By Aruni Mallawaarchchi and Premalal Wijeratne The mystery of textile trader Mohammed Sulaiman’s death is now resolved. The killers had no more chance to hide the truth. They have confessed to the crime and are now repenting. Mohammed Sulaiman was abducted in the night of 21 August as he was returning home from a party. …
By PK Balachandran On September 3, the chief monk of the Sri Lankan Buddhist temple in Sentul was assaulted by a small group of demonstrators who were against Rajapaksa visiting the temple, Free Malaysia Today reported. Members of the Malaysian Indian Progressive Association, Malaysian Tamilan, and the Malaysian Indian Education Transformation Association began their protest …
Kuala Lumpur: Malaysian police said Monday they have arrested five people over the Sunday’s attack on Sri Lanka’s High Commissioner to Malaysia, Ibrahim Sahib Ansar. The Sri Lankan High Commissioner was assaulted by a group of persons at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport on Monday leaving him with minor injuries.
The Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs summoned the High Commissioner of Malaysia to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs this morning, 5 September to express the condemnation of the Government of Sri Lanka, on the assault carried out by a group of persons on 4 September, on Sri Lanka’s High Commissioner to Malaysia, in …
By Chamodi Gunawardana Upon returning to Sri Lanka from Malaysia, former President Mahinda Rajapaksa yesterday charged that President Maithripala Sirisena had “betrayed” the Sri Lanka Freedom Party’s (SLFP) strategies by co-governing with the United National Party (UNP) and extending the agreement. Responding to Sirisena’s request to gather around the SLFP to strengthen the party’s roots, …
This is a story that will shock Sri Lankans who believe in good governance or yaha palanaya with the advent of the present Government. Sri Lanka joined China as a “Country Partner” in its Silk Road International Tourism Expo 2016 from August 26 to 28. The event was part of “One belt, One Road” project …
By P.K.Balachandran The Rajapaksa faction of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) boycotted the convention held to mark the 65 th. anniversary of the party at Kurunegala on Sunday, thereby keeping up the inner party struggle for power between former Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa and the incumbent President and party Chairman, Maithripala Sirisena. While …
By Dharisha Bastians In the strongest hint yet that the Sri Lanka Freedom Party is poised to break with the UPFA, President Maithripala Sirisena told his party’s 65th Convention that they would contest the upcoming local government polls under the SLFP’s traditional ‘hand’ symbol. “We are firing the first salvo towards forming a SLFP Government …
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday confirmed reports that Sri Lanka’s High Commissioner to Malaysia, Ibrahim Ansar had been assaulted by a group of persons at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport. “The Government of Sri Lanka condemns this act of violence on Sri Lanka’s High Commissioner in Malaysia, in the strongest terms. The High Commissioner …
By Charminda Rodrigo Sri Lanka’s High Commissioner to Malaysia, Ibrahim Anzar and the High Commission’s Second Secretary were subject to an assault near the Kuala Lampur Airport. Parliamentarian Johnston Fernando told Ceylon Today, “A group of LTTE sympathizers, who were protesting against former President Mahinda Rajapaksa, had surrounded the Sri Lankan Envoy and rigorously attacked …
Milinda Moragoda , a one-time UNP minister and later UPFA mayoral candidate for the city of Colombo, facilitated a meeting for the President with former Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa. A well informed source said their conversation covered a broad spectrum of views. The source was emphatic that Sirisena did not commit himself to any position …
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who deemed it fit to sermonize to Sri Lanka during his visit this week, is under fire for appointing his son-in-law, Siddharth Chatterjee, as UN Coordinator for East Africa last week. Mr. Ban is reported to have signed his appointment letter, according to media reports from the UN headquarters in New …
by DR. DAYAN JAYATILLEKA “In the way of resistance, there were few lonely voices…In the main, though, the foreigner took the Ceylonese upper class by the scruff of its neck…It was a class therefore destined for a rude shock…Meanwhile the masses lay dormant; watching, waiting, resentful.” (Mervyn de Silva, “1956: The Cultural Revolution That Shook …
By the “Sunday Times” Diplomatic Editor UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon caused controversy this week by categorising Sri Lanka alongside Rwanda and Srebenica to make a case for increased intervention by the United Nations in internal conflicts. Mr Ban’s comments were a departure from the prepared text of his speech ‘Sustainable Peace and Achieving Sustainable Development …
A battalion of officers and men from the Sri Lanka Army have been invited to join the United Nations Peacekeeping Force for operations in the northern areas of the West African nation of Mali. A batch of 500 troops will leave first and the rest will fly thereafter, according to Defence and Foreign Ministry sources.Mali …
By P.K.Balachandran The Tamil Peoples’ Council (TPC) ,a non-partisan body floated by the Northern Province Chief Minister C.V.Wigneswaran, is inviting people to join a mass protest in Jaffna on September 24, to demand a stop to the construction of Buddha statues and Buddhist temples in areas in the Northern Province where there are no Buddhists, …
By P.K.Balachandran. The visiting UN Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon, has not committed himself explicitly to the UN Human Rights Council’s demand that Sri Lanka should incorporate foreign judges in the Judicial Mechanism to be set up to try war crimes cases. Asked pointedly on his stand on the issue at a press conference here on …
by C.A.Chandraprema UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon last night deliberately avoided answering a question put to him by a journalist whether the UN was operating on the presumption that war crimes had, in fact, been committed in this country during the last stages of the war. The UNSG was addressing the media at the …
by Shamindra Ferdinando President Maithripala Sirisena has told UNSG Ban Ki-moon that a section of influential Tamil politicians severely have undermined the post-war national reconciliation process by demanding immediate solutions to long-standing problems. President Sirisena stressed that his administration expected to be allowed to address issues without encountering undue pressure. The President who is also …
By Charnika Imbulana Pallewatte Gamaralalage Maithripala Yapa Sirisena, who is known as Maithripala Sirisena, a Sri Lankan politician with 25 years in mainstream politics and one who does not belong to the Sri Lankan political elite, shot to fame to hold the highest mantle in the country on that famous date, 8 January 2015. Referred …
By Dharisha Bastians Northern Chief Minister C.V. Wigneswaran told visiting UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon in Jaffna yesterday that there could be no reconciliation without addressing accountability issues relating to the final stages of the war. Chief Minister Wigneswaran who secured a one-on-one meeting with the UN Chief separate from the Tamil National Alliance delegation, …
By Dharisha Bastians Reporting from Jaffna Disappearances, resettlement and detentions under the country’s draconian anti-terror legislation – all lingering issues from a 26 year civil war – took centre stage yesterday as UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon visited the formerly embattled Northern Province for the first time since 2009. During his four hour tour of …
Continue reading ‘UN Secretary –General Confronts Sri Lankas Lingering War Legacy in Jaffna’ »
Progressive Conservative candidate Raymond Cho has won the Scarborough-Rouge River provincial by election, held to replace former Liberal MPP Bas Balkissoon.With all 234 polls reporting, Cho won the seat by 2,429 votes. Eleven candidates ran in the Toronto riding, which has been a Liberal stronghold since its creation in 1999. They included Piragal Thiru for …
By Adrian Morrow Ontario’s Progressive Conservatives have triumphed in a key by-election after igniting a political firestorm over the province’s sexual-education curriculum. The victory in Scarborough-Rouge River on Thursday, which had been held by the Liberals since 1999, is a coup for PC Leader Patrick Brown, who is seeking to prove he can make inroads …
By M. S. M.Ayub The defeat in 2009 of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) which had overrun many huge military bases in the north and the east for over two decades would definitely have puzzled many in Sri Lanka as well as in other countries. It was an organisation that had overrun the …
by Shamindra Ferdinando The police yesterday dispersed a group of persons protesting outside the UN compound demanding an end to UN intervention in Sri Lanka. The protest got underway in the wake of outgoing UNSG Ban Ki-moon arriving in Colombo on Wednesday night for a two-day visit. The police prevented demonstrators led by Buddhist monks …
By Norman Palihawadana The Colombo Crime Division yesterday arrested two suspects wanted in connection with the kidnapping and killing of multi-millionaire textile businessman Mohamed Sakeeb Sulaiman. The police said that the two suspects aged 22 and 23 had demanded a ransom of Rs. 20 million from the father of the victim, two days after the …
by Sirinama Rajapakse Subsequent to the order issued by the Prime Minister to relevant authorities to provide a report after inquiring into the activities of the National Olympic Committee, various opinions were expressed regarding the list of names of people who participated at the Rio Olympics and the fact that the Secretary of the National …
By Ishara Rathnakara The Officer-In-Charge (OIC) of the Computer Crimes Investigation Division, of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID), Chief Inspector of Police S. K. Senaratne, informed Colombo Chief Magistrate Gihan Pilapitiya, last Tuesday (30) that investigations are being carried out to track down a suspect who is abroad and is alleged to have assisted in …
By Skandha Gunasekara Sarath Weerawansa, elder brother of former Minister of Construction, Engineering Services, Housing and Common Amenities Wimal Weerawansa, was arrested by the Financial Crimes Division yesterday on charges of misuse of State resources.
BY Cassendra Doole and Kavindya Chris Thomas Police yesterday arrested two men, aged 22 and 23, on suspicion of being involved in the abduction and killing of 29-year-old Bambalapitya businessman Mohamed Shakib Sulaiman, whose decomposing body was discovered near a landfill at Rukulagama in Mawanella-Hemmathagama on 24 August.
By Sulochana Ramiah Mohan Several Tamil politicians and local welfare organizations, that support the war victims, are set to take to the streets of Jaffna today (2) to draw the attention of visiting UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, while he is there. The awareness protest, organized by Tamil National People’s Front General Secretary Gajendrakumar Ponnambalam, …
By Sulochana Ramiah Mohan Chief Minister of the Northern Province C. V. Wigneswaran said he will explain to the Secretary General of the United Nations Ban Ki-moon the need for an international probe into alleged war crimes because, he said, “the locals cannot do it as they lack the will and impartiality”. The CM is …
By Dharisha Bastians Just two weeks after the passage of the Office of Missing Persons Act, human rights activists and politicians urged hundreds of families searching for missing loved ones to give the new mechanism a chance and take ownership of the process in order to ensure its success. An event to mark the International …
By Gihan Kamalesh Weerasinghe The Police Colombo Crimes Division (CCD) has begun probing the strong likelihood that billionaire businessman Mohammad Shakeeb Sulaiman of Bambalapitiya was brutally done to death by irate business competitors stemming from a dispute arising from a soured business deal or arising from debts owed to Sulaiman by some businessmen. Police sources …
Minister of Foreign Affairs Mangala Samaraweera in a startling revelation said that the leaders of Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) paid money to a defense official of the previous government to obtain safe passage out of the country. Minister Samaraweera said over 200 LTTE members, who have paid an official of the Ministry of …
By Shamindra Ferdinando Former Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa yesterday said that the government was working overtime to discredit the former Rajapaksa administration which had defeated terrorism against numerous odds. Gajaba Regiment veteran Rajapaksa said that those who had been demanding Geneva-supervised probe into accountability issues were now accusing him of helping terrorists escape. The former …
By P.K.Balachandran The Chief Minister of Sri Lanka’s Tamil majority Northern Province, C.V.Wigneswaran, has managed to get a separate meeting with the visiting UN Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon, after being clubbed together with other leaders of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) for a full-scale official session with the UN chief when he comes to Jaffna …
By Lakmal Sooriyagoda The Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption yesterday filed a corruption case against eight persons including former Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, and three former Navy Commanders for allegedly causing a sum of Rs.11.4 billion unlawful loss to the government when giving permission to the Avant-Garde Maritime Services (Pvt) Ltd to …
By Gagani Weerakoon Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe has ordered officials to call explanations from the Sports Ministry Secretary for allegedly having downplayed the report on the National Olympics Committee. The PM recently ordered an investigation into the activities of the National Olympic Committee (NOC), specifically directing officials that the complete report should include NOC activities …
By DR. DAYAN JAYATILLEKA What Mr. Sampanthan did not say in Matara recently was as important as what he did say. What he said was as follows: “…This Constitution is going to be framed one with the framework of a united, undivided and indivisible Sri Lanka…We do not want this country to be divided. But …
(In a historic first official visit Down South to Matara, Opposition Leader and Tamil National Alliance MP R. Sampanthan talks about the connection between Buddhism and Hinduism and the importance of Sinhala-Tamil unity. Following are excerpts from the speech he delivered at the passing out ceremony of vocationally trained younth of the Sammadhi Community Development …
By Bandula Jayasekara Due to the friendly relations between Sri Lanka and Japan, the Japanese government requested the International Olympic Committee to let Sri Lanka host the next Olympics. International Olympic Committee readily agreed and it has been already notified to all other countries. This week the cabinet of Ministers will meet at the Independence …
Continue reading ‘If the Next Olympic Games were to be held in Sri Lanka: An Imaginative Exercise’ »
By Upul Joseph Fernando Sri Lanka media are keeping an intense watch on the Indian High Commissioner who has the capacity to change the Cabinet of Sri Lanka (SL). This is because India is also our neighbour. No sooner the name Taranjit Singh Sandhu was mentioned, and he was appointed as the new Indian High …
By Dr.Dayan Jayatilleka QUESTION ONE How is it that the much-celebrated peace agreement heralding national reconciliation in Colombia between its FARC guerrillas and Columbia’s President Dos Santos just signed in Havana in the presence of President Raul Castro, ending over half a century of civil war, opts under the rubric of Transitional Justice for restorative …
By P.K.Balachandran The United Nations, the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) and the Sri Lankan government have combined to sideline Sri Lanka’s Northern Province Chief Minister C.V.Wigneswaran in the itinerary drawn up for the visit of UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to Sri Lanka from August 31 to September 2. The Secretary General will not be …
By Vishwamithra 1984 “Building Buddhist temples, placing statues under Bo-trees have negated reconciliation efforts”, making a very potentially-unpopular observation, Rajitha Senaratne, Minister of Health, Nutrition and Indigenous Medicine, however, could not have uttered truer words. Hailing from a Buddhist background, educated in the two leading Buddhist schools in Sri Lanka, firstly at Nalanda College and …
By P.K.Balachandran The teenager ,who had hacked the official website of the President of Sri Lanka, Maithripala Sirisena, has been sent to a probationary home for rehabilitation while his 26 year old accomplice has been remanded by the Colombo Chief Magistrate. The names of the two accused have not been revealed.
By P.K. Balachandran M.K. Shivajilingam, Tamil politician and a relation of the slain Tamil Tiger chieftain Velupillai Prabhakaran, has said that he will assist Prabhakaran’s siblings, now living in India, Canada and Denmark, if they petition to the Sri Lankan Office of Missing Persons (OMP) to trace him. But given the fact that when their …
By Ranga Jayasuriya Former President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga says her father the late Prime Minister SWRD Bandaranaike brought the Sinhala Only Act to ‘give the country back to its people’ after centuries of colonial rule. She should sincerely be believing so, so do a sizeable portion of the Sinhalese majority who think the late prime …
By Shaahidah Riza Minister for Disaster Management and senior SLFP Member Anura Priyadarshana Yapa yesterday contradicted former President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s statement that the SLFP leadership was snatched from him. Yapa said, the transfer of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) leadership took place amicably. Speaking to Ceylon Today he added, “As far as I know, …
By Anjana Kaluarachchi in Dambulla On the day of his ODI retirement on Sunday (28) at Dambulla, Tillakaratne Dilshan kept the promise he made in 2012, (the time when he was forced to resign from the captaincy), by revealing some secrets he had kept bottled up throughout the next few years. He said he did …
By Gagani Weerakoon All documents and written evidence, pertaining to the controversial Rs 700 million IT project were handed over to Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe yesterday. Two board members of the People’s Bank, who were amongst those who challenged the proposed project to buy hardware for the digitalization of the bank, had personally gone to …
by Rathindra Kuruwita It was reported last week that a senior intelligence official, himself a Muslim from what I have gathered, has requested the National Security Council (NSC) to consider banning Sri Lankan Muslim women of wearing burqa or niqab. The proposal was squashed by Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and Ceylon Today on Sunday reported …
By Amantha Perera As Sri Lanka readies to begin the grim task of searching for thousands of war missing, those doing the tracing on the ground say that they still face intimidation and threats while doing their work. The government will set up the Office for Missing Persons (OMP) by October following its ratification in …
Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe has asked the sports authorities to explain why Sri Lanka’s Rio Olympics 2016 contingent comprised 46 officials and only nine athletes representing the country.
Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe will summon police top brass to Temple Trees this week to discuss ways and means of arresting the trend of escalating violence, killings and drug menace. Prime Minister Wickremesinghe on Friday met senior ministers including Law and Order and Southern Development Minister Sagala Ratnayake. He said there was no point in …
By C. A. Chandraprema It was only since last year that people have gradually become aware that the supply of coal to the Norochcholai power plant is by far the country’s biggest single tender worth more than Rs. 60 billion for a three years’ supply of 6.75 million metric tonnes. On 18 June 2014, a …
(Text of an Editorial Appearing in “The Island”of August 29th 2016 under the heading “Attacks on journalists;Elephant in the room and can of worms”) Investigations into attacks on journalists under the previous government took a dramatic turn last week with former Rivira Editor Upali Tennakoon and his wife, Dhammika, identifying a military intelligence officer who …
By Shyam Ganewatte The net worth of the Colombo Stock Exchange has decreased by Rs. 284 billion during the past one year, the latest statistics released by the Central Bank reveal. According to the just released issue of the Recent Economic Developments, the net worth of the Colombo Stock Exchange was Rs. 3,076,000,000 a year …
BY Kavindya Chris Thomas, Cassendra Doole, Shaahidah Riza and Methmalie Dissanayake Sri Lanka’s Computer Emergency Readiness Team (CERT) has taken various steps to ensure that President Maithripala Sirisena’s official website will in future not be vulnerable to hackers, following last week’s cyber attack that threatened a cyber war in the near future. Information Security Engineer …
Tamils continue to face discrimination in Sri Lanka, Firstpost India reported, quoting the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD)’s recently concluded periodic review of Sri Lanka’s implementation of its provisions. It said CERD committee member and country rapporteur for Sri Lanka Jose Francisco Cali Tzay had said the Tamil population continued …
By Sandun A Jayasekera The Presidential Secretariat (PS) has requested the Australian-based Fairfax journalist Nick McKenzie for more information on the allegations which appeared in the Australian media implicating President Maithripala Sirisena. Claiming he had no knowledge about the allegations in the Australian media reports that he had requested Rs.2.5 million from the Australia-based Snowy …
Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe on Saturday said that the funds allocated to the Tourist Board for tourism promotion were spent by the previous Government to win provincial polls through welfare societies, according to a state-run television network. Addressing a United National Party membership drive in Welimada on Saturday, the Prime Minister said it was now …
Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) dissidents are to form their own party with former President Mahinda Rajapaksa as their leader. However, a decision is yet to be made on the name which may be similar to the SLFP. The decision to form their own party was taken on Thursday when the committee named by Mahinda …
Continue reading ‘Rajapaksa Loyalists in SLFP to Form Own Party With Mahinda As Their Leader’ »
By P.K.Balachandran Indian Minister of State for Commerce, Nirmala Sitharaman, who was to come here on August 25 for a short visit at the invitation of the Sri Lankan Minister of International Trade, Malik Samarawickrama, cancelled her visit on account of pressing engagements in New Delhi, reliable sources told Express on Saturday. It is learnt …
By Kishali Pinto Jayawardene The contradiction was clear if not absurd. Even at the very moment in time that I was being sent unsolicited messages by Colombo’s non-governmental ‘twitterati’ delighting in self-congratulatory chest-thumping over the turbulent passing of the Office of Missing Persons (OMP) Bill, that euphoria was distinctly missing in the Northern peninsula, among …
By P.K.Balachandran The UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon will do his bit to reconcile conflicting interests in Sri Lanka during his three-day visit to the island beginning on August 31. From his program it appears that he will press for unity and cooperation between the majority Sinhalese and the minority Tamils; between the predominantly Tamil …
by Vimukthi Yapa The eleventh anniversary of the Indian Ocean tsunami came and went on December 26 last year with hardly a mention of Helping Hambantota, the scandal that, if not for the timely intervention of the Supreme Court, would have torpedoed the presidency of Mahinda Rajapaksa before it even began. A review of the …
By Rasika Jayakody The Northern Province Investor Forum, held last week, was a landmark event for the Jaffna peninsula for many reasons. It was the first time the business and financial community gathered in Jaffna to support the region’s economic development. Coming out of a three-decade long war and years of military occupation, such an …
By C.A.Chandraprema Last Wednesday, the same day on which the Australian media broke the story about President Sirisena, 85 officials of the ministry of finance serving as ex-officio directors on the boards of 280 public corporations resigned from their directorships saying that they will not resume their duties unless steps were taken to ensure their …
By Lasanda Kurukulasuriya The Joint Opposition must surely be faulted for having neglected to challenge the constitutionality of the Office of Missing Persons (OMP) Bill in the Supreme Court during the time available to do so. The JO’s theatrics in the well of the House on the day the Bill was passed, amidst chaos, hardly …
Continue reading ‘US Military Footprint Takes Shape in Sri Lanka’ »
By P K Balachandran Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena is “concerned” about the charge made by Fairfax Media that in 2009-2011, when he was Minister of Agriculture, an Australian company was asked to give a donation to his political party to get contracts for World Bank-funded sewerage and dam projects. On Thursday, the President ordered …
By Saman Indrajith The Joint Opposition (JO) alleged yesterday in Parliament that the Financial Crimes Investigations Division (FCID) had become a danger to not only the state sector employees, but those in the private sector. JO member Bandula Gunawardena raising the issue of the FCID proving public officials said that state sector employees were submitting …
by Shamindra Ferdinando Former Rivira editor Upali Tennakoon and his wife Dhammika, at an identification parade held at the Gampaha Magistrate’s Court, yesterday identified Warrant Officer 1 Premananda Udalagama of the Directorate of Military Intelligence (DMI) as the person who had assaulted them on the morning of January 23, 2009 at Imbulgoda, Gampaha, Tennakoon was …
By Romesh Madushanka An ex-LTTE cadre who was undergoing treatment at the Jaffna Prison Hospital while being remanded at the Jaffna Prison has escaped from hospital on Wednesday. The inmate, who was transferred from the Anuradhapura Prison to Jaffna , had been remanded under charges of possessing of illegal weapons.
by Dasun Edirisinghe The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) controlled Northern Provincial Council would obstruct President Maithripala Sirisena’s reconciliation programme by advancing its own agenda, UPFA MP Angajan Ramanathen alleges. Addressing the weekly press briefing at the SLFP headquarters, he said the Buddhist temples could be in the Northern Province like kovils, mosques and churches situated …
by Harischandra Gunaratna Kalutara District Parliamentarian Vidura Wickramanayake on Thursday said the country’s Finance Minister was clueless about the plantation industry and his knowledge of basic economics was negligible. Speaking to journalists at a Joint Opposition news conference at the Dr. N. M. Perera Centre, Borella, the SLFP stalwart said, “The once flourishing tea industry …
By Shamindra Ferdinando Matara District UPFA MP Kanchana Wijesekera yesterday said that the SLFP shouldn’t have accepted ministerial portfolios in UNP-led government under any circumstances. Had those elected on the UPFA ticket at the August 17, 2015 parliamentary polls remained in the Opposition, the SLFP wouldn’t be in a sorry state today, the former Southern …
Sri Lanka is seeking a partner from the Indian subcontinent to develop a port designed to be its deepest and accommodate the world’s largest container vessels, Shipping Minister Arjuna Ranatunga said on Thursday. The Sri Lanka Port Authority (SLPA) is looking for a foreign investor with about USD 400 million to complete the half-built East …
By P K Balachandran Taranjit Singh Sandhu will be the next Indian High Commissioner in Sri Lanka succeeding Y.K.Sinha who has completed his term. An old Sri Lanka hand, Sandhu was Political Counselor in the Indian High Commission in Colombo between 2000 and 2004, which covered the 2002-2004 Norway-brokered peace process in Sri Lanka. Born …
(Text of an Editorial Appearing in “The Island” of August 26th 2016 Under the Heading “Of that bombshell”) The government usually loses no time in denying reports it considers false or detrimental to its interests. But, it, for some reason, did not act promptly regards reports in the widely circulated Australian newspapers, The Sydney Morning …
by Dasun Edirisinghe The government yesterday said it would take legal action against those who levelled bribery allegations against President Maithripala Sirisena, claiming he asked for money before signing an agreement with an Australian company to build a dam when he was the Minister of Agriculture Development and Agrarian Services in 2009. Addressing the media …
By Harischandra Gunaratna The Joint Opposition yesterday urged the government to hold an impartial inquiry into the story that appeared in the Sydney Morning Herald and The Age of Wednesday (24) that President Maithripala Sirisena had solicited a bribe of 27,000 Australian dollars from the Australian company Snowy Mountain Engineering company. when he was Agricultural …
By Saman Indrajith TNA Parliamentarian M.A.Sumanthiran told the House yesterday that the certificate of absence was a mere acknowledgment by the government that the person concerned was not around. Joining the second reading debate of Registration of Deaths (Temporary Provisions) (Amendment) Bill, MP Sumanthiran said that the certificate of absence did not extinguish the right …
By By P.K.Balachandran In a bid to balance India and China, Sri Lanka appears to be in favor of an Indian companies-led consortium to build the Third Terminal at Colombo port and secure business for it. China has already been deeply involved in port development in Sri Lanka, having built a modern container terminal in …
The body of the businessman abducted in Bambalapitiya , Mohamed Sakeem Sulaiman, was found on the Hemmathagama Road in Rukulagama in Mawanella yesterday evening. The victim whose face had been disfigured with serious injuries, believed to have been made by a blunt instrument, was in identified after several police teams including a special team from …
President Maithripala Sirisena today rejected the news report that appeared in the Sydney Morning Herald website that he and his adviser allegedly demanded a political “donation” to be paid by the iconic Snowy Mountains Engineering Company (SMEC) when he was the Minister of Agriculture and Agrarian services in 2009.
By Dharisha Bastians As the Government of ‘national unity’ celebrated the completion of its first year in office last week, President Maithripala Sirisena was grappling with a problem that preceded his presidency. For nine years, while Mahinda Rajapaksa held the party reins and the presidency, the SLFP was in quiet crisis. Party seniors were sidelined …
By Nick McKenzie, Emmanuel Freudenthal, Michael Bachelard, Richard Baker Two Australian companies are embroiled in bribery scandals that reach into the offices of the presidents of Sri Lanka and the Republic of Congo, as the firms sought to secure multi-million dollar contracts. Alleged bribery by Australian companies of foreign governments remains a serious issue at …
By Upul Joseph Fernando Senior Journalist D. B. S. Jeyaraj had written an article to a weekend English newspaper. The article was based on the disappearance of Father Thiruchelvam Nihal Jim Brown from a Catholic church in the North. At a moment when laws have been prepared to establish an office to inquire into disappeared …
By Ajith Siriwardana Former President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga yesterday said her father had brought in the Sinhala only Bill in 1956 not as a racist move but as a means of giving back to the country its identity after 450 years of subjugation by foreign rulers. “After eight years of independence, the Sinhala people, who …
By Sandun A Jayasekera Government Spokesman and Minister Dr.Rajitha Senaratne said building Buddhist temples, placing Buddha statues under Bo-trees and at junctions by the security forces after defeating the LTTE in the North-East had not done any good other than to negate the government’s reconciliation efforts.
By P.K.Balachandran The Sri Lankan Minister of Resettlement and Prison Reforms, D.M.Swaminathan, has reported steady progress government is making in reviewing and following up cases of Tamils detained under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA). Answering a question put by R.Sampanthan, Leader of the Opposition and the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) in parliament on Tuesday, …
By Jigar Shah Jacqueline Fernandez turned restaurateur two years ago, when she teamed up with chef Dharshan Munidasa to open an eatery called Kaema Sutra in Colombo, Sri Lanka. The actor is now contemplating expanding her restaurant business. A source says, “Jacqueline spends most of her time in India due to her acting assignments. So, …
By Prof. Susirith Mendis I have been intrigued by the reactions to the slogan “Sinha-Le” used by some group or other. Gradually, it has become a point of intensive debate and controversy. I write this piece today because I saw a clip on TV News about a fracas that occurred between two groups. One group …
By Rasika Jayakody In politics you either eat the baby or you are the baby – House of Cards President Maithripala Sirisena used the national unity government’s first anniversary celebration in Matara as an opportunity to give the party’s rebel group cozying up to former President Mahinda Rajapaksa a strong warning. “They are talking about …
By P K Balachandran The Chief Minister of Sri Lanka’s Tamil majority Northern Province, C.V.Wigneswaran, on Tuesday outlined the economic goals of his largely rural province and set the parameters within which economic development projects should be conceived. Addressing a conference of international donor agencies, organized by R.Paskaralingam, Adviser to the Ministry of Policy Development …
By Premalal Wijeratne Police have launched a probe into an unidentified phone call received by family members of abducted millionaire businessman Mohammad Sulaiman, at Kothalawela Avenue on Monday, in which the caller had demanded a ransom of Rs 20 million for his release. Police said the unidentified phone call had been received on the land …
By Gagani Weerakoon and Skandha Gunasekara China has insisted on 15,000 acres of land from the proposed industrial park to be set up in Hambantota which at the moment has only 3,000 acres, identified as land made available for the special zone. Announcing this in Parliament yesterday Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said……the Industrial Park abutting …
The multinational team led by U.S. Pacific Command concluded their week-long assistance program yesterday in Jaffna, providing general medical care for approximately 4000 people and renovating six schools that serve a total of 1100 students, according to a US embassy statement dated August 23. US Ambassador Atul Keshap was quoted as having said: “I want …
BY SULOCHANA RAMIAH MOHAN Investors attending the Jaffna Investors Forum (JIF) held Monday (22) were perturbed when they were informed at the panel discussion that any projects undertaken in the North would be allowed 30 years leasing, only of the land. It is said local politicians in the North had been quoting a range of …
By Col. R.Hariharan Saturday, August 20th was the late Rajiv Gandhi’s birthday. Rajiv Gandhi’s political career was barely seven years; it started with the assassination of his mother Ms Indira Gandhi in 1984 and ended with his own assassination. But within those years, he made a mark by doing things differently from the traditional political …
By Ravi Perera Namal Rajapaksa, Member of Parliament, the eldest son of the former President Mahinda Rajapaksa, was interviewed recently on television. By and large, the tone of the lengthy interview, nearly two hours in duration, was defensive, an attempt at validating a period characterised by the most vulgar form of family rule seen in …
By Nisthar Cassim Central Bank Governor Dr. Indrajit Coomaraswamy last night made a strong case for the private sector to step up their investments emphasising that Sri Lanka’s best opportunity for growth was before them. Delivering the keynote address at the CIMA Sri Lanka Business Leaders Summit, the Governor said due to a host of …
by Hemantha Randunu A multi-millionaire textile businessman was abducted by an unidentified gang opposite his Kotelawela Avenue residence in Bambalapitya on Sunday night.
by Oruwala Sarath de Silva Former President Mahinda Rajapaksa yesterday said nobody had a right to prevent the formation of new political parties. Rajapaksa, addressing the Samurdhi officers at their 19th annual convention at the Samurdhi hall, Battaramulla said that it did not mean that he was planning to form a new party. However, threats …
The Human Rights Commission yesterday, while welcoming and commending the adoption of Office on Missing Persons (Establishment, Administration and Discharge of Functions) Act, noted that the legal framework of the OMP would have had greater legitimacy if it had been enacted after the on-going public consultations process so that the insights and concerns of the …
By P.K.Balachandran The Chief Minister of the Tamil-majority Northern Province, C.V.Wigneswaran, boycotted the International Investment Forum organized by the Northern Province Governor Reginold Cooray in Jaffna on Monday. In a letter written to Cooray last week, Wigneswaran objected to the Governor’s organizing the forum without consulting him. He said that the elected representatives of the …
By Rasika Jayakody UPFA Parliamentarian Namal Rajapaksa, in May, this year, appeared in a television show where he was asked about the SriLankan Airlines stewardess working for the Presidential Secretariat, under the Rajapaksa administration. It was widely alleged that the stewardess, namely Nithya Senani Samaranayake, worked for the young Parliamentarian, while receiving a salary from …
A major security lapse came to the fore during the visit of Sri Lanka president Maithripala Sirisena to Tirumala on Sunday. He was forced to wait for 12 minutes for his car after a darshan atop the Tirumala hill, giving jitters to the staff of the Tiruumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD), especially the security. An inquiry …