By D.B.S. Jeyaraj Former Sri Lankan president Mahinda Rajapaksa’s interview to the influential Indian English daily “The Hindu” has caused quite a splash among political circles in Sri Lanka. The ex- president was interviewed by Suhasini Haidar and Amit Baruah for the newspaper which has acquired a reputation over the years of being the most …
Continue reading ‘Rajapaksa Family Politics And Gotabhaya’s Presidential Candidacy.’ »
By Shamindra Ferdinando Rebel UPFA MP S.B. Dissanayake has reiterated that the army executed some LTTE personnel including one-time LTTE Eastern Commander Thambiraja Thurairajasingham aka Ramesh after they surrendered to the advancing troops. The declaration was made in response to a media query at the residence of former Deputy Speaker and National List MP Tilanga …
By Shamindra Ferdinando The Joint Opposition (JO) yesterday declared that it was ready to work with India in spite of misconceptions that may have led to New Delhi’s backing for the change of the Rajapaksa government in January 2015. Former External Affairs Minister and Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) Chairman Prof. G. L. Peiris explained …
By Nirupama Rao (The author is a former Foreign Secretary of India who served as High Commissioner to Sri Lanka also) I am a Hindu by birth and by enduring faith. The house that I was born into that my grandfather built, had no special puja room — but the plaster of Paris statue of …
By D.B.S.Jeyaraj Ranasinghe Hettiarachchilage Ignatius Anthony de Silva, known to the world at large by his stage cum screen name Tony Ranasinghe, was one of Sri Lankan cinema’s handsomest and most lovable actors. He excelled in playing both lead and character roles. This column focused last week on Tony Ranasinge’s dynamic duality as a lead …
By S. Ratnajeevan H. Hoole Today, 15 September, 2018, saw one of the few really intellectual activities in Jaffna at Veerasingham Hall: the first C.W. Thamotharampillai Memorial Lecture. CWT was a legendary Tamil literatist of the nineteenth century credited with discovering some of the oldest extant Tamil literature like the Tolkapiyam and other lost Tamil …
By Sunil Tantirige A house talks…………Memories of a childhood long gone. I have just returned to Toronto from a short trip to Sri Lanka. I have been going back to the old country every year to visit my ailing mom but this trip was different. Let me explain. I grew up in Mount Lavinia, in …
President Maithripala Sirisena has given marching orders to his ambassador to Austria and five other embassy staff for failing to answer his long-distance telephone calls, officials said Saturday. Ambassador Priyanee Wijesekera was recalled after she failed to answer his calls last week and no responsible officer was there to respond to the President, an official …
Two former ministers who served during the Rajapaksa regime have admitted that LTTE members including Tamils who had surrendered to the Army had been killed. This allegation has been levelled against the Sri Lankan security forces for almost ten years by the war affected Tamil including the Diaspora and the international Human Rights Organisations, and …
By Anurangi Singh Officials of the Financial Unit of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) dropped another bombshell last week, when they filed a B report in the Colombo Magistrate’s Court, in a first step to filing legal action against former Minister Ravi Karunanayake, for allegedly making false statements under oath before the Presidential Commission investigating …
By The “Sunday Observer” Political Editor At 3.30 am on September 10, Admiral Ravindra Wijeguneratne, the country’s highest ranking military official, boarded a Qatar Airways flight bound for Singapore. The Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) was travelling overseas to attend the 208th National Day celebrations in Mexico, according to his Office. The trouble was, September …
By Manopriya Gunasekara The Criminal Investigations Division (CID) yesterday filed a case against former Finance Minister MP Ravi Karunanayake at the Colombo Magistrate’s Court for giving false evidence to the Presidential Commission of Inquiry into the Central Bank bond scam. The CID giving statements before Court said that MP Karunanayake had intentionally given false evidence …
President Maithripala Sirisena summoned an emergency cabinet meeting to defend the country’s senior-most military officer who is facing imminent arrest for allegedly shielding a mass murder suspect, but failed to secure agreement. The noon meeting of the cabinet ended after heated exchanges, sources close to the administration said adding that the President failed in get …
By Shamindra Ferdinando Continuing controversy over Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) Ravi Wijegunaratne, wanted by the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) in connection with allegedly aiding and abetting Lt. Commander Chandana Prasad Hettiarachchi, a suspect in two major wartime cases, leaving for Mexico on Sept. 10 has taken a dramatic turn with the Tamil National Alliance …
Internationally acclaimed award -winning Sri Lankan Dr.Tanya Ekanayaka’s second solo album will be released worldwide by Naxos Records on September 14th 2018. The album titled “Twelve Piano Prisms” comprises 12 new works for solo piano which evolved in 2016 and 2017.Dr.Tanya Ekanayaka herself performs the works/prisms in the album recorded by Roderick Buchanan-Dunlop and produced …
By Suhasini Haidar and Amit Baruah Former Sri Lankan President Mr. Mahinda Rajapaksa is in Delhi to deliver a public lecture on Wednesday on “India-Sri Lanka relations: the way ahead”. Speaking to The Hindu, the former President, who says he is “100%” confident his party will come to power in 2019, proposed a new mechanism …
President Maithripala Sirisena should take the responsibility for Chief of Defence Staff Admiral Ravindra Wijegunaratne leaving the country to participate in 208th Independence Commemoration Ceremony of United Mexican States, Sarath Wijesuriya, co-convener of the National Movement for Social Justice told the media yesterday.
Launching a scathing attack on the national carrier, President Maithripala Sirisena today said he was served “unedible cashew nuts” on a flight to Colombo last week. Addressing a farmers’ event in Hambantota this monring, an angry Sirisena asked who approved unedible cashew for the national carrier. “I returned to Colombo from Nepal via New Delhi …
By Priyan Dias Much rhetoric has been used in various media over the years, and recently too, on the subject of patriots and traitors. I feel constrained to express my views as well. Samuel Johnson in his Dictionary (1755) defined a patriot as “One whose ruling passion is the love of his country.” This is …
BY K.S. Udaya Kumar President’s Counsel Romesh de Silva PC who appeared for former Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa submitted that the Special High Court has no jurisdiction to hear and determine the action in the case where he is indicted with misappropriation in the construction of the D.A. Rajapaksa Memorial Museum at Weeraketiya. All the …
Mount Lavinia Additional Magistrate Lochana Abeywickrama yesterday authorized the CID to question former Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa and former Army Commander Sarath Fonseka on the abduction and torture of senior journalist Keith Noyahr in 2008.
By Camelia Nathaniel Former Navy Commander and Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) Admiral Ravindra Wijegunaratne had been summoned by the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) to give a statement yesterday but he had left the country on an official tour, CID sources said. Speaking to the Daily News a CID official said that Admiral Ravindra Wijegunaratne …
By Lakmal Sooriyagoda The Permanent High Court-at-Bar set up to hear high-profile financial frauds and corruption cases yesterday served indictments on former Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa and six others. This is in connection with an incident that the D.A. Rajapaksa Museum and Memorial in Medamulana was built using public funds amounting to Rs.33.9 million. When …
President Maithripala Sirisena said that he is scheduled to address the UN General Assembly on September 24 and he would make a statement to vindicate the Security Forces from all allegations levelled against them. President Sirisena was speaking at the SLFP Nivitigala Bala Mandala meeting held at the Nivitigala public fair premises, on Saturday.
Former Navy Commander and Current Chief of Defence Staff Admiral Ravi Wijegunaratne Who was scheduled to present himself at the Criminal Investigations Department(CID) Headquarters in Colombo on Monday Sep 10th 2018 morning at 10 am to record a statement has left the country on an earlier flight instead of appearing before Police as required. Admiral …
By Darshana Sanjeewa Former Navy Commander and Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) Admiral Ravindra Wijegunaratne had been summoned by the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) to give a statement today, CID sources said. He was summoned to give a statement with regard to the abduction of 11 youths in 2008 and 2009.
By D.B.S.Jeyaraj When Sri Lanka known then as Ceylon obtained full freedom from British rule on February 4th 1948, the second largest ethnic community in the Island were the Tamils of recent Indian origin and not the Sri Lankan Tamil community. The 1ast official census before Ceylon got Dominion Status and then Independence from the …
Continue reading ‘Pragmatic Politics of Plantation Tamil Leader Saumiyamoorthy Thondaman’ »
By D.B.S.Jeyaraj Several dashing and debonair actors have graced the Sinhala silver screenover the years. Arguably the most lovable among these cinematic heroes wasthe dynamic Tony Ranasinghe who acted in both lead as well as character roles. Tony Ranasinghe who was born on 31 July 1937 entered the film world in the early sixties of …
A rampant Sri Lanka outplayed Singapore 69-50 on Sunday (Sept 9) in the final of the M1 Asian Netball Championship at the OCBC Arena to win their first Asian title since 2009. The young Sri Lankan side showed that they had the depth to complement their 2.08m goal-shooter Tharjini Sivalingam with three other players in …
Fonterra Brands Sri Lanka has indicated that it has no plans to change its policy on the languages used in the packaging of its milk products in Sri Lanka. Reacting to scathing comments and threatened governmental action for violating the country’s language policy, Fonterra Brands Sri Lanka said that it has a uniform policy in …
By The Sunday Observer Political Editor In his haste to get somewhere fast, the young MP from Hambantota proved last Wednesday that he could really jeopardise his father’s dreams for the future: “Everything the light touches is our kingdom.”– Mufasa, Lion King September 5, 2018 was supposed to be much more than just a mass …
By Azhar Razak, Aanya Wipulasena, Indunil Usgoda Arachchi, Rajitha Jagoda Arachchi There was an air of anticipation in Colombo on the morning of September 5. The day had finally dawned of the ‘Janabalaya’ rally organised by the Joint Opposition led by the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) which was slated to be the largest protest …
Continue reading ‘Janabalaya Kolombata Comes to Colombo : Crowds,Carnival and Confusion’ »
By Anurangi Singh After three years of investigations and mounting accusations about delayed justice in corruption cases, former Defence Secretary, Gotabaya Rajapaksa, arguably the most powerful member of the previous administration, will be indicted tomorrow (10), on charges of misappropriating tens of millions in public funds while his brother was President, to build a memorial …
By Lakmal Sooriyagoda Northern Province Chief Minister and former Supreme Court Judge C.V. Wigneswaran and three others appeared before the Court of Appeal yesterday over a complaint that they have intentionally acted in contempt of the Court of Appeal order. When the application came up before Justice Janak de Silva, the three respondents Northern Province …
By Kamani Alwis Former Child Affairs State Minister Vijayakala Maheswaran is to be indicted before the Court of Appeal under Article 157/A 3 for alleged violation of the provisions of the Constitution. According to section 157A (1) of the Constitution, no person shall, directly or indirectly in or outside Sri Lanka, support, espouse, promote, finance, …
By Lakmal Sooriyagoda The Supreme Court on Wednesday re-fixed for support on September 28, the special leave to appeal filed by Northern Province Chief Minister C.V. Wigneswaran challenging the Court of Appeal’s Interim Order to prevent Wigneswaran’s decision to remove B. Denishwaran from functioning as the Fisheries and Transport Minister in the Province.
By Camelia Nathaniel The ‘Jana Balaya Kolambata’ protest campaign organised by the Joint Opposition (JO) had failed to get the desired outcome and turned out to be a flop while one person had died and 16 people were admitted to the Colombo National Hospital. “One person who had died on admission to the Colombo National …
By Anura Balasuriya and Rathinda Kuruvita Former President Mahinda Rajapaksa yesterday said that the Joint Opposition (JO) had been compelled to launch ‘Jana Balaya Colombata’ campaign as the Sirisena-Wickremesinghe government had deprived it of the post of the Opposition Leader. Rajapaksa said that the government had recognized the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentary group consisting …
By Chathuri Dissanayake Nearly 3,000 loyalists of former President Mahinda Rajapaksa yesterday occupied the Lake House Roundabout in Fort and held a ‘sathyagraha’ after the ‘Janabalaya Colombata’ protest march organised by the Joint Opposition (JO) was wrapped up. The Government members discredited the campaign as unsuccessful as it had failed to garner support from the …
Full of sound and fury, the Joint Opposition-Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna Janabalaya demonstration reached Colombo Fort yesterday, but the protest took on a carnival like atmosphere with no major political speeches or centralized coordination to drive its key messages home. The rally, which was set up to be a launch pad for Hambantota District MP …
The “Jana Balaya Kolambata” protest campaign has seemingly come to an end despite claims by Joint Opposition MPs to protest overnight and lay siege to the capital city. JO activists started cleaning up the Lake House roundabout and the roads leading up to the area indicating that they had no plans to continue. The Colombo …
Despite National Freedom Front leader Wimal Weerawansa’s pledge to protest in Colombo over night, large swathes of protesters have already packed up and left the Lake House roundabout, our reporters said. The rest of the crowd, however, are currently holding a candlelight vigil at the Lake House roundabout. As of 10 Pm, none of the …
Sri Lankan MPs, loyal to former President Mahinda Rajapaksa, on Wednesday took part in a massive protest rally in capital Colombo. Businesses, shops and schools closed by noon, resulting in Colombo coming to a virtual halt. The protest titled ‘Janabalaya Colombata’ was spearheaded by Rajapaksa’s eldest son and MP, Namal Rajapaksa. The JO expected over …
Former president Mahinda Rajapaksa’s supporters kept up a demonstration outside Lake House after a brief march from the Bo Tree junction. Party officials said they planned to stay overnight in Colombo. President Rajapaksa and his former defence secretary brother Gotabhaya spent a brief time with the protesters, but were expected to re-join the crowd later …
The Cabinet of Ministers today decided to empower the Police to shoot unruly protestors with rubber bullets below their knees if they disrupt civilian life in Colombo tomorrow. The decision was made with regard to the protest march organized by the Joint Opposition tomorrow under the theme ‘Jana Balaya Kolambata.’
Opposition activists loyal to former president Mahinda Rajapaksa plan to stay overnight in Colombo after staging protests on Wednesday, party sources said. The Joint Opposition rally spearheaded by Rajapaksa’s legislator son Namal hope to bring 200,000 supporters to Colombo in what they promise will be a show of force greater than their May Day demonstration …
Parliamentarians and leading activists of the Joint Opposition met in Colombo, a short while ago, to discuss final arrangements for their protest rally in Colombo tomorrow. The meeting, chaired by former President Mahinda Rajapaksa was conducted by Parliamentarian Namal Rajapaksa.
By Ishara Mudugamuwa Finance and Mass Media Minister Mangala Samaraweera yesterday said that today’s JO protest is a Bili Poojawa (Sacrifice) in the name of MP Namal Rajapaksa to cover up their past wrongdoings. “This protest is aimed at influencing the judiciary and not forming a government,” he said. Addressing the media at the Finance …
By Dr.Dayan Jayatilleka Mervyn de Silva wrote a brief bio-data on the smaller-sized of the Lanka Guardian notepaper/ letterheads in the last years of his life. It was rearranged into a narrative and appeared on the back cover of ‘Crisis Commentaries: Selected Political Writings of Mervyn de Silva’ published by the International Center for Ethnic …
President Maithripala Sirisena has ordered that information of the three armed forces be not given in connection with ongoing court cases into murders and disappearances, ‘Anidda’ reports. He issued the order at a meeting on August 28 at his Paget Road residence attended by the defence secretary, chief of defence staff and top defence and …
By Hafeel Farisz Friends and family of 25-year-old Kamar Nizamdeen, who was arrested by the New South Wales Police on Thursday for alleged ‘terrorism’ charges, claimed that Nizamdeen was framed. “He was an open minded Muslim who has been framed by someone with immense jealousy in heart. Jealousy on his accolades, his position and the …
Australian law enforcement authorities today announced that the New South Wales student accused of documenting plans in a notebook to assassinate two senior Australian politicians is the nephew of a Sri Lankan cabinet minister. The ABC revealed Mohamed Nizamdeen, 25, is related to Sri Lankan MP Faiszer Musthapha, who is the country’s Sports and Local …
By Shamindra Ferdinando The Joint Opposition has rejected Speaker Karu Jayasuriya’s invitation to join a parliamentary group invited by the Lok Sabha as a protest against Jayasuriya’s decision not to recognise the JO as the legitimate opposition. JO parliamentary group leader Dinesh Gunawardena yesterday told The Island that the grouping wouldn’t help the Sirisena-Wickremesinghe duo …
By D.B.S.Jeyaraj “Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall, Humpty Dumpty had a great fall; All the king’s horses and all the king’s men Couldn’t put Humpty together again.” – Nursery Rhyme Northern province chief minister Canagasabapathy Viswalingam Wigneswaran is a retired Supreme court judge. Much was expected of CV Wigneswaran when he was first elected …
Continue reading ‘Wigneswaran, Sampanthan and the Presidential Task Force Boycott Issue’ »
By Kishali Pinto Jayawardene The progress of ongoing criminal investigations into the grisly killing of several Tamil youths following a racket of abduction for ransom, spearheaded ‘allegedly’ (here, I use the term quite deliberately) by a Naval officer and others during 2008-2009 will be the crucible on which this Government and this Presidency’s commitment to …
By Maneshka Borham The Naganathan residence on Shoe Road, Kotahena is dark and dreary. Inside, it is as though time has stood still for the once happy Naganathan family, since the abduction of their son, Rajiv Naganathan, almost 10 years ago by a suspected, organized Navy abduction for ransom gang. Since his disappearance, Rajiv’s parents, …
Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka Chairperson Dr. Deepika Udagama believes attitudes of the people must change for the country to move forward and adequately address the sufferings of families of disappeared persons. “We should not look at this through a political or racist perspective,” she said, and pointed out that some harbour negative feelings …
By Leon Berenger A total of 62,338 Sri Lankans are currently on the country’s blacklist and are prevented from leaving the country, unless they obtain prior Court approval, senior State intelligence sources revealed yesterday. According to the sources, who cannot be named for obvious reasons, the figure includes close to a 30,000 security force personnel …
By Manekshaw A mammoth gathering of protestors in Mullaitivu on Tuesday (28) chanted slogans to halt colonization under the Mahaweli System L in the Northern Province being carried out with State patronage. The Northern Provincial Council has been agitating that land powers under the 13th Amendment be granted to it. However, it was evident from …
A team of Sri Lankan judicial officers visited the United States recently on a US government sponsored tour. The last item on their itinerary was a visit to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) headquarters.
President Maithripala Sirisena will recommended to the Constitutional Council the appointment of Attorney General Jayantha Jayasuriya as the new Chief Justice. The present incumbent Priyasath Dep retires next month.
Arrangements are in place for the long-awaited arrest of Sri Lanka’s senior-most military officer in connection with an extortion racket and the horrific murder of 11 young men, official sources said. The Colombo Fort magistrate on Wednesday ordered the arrest of Admiral Ravindra Wijegunaratne after the CID said it had evidence of him shielding the …
It was a lavish, fairy-tale wedding for more than 1,500 guests at one of Sri Lanka’s best known addresses on Thursday (Aug 30) Chatura, the son of Health Minister Rajitha Senaratne, and a parliamentarian himself was given in marriage by his father Rajitha Senaratne at a gala wedding ceremony at ‘Temple Trees’ – the official …
(Excerpted from the “Sunday Times”Political Column of September 2nd 2018) Wednesday’s protest rally by the ‘Joint Opposition’ has come under heavy focus of leaders of the ruling coalition. Whilst the ‘JO’ wants to induct large crowds, coalition leaders want to do just the opposite — prevent as many from taking part. Indications of who will …
By Lucien Rajakarunanayake Public interest in the handling of fraud and crime that prevailed under the Rajapaksa Regime shows a new interest with the action by the Permanent High Court Trial-at-Bar over two key figures in the past regime. Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, brother of Mahinda Rajapaksa and former Defence Secretary, and six others, were noticed to …
Former Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, yesterday, issued a statement urging people to join the planned Joint Opposition protest in Colombo on Sept 5. Alleging that there are also dangerous and concerted efforts to compromise peace and reconciliation in the pursuit of personal political interests, the war veteran said that it was evident in the ongoing …
By Chitra Weerarathne The Court of Appeal yesterday refused Ven. Galagodaatte Gnanasara thera, leave to appeal to the Supreme Court against the recent judgment of the Court, which convicted him of contempt of court and sentenced him to rigorous imprisonment for six years. The Court of Appeal recently convicted the Venerable Galagodaatte Gnanasara thera of …
By Kaushi Sendanayake It is not a matter of whether Mahinda Rajapaksa can contest for the Presidency once again or not, as long as whoever becomes the President at the next election forms a Government with him (Mahinda) as the Prime Minister, former Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa said. He was responding media queries after appearing …
A 25-year-old Sri-Lankan named M. Nizamdeen was arrested over suspected terror-related offences in Australia. The Australian law enforcement authorities said he was in Sydney on a student visa, and was arrested after finding “symbolic locations within Sydney” listed as possible targets in his notebook Officers from NSW’s Joint Counter Terrorism Team (JCTT) arrested Mohamed Nizamdeen …
speaking in Sinhala in Galle All the problems of Tamil People won’t b solved by a new Constitution, but a new Constitution is fundamental. Without this, no issue an be addressed, said TNA Spokesman M. A. Sumanthiran speaking in Sinhala an an event in Galle on Constitutional Reform.
Indian politician Dr. Subramanian Swamy said former Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa should be given the Bharat Ratna award for freeing Sri Lanka and India from the LTTE terrorism. “Just as we have awarded Bharat Ratna to Mandela for freeing his people we should award MR for freeing his people and Bharatiyas from LTTE terror,” …
By B Sivakumar and D Govardan No other political prince in India would have waited so long for the coronation. And when it happened on Tuesday, 21 days after his father M Karunanidhi passed away, Stalin sought to accept the DMK crown with humility and hope, promise and poise. Elected unopposed as DMK president at …
By Anbarasan Ethirajan of BBC News in Mannar Experts in northern Sri Lanka are trying to identify the remains of dozens of bodies in a mass grave in the country’s former war zone. So far the skeletal remains of more than 90 people have been unearthed in the north-western town of Mannar. The mass grave …
(text of a Press Release Issued by the Tamil National Alliance Media Office on 28.08.2018) The Meeting of the Presidential Task Force on the Development of the North and East took place yesterday (27.08.2018) at the Presidential Secretariat. The meeting was presided over by His Excellency the President. Several ministers and government members of Parliament …
By The Sunday Observer” Political Editor It came like a bolt from the blue. All of a sudden, the concerted preoccupation of the Rajapaksa proxy Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) and Joint Opposition camp is to push the theory that the former President, twice elected and once defeated in presidential elections over a decade, can …
By Meera Srinivasan Sri Lankan authorities have excavated nearly 100 skeletons at a mass grave in Mannar, located in Sri Lanka’s Northern Province, where state armed forces and Tamil rebels clashed in a 30-year civil war. According to local media reports, some locals living in the Tamil-majority province, whose relatives went missing during and after …
By P.K.Balachandran The port town of Trincomalee in Eastern Sri Lanka is known for its scenic beauty eminently qualified to be featured in the National Geographic Channel. But historically,it has been noted for something very different – its strategic value as a naval base. Trincomalee’s military value had been grasped by world powers from the …
China, through top level diplomatic channels, has asked from the Sri Lankan government if a “discomforted neighbour” was behind the protests in Jaffna against the housing project funded by Beijing, Asian Mirror learns. This comes in the wake of the public resistance to the Chinese-funded project to build 40,000 houses in the Jaffna district.
By Manopriya Gunasekara The Special High Court yesterday issued summons to Former Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa and five others to appear before the Court on 10 September over misappropriation of funds to erect the D. A. Rajapaksa statue in Weeraketiya, Madamulana. The case, heard as the second in the Special High Court,was filed under the …
By Dr Reeza Hameed The Nineteenth Amendment has once again become the subject of controversy, and its current focus concerns the provision in the Nineteenth Amendment that disqualifies the same person from being elected as President for more than two terms. The two-term limit is not a constitutional innovation. A provision imposing a term limit …
By D.B.S.Jeyaraj The rise and growth of “political families” is a common occurrence in Sri Lanka. Ever since the Island known formerly as Ceylon gained limited forms of representative democracy through the Legislative and State Councils during British rule, the practice of members of the same family seeking posts through elections became widely prevalent. The …
Continue reading ‘“Medamulana Mahinda” and the Political Rise Of “Ruhunu Rajapaksas”’ »
By P.K.Balachandran The United States and Japan have both cast their eyes on the Eastern Sri Lankan port of Trincomalee to counterbalance the presence of the Chinese in Hambantota in the South and Colombo in the West and its growing clout around the Bay of Bengal. The Trincomalee harbor was meant to be a major …
Senior Army officer Major General (retired) Chagie Gallage had revealed that it was former Army Commander Field Marshal Sarath Fonseka who ordered to take the LTTE uniform off Velupillai Prabhakaran’s dead body. Prabhakaran’s dead body was found from the Nandikadal area on the morning of May 19, 2009, following heavy gunfire. Gallage was a Brigade …
No ‘politics’ was discussed at the meeting between President Maithripala Sirisena and former President Mahinda Rajapaksa at the latter’s residence in Medamula this morning, a highly placed source close to the former President told Asian Mirror. The discussion took place afer Sirisena paid last respect to the former President’s deceased brother, Chandra Rajapaksa, at the …
President Maithripala Sirisena visited the Medamulana residence of former President Mahinda Rajapaksa this morning to pay last respect to Chadra Tudor Rajapaksa, the younger brother of the former President. Sirisena was first greeted by former Speaker Chamal Rajapaksa. Then former President Mahinda Rajapaksa also joined him.
By Lakmal Sooriyagoda The Attorney General (AG) yesterday filed indictments in the Permanent High Court-at-Bar against former Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa and six others including former Chairman and members of the director board of the Land Reclamation and Development Corporation (LRDC). This is in connection an incident that the D.A. Rajapaksa Museum and Memorial in …
Sri Lanka’s government may have set a record in the history of Westminster parliamentary system by voting Friday to defeat a crucial de-limitation report it had commissioned and introduced in the House. Minister Faiszer Musthapha also voted against the “Report of the Delimitation Committee for the Delimitation of electorates in Provincial Councils” which he himself …
The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) on Thursday turned down Northern Province Chief Minister C.V. Wigneswaran’s request to boycott the meeting of the Presidential Special Task Force on Northern Development which is scheduled to be held on August 27. TNA Parliamentarians at a meeting held at the Opposition Leader’s office under the patronage of TNA leader …
by Saman Indrajith Minister Field Marshal Sarath Fonseka railed against police Special Task Force (STF) Commandant Senior DIG M.R. Latheef making a controversial statement in Parliament yesterday. The minister used the time allocated to him in the Parliamentary debate to speak on the recent arrests of his political supporters, trying hard to convince that those …
By Saman Indrajith Minister of Development Strategies and International Trade Malik Samarawickrama informed Parliament that the Attorney General had said that there was no need to present the Sri Lanka-Singapore Free Trade Agreement to Parliament. The Minister said so when Ministers Lakshman Kiriella and Arjuna Ranatunga contradicted each other in Parliament yesterday while speaking on …
By Kavindya Perera Colombo Chief Magistrate Ranga Dissanayake yesterday recalled the notice issued on former Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who had been ordered to appear before the Colombo Chief Magistrate’s Court on 7 September, as a suspect in the case where he is alleged to have misappropriated State funds to the tune of Rs. 90 …
By D.B.S.Jeyaraj Muttuvel Karunanidhi, known to the Tamil-speaking world as “Kalaignar” (artiste),passed away at the age of 94 in Chennai on 7 August. Karunanidhi had been Chief Minister of India’s Tamil Nadu state for a total of 19 years. Hewas Chief Minister of Tamil Nadufive times from 1969-71, 1971-76, 1989-91,1996-2001 and 2006-11. No other Tamil …
by D.B.S.Jeyaraj The recent release and box-office success of the Telugu biographical movie‘Mahanati’ (Great Actress) has created a great deal of interest inthe famous South Indian actress Savitri. The bio-pic simultaneously released in Tamil as ‘Nadigaiyar Thilagham’ (Doyenne of Actresses) is about yesteryear actress K.Savitri who was known as Savitri Ganesh after she married Tamil …
Continue reading ‘The Sweet and Sour Real Life Romance of Reel Actors Savitri and Gemini’ »
Former Chief Justice Sarath Silva may have openly violated constitution by presenting himself as legal counsel for ex-president Mahinda Rajapaksa who was questioned by police in connection with the abduction of journalist Keith Noyahr. Official sources noted that the police Criminal Investigation Department (CID informed the Mount Lavinia Magistrate that Silva was present as part …
by Lakdev Liyanagama Three and a half years after he was ousted from power, former President Mahinda Rajapaksa was the focus of attention last week. Although some of the reasons for the publicity Rajapaksa generated may not have been to his liking, other events may have reignited presidential ambitions for the country’s fifth Executive President. …
Plans are afoot to start a United National Party breakaway party under the leadership of the party’s former General Secretary Tissa Attanayake, Asian Mirror reliably learns. Although the new party will not align itself with the SLFP or the Joint Opposition, it will pressurise the government to protect the interests of the UNPers. “It is …
By Colonel R Hariharan The passing away of Muthuvel Karunanidhi, 94, last of the leaders groomed in the Dravidian stable of rationalist godfather “Periyar” EV Ramasamy Naicker, leaves a huge void in Tamil Nadu politics. The leader, endearingly called Kalaignar (pronounced kalainyar, meaning gifted scholar) by his party cadres, was a man for all seasons. …
By Kishali Pinto Jayawardene The three years during which Sri Lanka breathed (or was it gasped?) in freedom’ seems to be the rather messily translated refrain which the United National Party at least is trumpeting to all and sundry as this month (August 2018) notes three years of the National Unity government being voted into …
(Text of Editorial Appearing in “The Island” of August 21st 2018 Under the Heading “Why this hullabaloo?) Mahinda has set the cat among the pigeons, as is his wont. He has got his backers in the Joint Opposition (JO) to say he can run for President again. This argument is not of recent origin, though. …
In a letter to President Maitripala Sirisena with regard to the imprisonment of Bodu Bala Sena general secretary Ven. Galagodaathte Gnanasara Thera, the Mahayanayake of the Kotte chapter of the Siyam Nikaya, the Most Ven. Ittapane Dhammalankara Thera has highlighted several points including the one that if monks who speak on behalf of the people …
By Manopriya Gunasekera The Presidential Commission to inquire into allegations of large scale frauds and malpractices in SriLankan Airlines, SriLankan Catering Ltd and Mihin Lanka (Pvt) Ltd has issued notices to four persons including former Defense Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa and former SriLankan Airlines Chairman Nishantha Wickremesinghe to appear before it.
By Shamindra Ferdinando Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) Chairman Prof. G. L. Peiris will soon move the District Court, seeking a clarification as regards President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s eligibility to contest the 2019 presidential election. Prof. Peiris revealed his party’s plan, yesterday, at a media briefing at the Nelum Mawatha Office of former President Rajapaksa. Former …
By Shavini Madhara Making a statement on the abduction and assault on Nation Newspaper Deputy Editor Keith Noyarh in 2008, former President Mahinda Rajapaksa informed the CID that he could not remember if there was a journalist called Keith Noyarh at the time of the alleged assault incident, the prosecution informed court yesterday. Senior State …
By Meera Srinivasan Sri Lanka’s former President Mahinda Rajapaksa, who served two consecutive terms in office from 2005 to 2015, appears keen on a third, despite a legislation barring him from contesting. “There is an opinion that I can contest again, we need to find out if I am eligible,” he told reporters, on the …
By Shamindra Ferdinando The Northern Province Governor Reginald Cooray has denied allegations that he was planning to construct two Buddhist temples in one-time LTTE stronghold Kilinochchi soon after the dissolution of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) run Northern Provincial Council later this year. Cooray, a former MP said so in response to Northern Chief Minister …
By Amali Mallawaarachchi Former President Mahinda Rajapaksa is not qualified to contest the upcoming Presidential election, Higher Education Minister Wijeyedasa Rajapakshe said yesterday. He said that according to the provisions of the 19th Amendment to the Constitution, a former President is barred from contesting any Presidential election. The provisions stipulate that no President can hold …
By D.B.S. Jeyaraj Favourite Film Songs – 8 Madurai Shanmugavadivu Subbulakshmi known as MS Subbulakshmi or more popularly as ‘MS’was a sublime singer who ruled the Indian classical music world for over five decades.Blessed with a divine voice,immeasurable talent and ethereal beauty she captivated the hearts and minds of innumerable fans. MS was acknowledged at …
Prof. G.L.Peiris, a former Sri Lankan Minister for Constitutional Affairs who is currently one of the leaders of the Joint Opposition (JO), has said that there is no constitutional bar against any person being President of Sri Lanka more than twice, even though the 19 th.Amendment (19A) enacted in 2015 says that a person cannot …
by Jayadeva Uyangoda Political discussions in the country at present are largely dominated by questions around two themes: which individual will win the next presidential election and which political party will win the next parliamentary election. These are no doubt important questions, but there is a more serious political question about what will happen to …
There is no lacuna or provision in the 19th Amendment and its application for legal arguments to be made that former President Mahinda Rajapaksa is eligible to contest in the upcoming 2019 presidential election, a top constitutional expert said, amid frantic attempts by the Joint Opposition to push for a third term for the controversial …
By Dr Nihal Jayawickrama One of the declared objectives of the Government in introducing the Bill for the 19th Amendment to the Constitution was to restore the provision that no person who had been twice elected to the office of President by the People shall be qualified thereafter to be elected to such office by …