreign Ministers of England and France were here too, with the same agenda.


‘Violated sovereignty’


The book launch function, meant to celebrate Defence Secretary and President’s brother Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s contribution to the war, turned out to be an India-bashing session:


India aided and abetted terrorism, and repeatedly violated Sri Lanka’s sovereignty. Its High Commissioner during the period dictated terms to Sri Lanka.






“…When the Vadamarachchi operation commenced, the Prime Minister of India at that time, Rajiv Gandhi, issued a strong statement against the operation…Sri Lanka could have been rid of terrorism [at that time, but for the] high-handed interference of the then Indian envoy, Mr. J.N. Dixit,” said Mr. Weeratunga, to an audience that comprised all top elected leaders and officials and diplomats in Sri Lanka, including President Rajapaksa and the Indian High Commissioner Ashok K. Kantha.


Sri Lanka firmly believed that if this operation had gone on, the country could have been rid of terrorism more than two decades ago. Reading from the book, Mr. Weeratunga said:






“While the Vadamarachchi operation was on, the Indian Envoy Mr. J.N. Dixit had met President Jayawardene and bluntly told him that India will not stand by idly and allow Jaffna to fall into the hands of the Army, and if the military operation continued, there could be unforeseen consequences.


Asked to explain what these ‘unforeseen consequences’ could be, Dixit had told Jayawardene that military aid may be given by India to the LTTE leading to the possible dismemberment of Sri Lanka.” courtesy: The Hindu