By P.K.Balachandran

Tamils are disputing the Sri Lankan government’s claim that there are 22, 254 Tamil Buddhists in the country.

Most Tamils feel that this is a gross exaggeration. The Minister of National Dialogue, Mano Ganeshan, told Express, that the claim might have been made “for propaganda purposes”, to show the dominant Sinhalese-Buddhists that significant inroads have already been made into the largely Hindu Tamil minority.

But the government’s claim is based on the 2012 census, says Mass Media Minister Gayantha Karunartilleke. He told parliament earlier this week, that there are 22,254 Tamil Buddhists in the island, 11 of whom are monks.

Continue reading ‘Govt Claim of 22,254 Tamil Buddhists Being in Sri Lanka May be for “Propaganda Purposes” Says Tamil Govt Minister Mano Ganesan’ »

By Prof. Susirith Mendis

I have been reading many commentaries and opinions on the above matter in the press, blogs, facebook and other media. There has been a plethora of views and opinions expressed. So I thought adding my few cents worth will not cause any further serious harm than already caused.

I am of the view that the human voice, as expressed in harmonious and melodious song, is the greatest of human gifts. It is a capability – or call it creative talent if you like – that can be naturally expressed without any other artificial aid. Painting and art require paints, brushes, paper, canvas and easels; other musical talents require instruments; authors need ink, paper and vocabulary. But the singer needs absolutely no aid; just only the sound created from the air expelled from one’s lungs beautifully and sonorously percolated through nature’s finest musical instrument, the human larynx. The other, to my mind, a lesser natural unaided talent is dancing. But that is another matter.

I believe that the operatic voice from soprano to baritone or bass (or even the much maligned castrato), developed by the European musical tradition to be the supreme form of the human voice.Therefore, you would not be surprised when I say that if I had the good fortune to have a genie trapped in a bottle, I would ask as my first wish prior to releasing ‘it’ (him?) that I be given the best singing voice ever! So that I may have the supreme satisfaction of beating Luciano Pavarotti, Placido Domingo, Jose Carreras and even that incomparable black velvet of a baritone Paul Robeson into a cocked hat!

Continue reading ‘“Danno Budunge” – Kishani Sang the Wrong Song in the Wrong Style in the Wrong Place at the Wrong Time.’ »

By Saman Indrajith

There were 22,254 Tamil Buddhists and 11 Tamil Bhikkus in the country, Parliament was told yesterday.

A document tabled in response to a question raised by UNP Matara District MP Buddhika Pathirana by Chief Government Whip and Parliamentary Reforms and Mass Media Minister Gayantha Karunathilaka said that a census regarding Tamil Buddhists had not been conducted by the Ministry of Buddhasasana or the Department of Buddhist Affairs.

Yet according to the results of the census carried out by the Department of Census and Statistics in 2012, the country had 22,254 Tamil Buddhists and 11 Tamil monks.

Continue reading ‘Sri Lanka has 22,254 Tamil Buddhists Including 11 Tamil Monks States Document Tabled in Parliament’ »

By P.K.Balachandran

The Chief Minister of Sri Lanka’s Tamil majority Northern Province, C.V. Wigneswaran, touched off a new political controversy when he said in Jaffna on Monday, that he does not favor Sinhalese-Tamil marriages before the Tamils get equal rights in the country.

Wigneswaran was responding to Provincial Governor Reginold Cooray’s suggestion at the 9 th National Scouts Jamboree, that Sinhalese-Tamil marriages be encouraged to bring about national reconciliation.
The Governor was only reflecting a general Sinhelese view that ethnic admixture will obliterate the Sinhalese-Tamil ethnic division, and there will be no basis for the Tamils’ seeking a separate ethnic enclave in the North and East of the island.

Perhaps the Governor, who is a Sinhalese, also thought that Chief Minister Wigneswaran would welcome mixed marriages as his two sons are married to Sinhalese. But he was wrong.

Continue reading ‘Northern Chief Minister Wigneswaran Whose Sons are Married to Sinhalese is Against Mixed Marriages Until Tamils Gain Equality’ »

By

Priyantha Kodippily

Parliamentarian Namal Rajapaksa, son of the former president responded to the many allegations thrown against the Rajapaksa regime.

Excerpts –

Q: It’s a very bad time for you, isn’t it?

It is the nature of politics. Politicians do not have power for ever; it comes intermittently. When Mahinda Rajapaksa was in power there was not a trace of revenge on political opponents. But today even the children of opposition members are subjected to revenge. This happened whenever the UNP came into power. They even deprived Madam Sirimavo of her civic rights. But what is surprising is its continuance even under a consensus government.

Q: When you were in power did you imagine the situation you are facing today?

We have to come to terms with volatile situations if we are to remain in politics. But we never expected them to take revenge on us, my mother and brother as they too have families.

Continue reading ‘Namal Rajapaksa Says He is not Afraid and is Ready For Any Arrest in “Daily Mirror” Interview’ »

By

Upul Joseph Fernando

It was reported that the Commanding Officer in Jaffna, Major General Chagi Gallage, was transferred to Army Headquarters in Colombo last week, following a heated argument with Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera.

The Major General was transferred to Colombo following the Foreign Minister’s refusal to include two military officers in the committee proposed by the Human Rights Commission in Geneva. The minister’s refusal led to a heated argument between the duo, reports stated.

Gallage is an officer who earlier served in the Security Division of former President Mahinda Rajapaksa. Having won the 2010 presidential election, Mahinda arrested then Gen. Sarath Fonseka and elevated Gallage within the Army. Gallage who headed the Presidential Security Division was also appointed Military Intelligence Chief by Mahinda.

Hence, there’s no doubt that the pro-Mahinda loyalists within the Army are trying to stifle the success of the Maithripala Sirisena-Ranil Wickremesinghe Government which is ready to win the challenge from Geneva.

Continue reading ‘Is the Maithripala – Wickremesinghe Govt in Fear of Facing a Military Coup?’ »

By Saman Indrajith

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe told Parliament yesterday that the Indo-Lanka Economic and Technical Cooperation Agreement would be inked by mid-2016 and a special Indian delegation was scheduled to arrive in the country on March 04 to discuss its content.

PM reads The PM said the final draft of the agreement would be prepared after those discussions and could be presented to Parliament. But, he would not let anyone instigate people against the ETCA, he warned.

“By introducing the ETCA, we are promising to give birth to a child whose horoscope has a Raja Yoga. So, do not bother to check the horoscope of the baby not yet born,” he said.

Continue reading ‘Govt is Promising to Give Birth to a Child whose Horoscope has a Raja Yoga by Introducing ETCA Agreement with India says Prime Minister Wickremesinghe’ »

By- Sharmini Serasinghe

“An established morality is as necessary as good government to the welfare of society. Societies disintegrate from within more frequently than they are broken up by external pressures”

– Judge Patrick Arthur Devlin

Given the manner in which this land is touted as the “Miracle of Asia” by some, living in a state of utopia, as well as branded and marketed as a Buddhist country; the cradle of Theravada Buddhism, first-time visitors to this land may be pardoned, if they expect to see, the majority of its citizenry claiming to be Buddhists, walking around with halos, over their heads.

The reality behind this facade of pious sobriety is, a much depraved society, manifesting all its ugly forms, making the stark absence of, an established morality in this country, obvious.

The seemingly ceaseless propensity towards moral degeneration is all around us today. Not a day goes by, without a murder, rape, child abuse, thuggery, drug abuse related offences, sexual harassment of women, antics of corrupt-to-the core politicians, journalists, the police and some in academia; medical, legal, education etc., being reported. Most even make it to the headlines.

Much like the clichéd ‘2500 year old culture’ of this land, which remains today as material ruins of ancient monuments and edifices; so is our moral culture; in ruins. Hence ‘culture’ as in refinement of the mind, morals and taste, is deafening in its absence.

Continue reading ‘Requiem for Morals and Ethics – Foreboding Dark Clouds Hovering Over Sri Lanka!’ »

By

Gagani Weerakoon

The presence of certain controversial individuals in the close proximity of President Maithripala Sirisena on few occasions during his historic State visit to Germany kept the atmosphere heated among the Sri Lankan delegation even though the actual Berlin remained as low as 100 – 70 Celsius.

The President and the Lankan delegation arrived in Berlin by Qatar Airways QR 77 flight on 16 February 2016 at around 6:45 in the evening and were received by Karunatilaka Amunugama, Sri Lanka’s Ambassador in Berlin and Jürgen Christian Mertens, Chief of Protocol at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Germany.

He was later accorded a grand State welcome replete with a guard of honour by the German tri-forces under the auspices of German Chancellor, Angela Merkel.

While many claim this was the first time in 43 years, a Sri Lanka’s Head of State was visiting Germany in an official capacity, it is evident, President Sirisena was the third Lankan Leader to visit Germany on an official invitation in almost half a century.

On 10 September 1974, world’s first woman Prime Minister Sirima Bandaranaike undertook a visit to West Germany at the invitation of Chancellor Helmut Schmidt.

Continue reading ‘Fr. Emmanuel and Surendiran of Global Tamil Forum Cause Security Concerns for President Sirisena’s Entourage at Berlin Marriott Hotel’ »

By

Tamara Kunanayakam

(Presentation made on 18 February 2015 by Tamara Kunanayakam On the occasion of the Launch of Prof. Rajiva Wijesinha’s book – “Triumph and Disaster: The Rajapaksa years ‘Success in War: My time at the Peace Secretariat, 2007-2009”)

Rajiva’s latest book, Triumph and Disaster: the Rajapaksa Years, is a remarkable documentary of the first Rajapaksa years that constituted a turning point in Sri Lanka’s recent history. The book celebrates the victory over LTTE terror, which had determined almost every aspect of our lives for a quarter of a century.

It provides an exceptional insight into the work of a state institution that played a central role, even as it had to adapt to changing circumstances when the LTTE forced a radical shift from talks across the negotiating table to a brutal war in which it transformed civilians into cannon fodder. It is a profound personal account of the events as they unfolded between June 2007, when Rajiva was appointed Secretary-General of the Secretariat for Coordinating the Peace Process, and the end of the war in May 2009. In June 2008, he was also appointed Secretary to the Ministry of Disaster Management and Human Rights, and his account, therefore, also includes insights gained while he was there. Apart from providing fascinating reading, painting as it does a vivid image of the characters and events,the duplicityand the intrigues, substantiated by a wealth of documentation, I found in his book pieces of the puzzle that were missing in my own analysis, from my Geneva vantage point.

When I say Geneva, I don’t mean only the year I spent as Permanent Representative of Sri Lanka to the United Nations. I mean most of my adult life, which I spent in Geneva, studying and working in and around the UN System, of which more than 10 years were in the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights. I had seen and experienced the functioning of the UN System from various angles: – as a student at the Graduate Institute of International Studies in Geneva, which trained international civil servants; then, as an international civil servant; and, more recently, as Permanent Representative of a Member State.

Unlike the LTTE yesterday, the separatist lobby today, and their Western backers, the major failure of successive Sri Lankan governments was an underestimation of the international dimension of the conflict. In my view, it is this understanding that permitted the LTTE then, and the separatist lobby today, to occupy the international space fully, made easier by the absence of the Government in this domain. My presentation will, therefore, essentially focus on the chapters that address this dimension.

Continue reading ‘Rajiva Wijesinha’s Latest Book Reveals With Details the Existence of a Veritable Conspiracy Against Sri Lanka’ »

By Dilanthi Jayamanne

Government doctors in the Uva province yesterday expressed their displeasure at what they called snide comments made by Telecommunications and Digital Infrastructure (TDI) Minister and Badulla District MP Harin Fernando against Government Medical Officers’ Association (GMOA) President, Dr Anurudda Padeniya.

The controversial comments the minister made at a media briefing in Badulla were telecast by Derana TV news on Saturday (20).

Uva Provincial Coordinator and General Committee Member of the GMOA EX-Co, Dr. Palitha Rajapaksa said more than 600 doctors would stage a protest at 12 noon today (23) at the Provincial General Hospital, Badulla against the minister. He said Fernando’s conduct was unbecoming of a responsible minister.

Continue reading ‘Over 600 Govt Doctors in Uva to Stage Demonstration at Badulla Hospital Protesting Over UNP Minister Harin Fernando Describing GMOA as Group of Villains.’ »

By Daya Lankapura

The government parliamentary group that has met so far as a single entity is scheduled to meet as two separate groups for the first time at 11.30 am today at the Parliament complex.

The UNP group will meet under the leadership of Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, while the SLFP MPs of the government would gather with Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva presiding.

Continue reading ‘UNP and SLFP Members of Govt Parliamentary Group to Meet Separately for First time Due to Caustic Remarks of Mangala Samaraweera’ »

Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF) Secretary – General and former Jaffna district Parliamentarian Veerasingham Anandasangaree has in a letter written to President Maithripala Sirisena requested that prisoners detained under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) be released by adhering to provisions of the Indo – Lanka Agreement signed on July 29th 1987.

The full text of the letter is as follows –

Your Excellency

Release the Political Prisoners under the Indo-Sri Lanka Accord

It is with deep regret that I wish to point out to you that those detained under the PTA have once again notified their intention of restarting the Hunger Strike that they called off twice earlier on the presumption of getting released, based on the assurance given to them by some Politicians.

I presume, at the time of writing this letter, fifteen of them would have started their fast. They allege that only fifteen of them are taken to courts off and on and that every time they are taken to courts, they are told by the judge that he has no powers to take a decision about their release. That is the reason they say, that they have now undertaken this fast.

Continue reading ‘TULF Secy – Gen Anandasangaree Requests President Sirisena to Release Persons Detained Under the PTA by Adhering to Provisions of the Indo – Lanka Agreement’ »

By P.K.Balachandran

Vestiges of a bridge which was erected over the Kelani river at Kithulgala 92 km from the Sri Lankan capital for the shooting of the iconic Hollywood film Bridge On The River Kwai 60 years ago, are now in danger of being wiped out, causing dismay among film buffs.

A still of the bridge from the movie The Bridge On The River Kwai

A government plan to build a power plant nearby will lead to the blasting of the site and the annihilation of the last remains of the bridge which are a major tourist attraction.

Continue reading ‘Vestiges of Bridge Erected at Kitulgala for Film Classic “Bridge on The River Kwai” In Danger of Being Demolished’ »

(Text of Editorial Appearing in “The Island”of of February 22nd 2016 Under the Heading “ETCA and Mandates”)

The Government Medical Officers’ Association (GMOA) has annoyed many a government leader by opposing the controversial Economic and Technical Cooperation Agreement (ETCA) to be signed with India. Hardly a day passes without some self-important ruling party potentate venting his spleen on doctors.

Minister Lakshman Kiriella has told our sister paper, the Sunday Divaina, that the government does not care about those who are without a popular mandate and is planning to make a public display of its strength by holding a rally next month. The previous government also resorted to such muscle flexing in a bid to frighten its opponents into submission, but could not perpetuate its hold on power.

Demonstrations to be staged by government backers, blinded by party politics and intoxicated with free rotgut, won’t help legitimize ETCA or any other pact inimical to the country’s interests. On the other hand, the course of action the government is contemplating is tantamount to throwing down the gauntlet which its opponents are sure to pick up. Street protests have a snowballing effect and it is a mistake for any government to trigger them.

The Rajapaksa government unflinchingly used a two-thirds majority it secured through a process of despicable political manoeuvring to change the Constitution. The present administration, claiming to uphold good governance, is using a similarly obtained parliamentary majority to ram ETCA down the people’s throats.

Continue reading ‘The GMOA and Others Opposed to ETCA with India Deserve the Unstinted Backing of all Right-thinking Sri Lankans -The Island’ »

By Sarath De Silva

Former President Mahinda Rajapaksa said on Saturday that threatening trade union leaders and attacking protesters had become the order of the day under the present government.

Addressing the media at Thalawathugoda, the former President said: “Whenever trade unionists stage demonstrations or come out with their demands, the first response of the government is to call them the men of Mahinda Rajapaksa. After sticking that label, the government attacks them as if it were legal to attack my supporters.”

Rajapaksa said that the government issued various threats to silence the media. “If the media continue to criticize the wrongdoings of the government their proprietors are threatened. But the government should learn that media and trade unions could never be silenced as they would find ways and means of voicing their dissent.

Continue reading ‘Ex-President Mahinda Rajapaksa Accuses Sirisena-Wickremesinghe Govt Of Outsourcing Sri lanka’s Ambulance Service to India’ »

By Shamindra Ferdinando

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe vowed on Saturday to go ahead with the Indo-Lanka Economic and Technical Cooperation Agreement (ETCA) regardless of mounting opposition to the government move. He said the government had the required majority in Parliament to achieve its objectives.

The UNP leader was addressing the media at the Hambantota Port having inspected major projects, including the Harbantota airport, port as well as the international cricket stadium built during Mahinda Rajapaksa’s tenure as the President.

Premier Wickremesinghe castigated the Government Medical Officers’ Association (GMOA) as well as a section of the media for obstructing the government’s plan.

He was accompanied by several ministers, including Sajith Premadasa, Sagala Ratnayake, Nimal Siripala de Silva, Mahinda Amaraweera and Deputy Speaker Thilanga Sumathipala.

An irate Wickremesinghe called those opposing ETCA traitors, while accusing them of seeking to sabotage his efforts to create employment.

Continue reading ‘Prime Minister Wickremesinghe Vows to Sign ETCA Agreement With India Despite Mounting Opposition to Govt Move’ »

By
Ranga Jayasuriya

Last week residents of a large slum in Thotalanga blocked the Japan-Sri Lanka Friendship Bridge to protest against an alleged arbitrary order to vacate their slums and move to new apartment blocks that have been built for them. A week before that, members of several professional unions held a protest march in Colombo against the proposed Indo-Lanka Economic and Technical Cooperation Agreement (ETCA). And day in day out, university students continue to unleash venom against private universities; medical students, the most vocal of the lot and backed by the GMOA, have ganged up against an existing private medical school.

All those displays of opposition are conducted in the name of earthly values of human rights, free education, eternal love for the people and many other holier than thou concoctions. That is bunkum. The reality is that those groups are striving hard to preserve undue advantages and privileges they enjoy at the expense of the millions of other hard working Sri Lankans. Squatters want to remain in the illegally occupied prime land in the city; doctors want to maintain their local monopoly and prevent any infusion of foreign talent and to curtail a healthy competition; university students want to preserve their place in the traditional Sri Lankan society though most of their degrees are no longer worth the certificate they are printed on.

Members (though not all) of every one of those groups are insecure of their own self-worth, hence the urge to prevent others from competing. From the squatters in Thotalanga to the esteemed medical practitioners turned activists in GMOA, they are campaigning to retain their undue privileges. Their lame excuses are either illegal or anti-market (or both). It is how the on-going protests against free-trade and slum clearance should be viewed.

Continue reading ‘Protests of Squatters,GMOA and GMOA Backed Medical Students Motivated by Self-Interest’ »

By The Political Correspondent of ECONOMYNEXT

Sri Lanka’s government came face-to-face with military insubordination at a very high level when Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera visited Jaffna to launch a website for ethnic reconciliation.

The usually unflappable Samaraweera was surprised by the tone of Major General Chagi Gallage when he visited Jaffna soliciting public views on a new reconciliation mechanism after decades of war.

Jaffna Security Forces Commander, Chief of Defence Staff Kolitha Gunathilake and defence secretary Karunasena Hettiarachchi were present when Gallage, a senior officer commanding a division, spoke out.

The provocation for Gallage’s outburst which sought to contradict the administration was not immediately clear, but the Minister did not raise it thereafter, but the military leadership took immediate action.

Continue reading ‘Maj-Gen Chaggi Gallage Transferred for Alleged Military Insubordination in Criticising Govt Openly During Mangala Samaraweera’s Jaffna Visit’ »

By

C.A.Chandraprema

It was the GMOA that blew the lid off one of the government’s closely guarded secrets – the economic and technical cooperation pact that was being planned with India. They published on their website the draft of the Economic and Technical Cooperation Agreement that had been given to them by the government. For the first time, the public and even the media became aware of what the government was negotiating with India.

The term ‘negotiated’ would be misnomer in this case because there is nothing in the agreement to negotiate. Like the aborted Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) which the former Congress Party government was pushing, the present Economic and Technical Cooperation Agreement (ETCA) also envisages trade in goods, trade in services and investment. But the difference this time is that the much vaunted ETCA is not a real agreement at all but an empty shell which provides only a ‘framework’ for future negotiations.

It’s actual name is not ‘Indo-Sri Lanka Economic and Technical Cooperation Agreement’ but ‘Indo-Sri Lanka Economic and Technical Cooperation Framework Agreement’ with the word ‘Framework’ in italics for emphasis. Nothing has been said in this draft framework agreement about the specific provisions relating to the trade in goods, trade in services and investment. If the present draft of ETCA is only a framework without any specifics, the question arises why the government took such elaborate precautions to keep it under wraps.

Deputy Minister Harsha de Silva addressing a press conference on Friday said for the first time that there is no agreement as such but only a framework. But he did not explain why this non-agreement was kept such a closely guarded secret.

Continue reading ‘Opposition Mounts Against Creeping Indianisation of Sri Lanka Through Backdoor’ »

(Excerpted from the Column Written by the “Sunday Times” Political Editor Appearing in the “Sunday Times”of february 21st 2016)

Despite the normalcy and the rapid pace of development (In the North), serious issues do exist. Main among them are matters arising from the Geneva resolution. That they would soon come under a probe for alleged war crimes is a subject of much concern for those in the security forces. Officers who obeyed orders and ensured the military defeat of Tiger guerrillas are worried.

This is whilst politicians in the North, including from the United National Party (UNP), co-partners in the Government, are stepping up pressure to seek the release of more lands now under security forces control. See map on this page for areas held by the Security Forces and the extents released to original owners so far.

Two weeks ago, Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera was here to launch the Government’s website to seek views from the public on the proposed new Constitution. He took the opportunity to address Security Force Commanders and Divisional Commanders at the SF headquarters in Jaffna. He made clear that the Government would protect the interests of the security forces.

Continue reading ‘Maj-Gen Chaggi Gallage’s Proposal for Military Representative on Geneva Resolution enforcing task Force Rejected by Mangala Samaraweera’ »

By P.K.Balachandran

Indian official sources clarified on Saturday, that there is no scope for an influx of Indian personnel into Sri Lanka through the India-aided Emergency Ambulance Service which is to be introduced in two Lankan provinces shortly.

The Mahinda Rajapaksa-led Joint Opposition Group (JOG) had alleged that the service, to be run by the Hyderabad-based GVK Emergency Management and Research Institute (GVK EMRI) with a grant of US$ 7.6 million from the Indian government, will be employing only Indians, and not Lankans.

Rebutting this, Indian officials said that except for two or three Indian planners, all the paramedical personnel and supporting staff will be Lankans. To be rendered in the Western and Southern provinces to begin with, the service will be using 88 ambulances and employing over 600 Lankans. They will be employees of the local subsidiary of GVK-EMRI.

Continue reading ‘All Paramedical and Supporting Personnel will be Sri Lankans in India Aided Emergency Ambulance Service to be Opened in Western and Southern Provinces’ »

By

Kishali Pinto Jayawardene

These are curious times indeed. Former President Mahinda Rajapaksa and his supporters who treated the Sri Lankan media and the legal system as their family hunting ground are struggling to emerge as newfound libertarians. We witness with enormous skepticism their ‘strutting and fretting’ on the political stage to protect the propriety of appointment to the Office of the Attorney General and (quite piquantly) to safeguard media freedoms.

Repression in its varied forms

It was once a great game of the Rajapaksa regime to unleash its salivating media bloodhounds for the express purpose of savaging its critics. Quite apart from the editors and journalists killed, Rajapaksa propagandists attacked independent opinion to an unprecedented extent. This columnist has had first-hand experience of such calumny as a result of raising legitimate questions on Rule of Law failures.

If these questions had been addressed then, Sri Lanka would have been spared the supreme indignity of being lectured to on accountability by world powers who, to put it mildly, do not practise what they preach. The indignant reactions of United Kingdom ministers and British newspapers over the recent finding of a United Nations investigative body on the ‘arbitrary detention’ of Wikileaks founder Julian Assange are examples enough.

Continue reading ‘Issues Aggravated by Prime Ministerial Tirades Against journalists and Sri Lanka’s Powerful Medical Lobby’ »

The battle between Northern Province Chief Minister C.V. Wigneshwaran and Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Parliamentarian M.A. Sumanthiran continues.

The latest was after the new Northern Province Governor Reginald Cooray assumed duties on Friday.As politicians, officials and Tamil Parliamentarians were walking up to the Governor, the Chief Minister noticed that Mr. Sumanthiran was standing behind him.

“Why are you silent these days? Aren’t there any allegations against me?” the Chief Minister asked.

Continue reading ‘“Fault is a Fault Even if Eye on Forehead Opens” – TNA Parliamentarian Sumanthiran Tells TNA Chief Minister Wigneswaran’ »

by Dr Nihal Jayawickrama

The Prime Minister stated on the floor of Parliament that the Constitutional Council had not yet been able to determine the “procedures” for the performance of its duties and functions as required by Article 41E (6) of the Constitution. He attributed the delay to the urgency with which the Council had to proceed to make appointments to the independent commissions. He explained that, as an interim measure, the Council was utilising the procedures that had been adopted in 2002 by the Constitutional Council established under the 17th Amendment.

However, nearly five months have elapsed since those appointments were made, and the Council appears to have overlooked the fact that, unlike under the 17th Amendment, it has to “make rules relating to the performance and discharge of its duties and functions” and to publish them in the Gazette and then place them before Parliament.

It is interesting to examine whether the Constitutional Council did, in fact, act according to the 2002 procedures when it proceeded to “approve” the President’s several recommendations on the appointment of the Attorney General.

Continue reading ‘The Constitutional Council and the Tale 0f the Emperor’s New Clothes’ »

By

Tilak Samarawickrema

I lived in Italy for over 12 years and often went to the Teatro alla Scala with my Milanese friends, but I was never a great opera enthusiast. Nevertheless, being exposed to a fair amount of music internationally, I developed a taste for both western and eastern music.

Kishani Jayasinghe’s rendition of Danno Budunge only adds another dimension to a popular song that has seen many transformations over time.

Watching the clips of her singing at the Independence Day celebration concert, it is obvious that Kishani left our shores to make an impact on the world scene as a soprano with a thorough understanding and awareness of the sensibilities and nuances of her own culture.

Continue reading ‘Kishani Jayasinghe’s Proud Rendition of “Danno Budunge” Adds Another Dimension to a Popular Song’ »

By Chitra Weerarathne

Colombo Chief Magistrate Gihan Pilapitiya yesterday acquitted Dr Shirani Bandaranayake, the retired Chief Justice, of all the charges of corruption, filed by the Permanent Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption.

Continue reading ‘Former Chief Justice Dr.Shirani Bandaranayake Acquitted of All Charges of Corruption Filed By Bribery and Corruption Commission’ »

By

Malinda Seneviratne

Not too long ago, when in the name of development, the economic prosperity of Colombo and city beautification, slums and shanties as well as other areas described as ‘urban blight’ were bulldozed, there were howls of protest. The howlers mostly wrote in English. They deconstructed ‘development’.

They talked of high-handedness. They spoke of illegality, the violation of human rights and decried the uncivilized, arrogant and violent nation of both the act and the thinking behind the act. There were photo-essays and video productions recording testimonies of the victims and covering histories of the relevant places. The lives, livelihoods and neighbourhoods were captured in word and image in what was a conscious and righteous but ultimately futile exercise to show that these were “far removed from the popular imagination of slums and shanties”.

Moving on, we come to ‘Thotalanga’. It’s not the Slave Island of “rich history” made of “colourful lives,” right? But wait, aren’t all places historical and aren’t all people colourful? Or is it about who is being evicted, why the eviction and who is doing the eviction? Is it like, for example, the difference between the reactions to the JVP and the LTTE, and the different treatment of the various regimes that took them on (or pacified, as in the case of the LTTE)? Is it about the right (or wrong) kind of victims (“they deserved it!”) and the wrong (right) kind of victors or doers of the dirty (“they had to!”)? Is it about “it’s ok if our guys do it but dead wrong if their guys do it”?

Continue reading ‘Deafening Silence of Slave Island Eviction “Howlers” Over Thotalanga Eviction’ »

By Taylor Dibbert

It’s been over a year since Maithripala Sirisena assumed the presidency, although much about daily life in Sri Lanka’s war-torn Northern Province remains the same. “There’s a reduced number of troops on the road,” says Shalin Uthayarasa, a journalist. “We’re experiencing a temporary respite in repression.”

Uthayarasa goes on to mention that his two previous points apply to ordinary people, but aren’t relevant for journalists or human rights activists, who continue to face threats (or worse) from state security personnel. “I’m sure they [the Sri Lanka Army] haven’t reduced troop numbers,” he tells me.

Uthayarasa provides an important and unique perspective. From 2011-2013, he was attacked four times by the Sri Lanka Army as a result of his work as a journalist. Years later, he’s still undergoing physical therapy for the injuries that he’s suffered. As he tells me this I look more closely at the scar on his forehead, a lasting reminder of government repression.

Continue reading ‘Despite Democratic Gains, Problems Continue to Plague Sri Lanka’s Tamil Dominated Northern Province’ »

By Chitra Weerarathne

The Colombo High Court Judge A. A. R. Heiyanthuduwa, yesterday, issued notice on the officer-in-charge of the FCID (Ranasinghe) Assistant Superintendent of Police (Serasinghe), Deputy Inspector General/Director Financial Crimes Investigation Division (Ravi Waidyalankara), the IGP and the Attorney General, cited as respondents in the revision application filed by Yoshitha Rajapaksa, son of the former President Mahinda Rajapaksa and three other suspects.

The respondents were directed to appear in court on Feb. 29, 2016.

They were given time until then to file objections.

Continue reading ‘Mahinda Rajapaksa Seated at Bar table as Lawyer in Colombo High Court as Application Filed by Son Yoshitha is Taken Up’ »

by Dasun Edirisinghe

Pivithuru Hela Urumaya (PHU) leader Udaya Gammanpila yesterday challenged any government member to come for an open debate with him regarding the money invested in the Carlton Sports Network (CSN).

Addressing the weekly press briefing organised by the Joint Opposition at the Dr N. M. Perera Centre in Borella, Gammanpila denied that USD 5 mn had been received by the CSN from overseas and challenged to prove it if the government had evidence.

He said only Rs. 207 million had been invested in the channel, a capital of Rs.7 million with a Rs. 200 million as loans input.

“Written evidence for taking loans worth Rs. 200 million produced to the police, but they levelled baseless allegations,” Gammanpila said.

Continue reading ‘Udaya Gammanpila Challenges Govt for Open Debate Over Carlton Sports Network Issue Concerning Yoshitha Rajapaksa and Others’ »

By

Dayan Jayatilleka

I had a great time at the Colombo Jazz and Blues Festival and a bad one reading about the Consultational Task Force of NGO types to “enforce” the intrusive, US-driven Geneva resolution under the monitoring of a UN expert.

“An eleven-member Consultation Task Force will enforce provisions of the US-backed resolution…Its work will be carried out with the help of a UN expert who will arrive in Colombo next week. He is Pablo de Greiff, Special Rapporteur on the promotion of truth, justice, reparations and guarantees of non-recurrence. This will be part of an Action Plan formulated by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as stated in a confidential document circulated to Western countries and India as part of the implementation of the UNHRC (UN Human Rights Council) Resolution…

The 11-member Committee named by the Government comprises Manouri Muttetuwegama (Chairperson), Dr. Paikiasothy Saravanamuththu (Secretary), Gamini Viyangoda, Prof. Chitralekha Maunaguru, Visakha Dharmadasa, Dharmasiri Bandaranayake, Dr. Farzana Haniffa, Shantha Abhimanasingham PC, Mirak Raheem, Prof. Daya Somasunderam and Gameela Samarasinghe…The Task Force…will report to a Steering Committee on Reconciliation and the Prime Ministerial Action Group (PMAG)…”(sundaytimes.lk/160207/news/geneva-issue-govt-earmarks-11-member-task-force)

There are no former state officials among these “enforcers”. Though belonging to a (religious) minority I am appalled that G.G. Ponnambalam’s 50:50 seems to have been acceded to and exceeded in the composition of this Kangany (i.e. overseer) Task Force, which approximates DS Senanayaka’s reported counter-offer of 60:40, but the other way around. Posthumously, Ponnambalam has won in power-sharing in Colombo, while Chelvanayakam is about to win in the North, through federalist ‘Constitutional reform’.

Continue reading ‘Only the Politically Deaf Do Not Hear The Rumblings of Sinhala Rage’ »

By

Dr. Devanesan Nesiah

There have been diverse responses to the singing of our National Anthem in both our national languages; some sensible, some stupid; some patriotic, some racist. Among the questions that arise are the following:

1) If the National Anthem depicts the unitary character of the state, do states that are expressly federal, or de facto federal or quasi federal have no right to a National Anthem?

Many countries around the globe fall within these categories but all of them have National Anthems.

2) Do those multi lingual countries that have National Anthems that are sung in their National Languages fail to inspire their citizens when their National Anthem is sung in those Languages?

Continue reading ‘Tamil Separatists Oppose Singing of National Anthem in Tamil Because it Would Promote National Integration’ »

By

Upul Joseph Fernando

The Attorney-General’s Department disappeared from the Gazette notification in the lists which were in the Gazette relating to the respective ministries, when the ministers were sworn in after the 2010 general election. When the media inquired about it from then Justice Minister John Seneviratne, the minister said he too was searching where it was located in the Gazette notification. But John was unsuccessful in all attempts to locate the AG’s Department in the Gazette. Alas! President Mahinda Rajapaksa had taken it under his purview. That was the first time the AG’s Department which functioned under the Justice Ministry was plucked out to be placed under the Chief Executive. ‘

When Mahinda grabbed the AG’s Department, the incumbent Attorney General was Mohan Peiris who was appointed by Mahinda. Mohan had earlier served the AG’s Department and joined the unofficial bar, after retirement. Mahinda appointed Mohan as AG outside the normal procedure overlooking and undercutting many qualified seniors. This was done contravening the provisions of the 19th Amendment where the Constitutional Council enjoyed the privilege of making that appointment. Mahinda, who undermined the 19th Amendment and the Constitutional Council to the status of dogs, overlooked the much senior person Priyasath Dep and appointed Mohan Peiris in 2008. In 2010, Mahinda wanted the AG’s Department, with Mohan Peiris, under his purview.

Continue reading ‘Prostitution of Justice Began After Mahinda Rajapaksa Brought Attorney – General’s Dept Under His Control in 2010’ »

By

Gamini Akmeemana

An internationally renowned soprano from Sri Lanka sings the popular devotional song Danno Budunge at Galle Face as part of the independence day celebrations. She gets hooted by the crowd and pilloried by television and electronic websites. A week after this shameful event, none of the better-informed media, or people who should know better, have come to her defence. What exactly is the problem?

One argument is that an opera singer was out of place at the Galle Face concert which catered to the superstar crowd. The question then arises; in which context do we then place an opera singer? Is there a place for one at all in our cultural context?

The next question is: why do people need to insult someone who dared to differ? Wouldn’t it have been more dignified to bear in silence what one can’t fathom instead of lashing out so ruthlessly? A television commentator reportedly compared her singing to a ‘yelping of a dog.’

But Kishani Jayasinghe was not singing opera that night. She sang ‘Danno Budunge’, a perennial favourite among music fans ever since dramatist John de Silva presented it more than a century ago, with a technical and artistic virtuosity very different to what has been done so far by previous exponents of this song. There is a haunting beauty about her version which will ensure it a permanent place in the ‘Danno Budunge’ repertoire in future.

Continue reading ‘Danno Budunge Now is as Part of Tradition as the Perahera Elephant or the Devil Drum’ »

By Jayasuriya Udukumbura and Chaminda Silva

Grassroots level politicians of the Joint Opposition yesterday called upon President Sirisena to hand over SLFP leadership to former President Mahinda Rajapaksa. The decision had been taken at a meeting of the SLFP local government members in Negombo with former President Mahinda Rajapaksa presiding, former Western Province Chief Minister, UFPA Gampaha District MP Prasanna Ranatunga told The Island last night.

Ranatunga said that out of 1,437 SLFP members in the local government bodies, 1,401 had attended the meeting and made three unanimous decisions.

Continue reading ‘1401 Out of 1437 SLFP Local Authority Members Want Maithripala Sirisena to Hand Over Party Leadership to Mahinda Rajapaksa’ »

Four extremist Buddhist monks in Sri Lanka, wanted for alleged rioting outside a court, today surrendered before police after which they were remanded to custody till tomorrow.

The General Secretary of the Ravana Balaya, Venerable Ittekande Saddhatissa Thero, President of the Sinhala Ravaya, Venerable Akmeemana Dayarathana Thero and two other monks were ordered to be remanded till tomorrow by the Magistrate court at the Colombo suburb of Homagama.

Continue reading ‘4 “Wanted” Bhikkus Including “Sihala Ravaya”President and”Ravana Balaya”Gen Secy Remanded After Surrendering’ »

By

Tissa Devendra

In view of the recent philistine ha-ho about Kishani Jayasinghe’s wonderful rendition of John de Silva’s moving lyric, I decided to share some old memories “to set the record straight”.

I was a pre-undergrad in 1948 and witnessed the formal renunciation of British sovereignty and the hoisting of the [unstriped] Lion Flag of Independent Ceylon.

Continue reading ‘“I Heard an Operatic Rendition of “Danno Budunge”by Italian Trained Hubert Rajapakse When Independence Dawned in 1948”’ »

By P.K. Balachandran

To nip the politicization of the Sri Lankan navy in the bud, Lankan naval authorities on Monday commenced disciplinary action against four navy rugby players who wore armbands showing solidarity with Lt.
Yoshitha Rajapaksa, the incarcerated naval officer son of former president Mahinda Rajapaksa who is currently heading the “Joint Opposition Group” in Parliament.

Navy spokesman Capt. Akram Alavi told Express that the four players have been suspended from the Navy’s rugby squad, and disciplinary action initiated against them. The four players had worn armbands bearing the number “Yo-07”, which was Yoshitha’s number when he was a member of the team.

Continue reading ‘4 Navy Rugby Players Face Disciplinary Action for Wearing Armbands Displaying Solidarity with Detained Yoshitha Rajapaksa’ »

Ranga Jayasuriya

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Prince Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein concluded his four day visit with what was widely seen as a conciliatory note: He conceded that the involvement of foreign judges was a contentious issue here and added that whatever the recommendations of his office – which is mandated to do so by a UNHRC resolution agreed to by Sri Lanka — ultimately it is Sri Lanka’s ‘sovereign right to decide.’

Of course, he had some damning things to say about the collapse of judicial independence during the past several decades, and sadly though he failed to see that things had improved quite dramatically during the past one year. Admitting that would have weaken the merit of recommendations of his office to the effect of the involvement of foreign Judges.

Nonetheless, he acknowledged the freer and vibrant society Sri Lanka is today. (Though he noted fear has not totally disappeared in the North). However, since we cannot expect him to read from our script and since that this country is far from being perfect, his assessment was largely positive.

But, there are at least two groups that would never be content with the UNHRC chief’s remarks and whatever the measures the current government is taking to address its commitments to its people and international community.

Continue reading ‘Mahinda Rajapaksa in His Despair is Committing the Crime of Plotting to Drag the Country Down With Him’ »

By

Gagani Weerakoon

The tug-of-war between President Maithripala Sirisena and former President Mahinda Rajapaksa to get the reins of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) has reached its penultimate stage with the latter opening a new political operations office with the alleged support of the majority of Provincial Councillors and Local Government members.

Several senior and young members of the party seemed to have paid no heed to the indirect threat of having to face disciplinary action and were on the verge of being expelled from the party as they went for the opening of a new office for political operations by former President Mahinda Rajapaksa few days ago.

The new office was opened by former President Rajapaksa at Jayanthipura, Battaramulla, while the Maha Sangha led by the chief prelate of the Abhayarama Temple, Narahenpita, Ven. Muruththettuwe Ananda Thera chanted Pirith.

MPs Pavithra Wanniarachchi, Rohitha Abeygunawardena, Udaya Gammanpila, Bandula Gunawardena, Dilum Amunugama and many other members of the Joint Opposition were present. While speculation was rife that the symbol of the new party would be a lotus bud, the new office is also coincidentally situated at the Nelum (lotus) Mawatha.

Continue reading ‘Is China Funding the new Political Party Being Formed by the Rajapaksas?’ »

Former UPFA Minister Reginald Cooray was appointed the Governor of the Northern Province yesterday.

Cooray was Chief Minister of the Western Province twice. He succeeds former senior diplomat H. M. G. S. Palihakkara, who requested the President to relieve him of gubernatorial responsibilities at the conclusion of his term.

Cooray was Minister of Minor Export Crops Promotion during the Rajapaksa government. He switched his allegiance to Maithripala Sirisena at the Jan. 8, 2015 President election.

Cooray did not contest the subsequent parliamentary elections in August 2015, saying that he lacked the financial resources for campaigning.

Continue reading ‘Tamil Fluent Reginald Cooray Holding Liberal and Left Leaning Views Appointed as Northern Province Governor’ »

By

Bishop Duleep de Chickera

The singing of our National anthem in Tamil on freedom day was not simply about singing it in another language. It was about our National Anthem being sung in the mother tongue of a substantial number of Sri Lankan citizens who had been deprived of this right and privilege since as far back as a year after our independence.

For this to have happened on freedom day was a true demonstration of freedom, not just for those who think and speak in Tamil but for all Sri Lankans. As long as some were deprived of a right that others enjoyed,discrimination prevailed and as long as discrimination prevailed, no Sri Lankan was free.

To know that with February 4/16 the way has been paved for all to be able to publicly sing our common affirmation of the land of our birth, each in her mother tongue, liberates all; those who were earlier deprived of singing as well as those who sang alone.

Continue reading ‘Singing National Anthem in Tamil on Feb 4th was Demonstration of Freedom for all Sri Lankans’ »

By P.K.Balachandran

The ideological and political rift between the Northern Province Chief Minister C.V.Wigneswaran and the Sirisena-Wickremesinghe government in Colombo appears to be widening, with Wigneswaran’s efforts to maintain cordiality being half-hearted and perfunctory.

The Tamil Peoples’ Council (TPC), which Wigneswaran had created in December 2015, had proposed a constitutional scheme for Sri Lanka which no government in Colombo would touch with a barge pole.

The TPC demands a constitutional set-up based on “shared sovereignty” in which two “sovereign” entities, the Tamil “nation” and the Sinhalese “nation”, come together to form a federation.

The TPC’s scheme does not envisage “devolution” in which the Centre is the main repository of sovereignty, and it only “devolves” power to the Tamil province.

In the TPC’s scheme, two separate sovereign entities pool their sovereignties to form a whole. It’s a deal between equals.

Continue reading ‘TNA May Unseat Northern Chief Minister by Moving No Trust Motion Against Wigneswaran in TNA Dominated Provincial Council’ »

by Rasika Jayakody

The Disciplinary Committee of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) will initiate action against 30 MPs for violating party discipline.

The SLFP Central Committee, when it met on Friday, decided to delegate full authority to the Disciplinary Committee of the party to take action against MPs breaching party discipline, irrespective of their positions in the party.

“Internal discipline is important in a political party. At this point, my primary objective is to uphold Party Discipline,” President Maithripala Sirisena told senior members of the Central Committee on the sidelines of the Central Committee meeting on Friday evening.

Continue reading ‘SLFP to Initiate Action Against 30 MP’s Including Mahinda Rajapaksa for Violating Party Discipline’ »

By

Rasika Jayakody

With Yoshitha Rajapaksa being arrested in connection with the CSN TV station controversy, close allies of former President Mahinda Rajapaksa are now convinced that the wheels of law enforcement are moving.

As an immediate result, they realised the importance of ‘fast-tracking’ their process of forming a new political alliance, so that they would have a platform to politicise anti-corruption investigations and legal battles surrounding them.

A special discussion in this regard was held on February 8 at the Mirihana residence of former President Rajapaksa. Front-liners of the Abhayaramaya cabal, who have now formed the so-called ‘joint opposition’, comprising the UPFA dissident group supporting the Rajapaksa clan, took part in the meeting where they discussed the future course of action of the pro-Rajapaksa group.

At the discussion, they re-affirmed their decision to form a new political party to contest the local government election fixed for June. It was unanimously decided that the former President, a man currently facing a surfeit of controversies, would lead the new political front. They have already taken measures to register the new political party under the name ‘Our Sri Lanka Freedom Front’ with the symbol ‘lotus’. It is speculated that former SLFP electorate organiser Sagara Kariyawasam, a lesser-known figure in national politics, will function as the Secretary. Kariyawasam is the son of former SLFP MP Albert Kariyawasam.

Continue reading ‘Mahinda Rajapaksa to Lead New Political Party Named “Our Sri Lanka Freedom Front” With the Symbol of Lotus’ »

By

Kishali Pinto Jayawardene

As President Maithripala Sirisena and the Constitutional Council (CC) played a virtual game of ‘catch the ball if you can’ with each other over the appointment of Sri Lanka’s 29th Attorney General (AG) this week, the Rajapaksa-led section of the opposition engaged in raucous antics over not being allowed to sit as a separate group in Parliament.

Perversely, this fracas took place precisely when a shamefully overdue amendment increasing female representation to local government bodies was being passed in the House. In a sense, both developments indicate the atrocious degeneration of the country’s institutional culture. As Sri Lankans are fast realizing, two euphoric election victories seems the easier part of this oftentimes seemingly hopeless journey to recapture democratic balance.

Continue reading ‘Bypassing the Rule of Seniority in the Appointment of the Attorney – General’ »

By

C.A.Chandraprema

The attempt by the SLFP parliamentarians in the Joint Opposition to become an independent group in parliament came to naught with Speaker Karu Jayasuriya refusing to grant them that recognition. The excuse he gave was one of the lamest ever – that he cannot take the responsibility for having committed the crime of splitting the SLFP or the UNP. Jayasuriya himself led Sri Lanka’s biggest mass defection of MPs from the UNP to the UPFA in 2007 and he still holds the record in that respect. (The earlier record holder was S.B.Dissanayake who led a defection in the opposite direction from the PA into the UNP in 2001.) So for Jayasuriya to refuse to recognise a functioning independent group which has even voted against a budget seems to the Rajapaksa camp to be the height of hypocrisy.

The manner in which Karu Jayasuriya has conducted himself as Speaker has been very different to the way that his predecessors Chamal Rajapaksa, W.J.M.Lokubandara and Anura Bandaranaike conducted themselves. The Speaker in parliament is a key figure of the state who bears onerous responsibilities in safeguarding democracy. It is he who looks after the rights of the MPs elected to parliament. In past parliaments, there were many instances of MPs sitting independently. In the 2004-2010 parliament, the JVP had 39 MPs elected on the UPFA list and after a while they were sitting independently. In the same parliament Ven. Uduwe Dhammaloka elected on the JHU ticket was sitting independently almost from the beginning. Then JVP parliamentarian Nandana Gunatilleke sat independently of the JVP group which itself was already sitting independently of the UPFA.

Continue reading ‘Karu Jayasuriya as Speaker has Flouted All The Principles Upheld By His Predecessors’ »

by Tisaranee Gunasekara

“…an anti-civilatory, myth-making nationalism…”
– Karl Dietrich Bracher (The German Dictatorship)

It beats the Grimm’s Tales and the Arabian Nights hollow, that story of a princess who runs away from her home and mates with a lion. Not a lion-like man, not a member of a tribe named after the ‘king of beasts’, but an actual man-eating lion. The Great Chronicle (Mahavamsa) takes considerable pains to make the point. The princess, described by Bhikku Mahanama as ‘fair’ and ‘amorous’, gives birth to twins. Sihabahu is so named because his hands and feet are ‘formed like a lion’s’. He eventually kills the father and marries the sister. Vijaya, the Sinhala Manu according to Mahavamsa, was a product of that incestuous union.

Thus Sinha Le, lion’s blood. A physical impossibility, an obvious fabrication, this is our version of creationism, our geo-centrism, which we continue to believe despite evidence to the contrary, because it is an article of faith. And for decades this story was taught in schools not as myth or even religion (the distinction depends on who is doing the looking) but history. It was also used by everyone, from anti-devolution politicians to hardline monks, from academics to military men, from novelists to lay people, to justify Sinhala Buddhist supremacism and to oppose any political concessions to the minorities.

In the teaching of Gautama Buddha there is no concept of holy war, no place for force/violence in the protection of either the Dhamma or those who practice it. Classical Buddhism does not provide a ruler with a mechanism to use religion to justify war, because the Buddha’s rejection of violence is absolute and non-negotiable. Classical Buddhism accepts that violence is a part of statecraft; but that violence cannot be perpetrated under cover of protecting or promoting Buddhism. A Buddhist ruler may have to pursue policies of violence but that violence must be of the secular and not religious variety.

Sinhala-Buddhism was born out of the Mahavamsa’s project of providing Lankan rulers with a religious justification for their violent power-projects. The Sinha Le brand (sticker and social media movement) is just its latest offshoot.

Continue reading ‘The Battle Against “Sinha Le”Insanity Must Be Fought With Ideas,Logic,Facts and Appeal to Reason.’ »

by Reeza Hameed

Markandey Katju, quondam Justice of the Supreme Court of India, is a man who does not mince his words. A maverick, he has a penchant for courting controversies. Not long ago, he dubbed Mahatma Gandhi ‘a British agent’ (he also called Subhash Chandra Bose ‘a Japanese agent’). Katju accused Gandhi of serving the imperial agenda and declared as a myth the widely held claim that Gandhi won India her freedom.

For about twenty years Gandhi practised law in South Africa and in 1915 went back to India, where he became involved in the country’s independence movement. In India, he set out to build a mass political movement by injecting religion into politics, thereby exploiting the deeply held religious sentiments of the people. In almost every meeting he participated, he propagated Hindu religious ideas. The Congress was converted to a party of the Hindu masses, leading to the Muslims and the Congress becoming polarised. Citing the eminent jurist Seervai in support, Katju has argued that Gandhi’s method of appealing to Hindu ideas inevitably led to partition.

Had Katju been in Solon’s Athens, where speaking ill of the dead was prohibited by Solon’s law, his remarks would have got him into hot waters. In twenty first century India, Katju’s remarks touched a raw nerve of the law makers because he had spoken ill of the Father of the Nation. Parliamentarians in both houses took the unusual step of passing unanimous resolutions deploring Katju’s comments. The Lok Sabha resolution condemning Katju’s statement reads:

“Father of the Nation Gandhiji and Netaji Shri Subhash Chandra Bose both are venerated by the entire country. The contribution of these two great personalities and their dedication is unparalleled. The statement given by former Judge of the Supreme Court and former Chairman of Press Council of India Shri Markandey Katju is deplorable. This House unequivocally condemns the statement given by former Judge of Supreme Court Shri Markandey Katju unanimously.”

Continue reading ‘Deconstructing the Mystique of “Mahatma” Gandhi.’ »

(Text of Remarks made by Former President Rajapaksa on Pledge Given to Prince Hussein by President Sirisena and Prime Minister Wickremesinghe)

The President and Prime Minister have given the UN Human Rights Commissioner an assurance that last year’s UN Human Rights Council resolution against Sri Lanka will be implemented. This UNHRC resolution was accepted and co-sponsored by the Sri Lankan government and passed by the UNHRC without a vote. The UNP led government accepted the Geneva resolution with the same carelessness with which they entered into the ceasefire agreement with the LTTE in 2002.

Though our Ambassador in Geneva tried to negotiate different terms, that was deliberately stopped by the government which insisted on accepting the US sponsored resolution just as it was. There is now an attempt to portray this UNHRC resolution as a great diplomatic victory for Sri Lanka. But in reality, it was a great betrayal comparable to the Kandyan Convention of 1815.

The people should once again be reminded about what exactly has been undertaken by accepting this resolution.

Continue reading ‘Ex-President Mahinda Rajapaksa Wants People of Sri Lanka to Unite and Resist Attempt by Govt to Betray War Heroes and Country’ »

(New York) – The Sri Lankan government’s appointment to parliament of the former army chief whose forces were implicated in widespread abuses contradicts pledges to investigate alleged war crimes, Human Rights Watch said today.

On February 9, 2016, the United National Party of Prime Minister Ranil Wickramasinghe appointed Field Marshal Sarath Fonseka to parliament as a national list member for a seat vacated by the death of an incumbent.

Fonseka was the commander of the Sri Lankan Army from December 2005 until the defeat of the secessionist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in May 2009. During the final months of the fighting, Sri Lankan forces under Fonseka’s command were implicated in numerous instances of unlawful shelling of civilians and hospitals, rape and other sexual violence, and the summary execution of prisoners.

Continue reading ‘Human Rights Watch Faults Govt for Appointing Sarath Fonseka as MP Instead of Investigating him for Alleged War Crimes’ »

By

Taylor Dibbert

Before I know it we’re wheels up at Dulles International Airport and I’m looking forward to visiting the Middle East (airport style) yet again. One day, I will actually travel to Doha or Abu Dhabi or Dubai or Amman and see something besides an airport. Maybe I’ll do that on my 100th visit to a Middle Eastern airport; I hope someone is keeping track of all this.

I have a few good days in Colombo, the capital of Sri Lanka, and appreciate that the government has waited until I get to Jaffna to start listening to my phone calls. My appreciation for surveillance is always greater in the island nation’s heavily militarized North. Although the country’s brutal civil war ended more than six years ago, Sri Lanka’s Tamil-dominated Northern Province remains a very difficult place to live. Even with the administration of President Maithripala Sirisena, a return to normalcy remains illusory.

During my visit, I hear about militarization, sexual violence, land expropriation, Tamil political prisoners and more. I hear about broken promises. I hear that the new government isn’t necessarily looking all that different from the administration of Mahinda Rajapaksa, the previous president.

Continue reading ‘Sri Lanka’s Surveillance Apparatus is Alive and Well Even Without Rajapaksa at the Helm’ »

By

Prof Carlo Fonseka

For me the highpoint of our 68th Independence Day celebrations came when I heard a group of children singing our national anthem with great feeling and enthusiasm, in Tamil. The heart of our anthem is its enchanting melody imbued with a flavor of Tagorean music. It was composed by Ananda Samarakoon, an alumnus of Tagore’s Shanthinikethana.

Being a direct translation of AS’s rather long-winded lyrics, the Tamil version of the anthem enshrines nothing but AS’s sentiments, such as the ennobling thought that Sri Lankans are the children of one mother. The musical arrangement of the Sinhala and Tamil versions of the anthem was exactly the same.

The only difference, therefore, was that the children sang the anthem in a language they instantly understood, their mother-tongue Tamil. Good things do happen in our country every now and then!

Continue reading ‘President and Prime Minister Deserve Accolades for Doing the RIGHT THING in Permitting National Anthem to be sung in Tamil at Independence Celebration’ »

By C. A. Chandraprema

Concluding his four-day visit to Sri Lanka, UN Human Rights Commissioner Zeid Al Hussein told the media in Colombo that he had met President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe that morning and they had both assured him that Sri Lanka would be meeting its human rights commitments.

The UN Human Rights Commissioner said that the President and Prime Minister had given him that assurance when he had informed them of the fears expressed by victims in the North and East that the government might be ‘wavering in its human rights commitments’. He said that he had discussed a wide range of issues with the President and the Prime Minister which would have a bearing on the future of Sri Lanka.

High Commissioner Hussein said Sri Lanka’s key institutions had been ‘corroded and corrupted’ during three decades of conflict and that though Sri Lanka had many excellent judges, lawyers and law enforcement officials, over the years the system they depended upon had become highly politicised and unbalanced. The country’s history was ‘littered with judicial failures’ he said.

Continue reading ‘President and Prime Minister Assure UN Human Rights Commissioner that Sri Lanka Would Meet Its Human Rights Commitments’ »

By Saman Indrajith

Parliament sittings lasted for only two hours as Speaker Karu Jayasuriya had to adjourn the House following a protest staged by the MPs of Joint Opposition demanding that they be assured their right to act as an independent group in Parliament.

The government, however, managed to get the Local Authorities Elections (Amendment) Bill seeking to increase the percentage of female representatives in local government bodies passed amidst the booing of Opposition MPs.

When the bill was taken for debate Joint Opposition MPs led by MEP leader Dinesh Gunawardena came to the Well of the House protesting.

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe at the commencement of the debate said that the bill was seeking to increase women’s representation in the local government bodies and asked why the opposition was trying to disrupt it.

Continue reading ‘Bill to Increase Female Representation in Local Authorities Passed by Govt Despite “Joint Opposition” Efforts to Scuttle it Via Protests’ »

By

P.K.Balachandran

The Sri Lankan government’s bid to reform the community of Buddhist monks has all but failed, with the Supreme Court telling parliament that the bill on the rules of conduct for monks will have to be passed by two thirds majority and submitted to a referendum.

The court’s “determination” on the bill was announced by parliament Speaker Karu Jayasuriya on Wednesday.

When introduced, the bill was thought to be well-intentioned, given the unruly conduct of some monks, one of whom, Ven.Gnanasara Thera, is currently in remand for storming a court and threatening a litigant. But many leading monks and leaders began to say that it was too intrusive and in violation of time honored traditions.

Known as the Katikawath bill (Katikawath is the set of internal rules of conduct for monks in a Nikaya or Buddhist Order), it made it mandatory for a Nikaya/ Order/Chapter to specify the composition of its Karaka Sangha Sabha; the Code of Conduct for its monks; the manner in which inquiries will be conducted; and the punishments that will be meted out.

Continue reading ‘Supreme Court Ruling Dampens Sri Lankan Govt Attempt to Regulate Conduct of Buddhist Monks Through “Katikawath” Bill’ »

By Norman Palihawadana

Former President Mahinda Rajapaksa yesterday said the appointment of leader of the Democratic Party and former Army Commander Field Marshal Sarath Fonseka as an MP via the National List would become a legal issue.
Continue reading ‘Appointment of Sarath Fonseka as National List MP Would Become a Legal Issue Warns Ex- President Mahinda Rajapaksa’ »

Field Marshal Sarath Fonseka took oaths as a Member of Parliament (MP) before Speaker Karu Jayasuriya yesterday.

Soon after the sittings commenced, Speaker Jayasuriya announced that Fonseka would be sworn in as a new MP, and Sergeant-at-Arms Anil Parakrama Samarasekera accompanied Fonseka to the Speaker’s table.

Fonseka was sworn in while the entire House was standing as per the tradition.

After taking oaths, the Field Marshal was accompanied to his seat by the Sergeant-at-Arms while other MPs in the isles were congratulating him.

Continue reading ‘Field Marshal Sarath Fonseka Takes Oaths as National List Parliamentarian Before Speaker Karu Jayasuriya’ »

By

Upul Joseph Fernando

Whenever Sarath Fonseka emerges in politics, those opposed to him appear excited and confused. Field Marshal Sarath Fonseka is a sensation in every field he treads because those who envy him view this character as a sensational figure, may be with fear. Fonseka is outspoken and that had been to his disadvantage on many occasions. Be that as it may, when Sarath Fonseka was engaged at Temple Trees signing the agreement with Ranil Wickremesinghe, Gotabaya Rajapaksa was busy meeting the Maha Sangha. Gotabaya chose the occasion to use the media to launch an attack on Fonseka. He claimed it was a shameless effort to bring Fonseka, who was defeated at the last general election, on the National List. Gotabaya challenged those ministers who scoffed at him saying he knew no politics being a military man, to pose the same question to Fonseka who was a former Army Commander. All these comments emanating from Gotabaya display his fear or excitement over attempts to bring Fonseka to Parliament.

Adding more confusion to the move to bring Fonseka to Parliament, another Fonseka critic Minister Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe too, seems to panic. It was reported that Minister Rajapakshe had threatened to quit his ministerial portfolio if Fonseka is brought in as a Member of Parliament. It was Minister Rajapakshe who earlier said he would not allow the arrest of Gotabaya Rajapaksa. The Wijeyadasa-Fonseka battle erupted over the controversial Avant Garde issue. When Fonseka firmly demanded the arrest of Gotabaya over the Avant Garde controversy, it was Minister Rajapakshe who appeared to protect Gotabaya. Fonseka unfolded the link between the Avant Garde owner and Wijeyadasa to the country. This battle clearly demonstrated that some ministers were being used by Gotabaya to prevent his arrest. Similarly, it is clear that Gotabaya has engaged in an exercise to prevent Fonseka entering Parliament through the influence of some ministers.

Continue reading ‘Why the Loyalists of Mahinda and Gotabaya Fear Entry of Sarath Fonseka to Parliament’ »

By
Vishwamithra 1984

“If you must break the law, do it to seize power: in all other cases observe it.”
– Julius Caesar

He is in the news again. Parading in yellow robes, portraying himself as a martyr of the present day and saviour of Sinhala Buddhists; Galagoda Atte Gnanasara Thero, a Buddhist monk whose credentials are more of a homage to a defeated regime of corruption and deceit than a parade of a victorious army, played another one of his infamous ploys, and this time too, came out a loser.

The country’s judiciary is no more enslaved by a ruling clan; its pride is no more compromised or damaged by near-midnight telephone calls from the powers that be; it is independent and showing it.
Leave alone the Supreme Court and Appeal Court; the High Court and all other judicial Courts below that and their standard bearers — learned Judges of our Court system — are dispensing justice as they should.

A classic case is, when this Buddhist Monk was, firstly accused of insulting the country’s Court system and then arresting him — yes, arresting him! This charlatan of a Monk — Galagoda Atte Gnanasara Thera for his unruly behaviour. As one writer penned:“in fact, this is not the first time when he has been taking both Buddhists in particular and Sri Lankans in general on a jolly good ride into make them believe as if he is some sort of born again reformist working to protect the interests of this country. Neither will this be the last…”

Long before this happened, during the former regime, when he received unparalleled patronage from the ruling family, I penned more than one column in arousing the awareness of the foul-mouthed and uncivilized conduct of this individual who was calling himself the saviour of Sinhalese-Buddhist values. However, our mainstream media, as in the case of their American counterpart in the far West, lending credence and unlimited exposure to a shameful pretender like Donald Trump, is blowing out of proportion the whole melodrama enacted by Galagoda Atte Gnanasara Thero.

Continue reading ‘Ven. Galagoda Atte Gnanasara Thera not the Virus but a Virus Carrier who Needs to be Stopped.’ »

(Text of Statement by UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, at the end of his mission to Sri Lanka in Colombo on 9 February 2016 )

Good afternoon, and thank you for coming.

I come to you shortly after wrapping up my visit here with meetings with President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and the Leader of the Opposition, in which we discussed a wide range of issues that will have an important bearing on the future of Sri Lanka. Since arriving here on Saturday, I have also met the Ministers of Foreign Affairs, Justice, National Dialogue, and Prison Reforms, Rehabilitation and Resettlement, as well as the Defence Secretary, Chief of Defence Staff, Army and Air Force Commanders and the Chief of Staff of the Navy.

In addition, here in Colombo, I visited the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka, and the Task Force that will lead the forthcoming National Consultations on transitional justice. I also met a number of Sri Lanka’s finest thinkers and analysts, including members of its vibrant civil society organizations.

On Sunday, I visited the Northern and Eastern Provinces, where I met the Chief Ministers and members of the Provincial Councils as well as the Governors, and yesterday morning I was honoured to visit the revered Sri Dalada Maligawa, or Temple of the Sacred Tooth in Kandy, where I was graciously received by the Mahanayakas (Chief Monks) of the Malwatte and Asgiriya Chapters. I am very grateful to them for according me this great privilege, as well as to the members of the Hindu, Muslim and Christian communities I met in Colombo, Jaffna and Trincomalee.

This has been a much more friendly, cooperative and encouraging visit than the one my predecessor endured in August 2013, which as you may recall was marred by vituperative attacks on her integrity, simply because she addressed a number of burning human rights issues that any High Commissioner for Human Rights would have raised at that time.

I am aware that some of the same people have given me a similar welcome — I’ve seen the posters — but I am pleased that in the new environment in Sri Lanka, all voices, including the moderate voices of civil society, can at last be heard, even if sometimes the voices of hatred and bigotry are still shouting the loudest, and as a result are perhaps being listened to more than they deserve.

Continue reading ‘“The world wants Sri Lanka to be a success story. It has seen the opportunity for lasting success in Sri Lanka” Says UN Human Rights Chief’ »

I am ready to provide any support to build up this new political party, which will lead the true SLFPers

By Shanika Sriyananda

Gotabaya Rajapaksa, the second most powerful man among the Rajapaksa clan during the previous regime, asserted that no one could politically destroy the Rajapaksas even if they were jailed or killed. The former Defence Secretary, Rajapaksa said that the family had been in politics for over 80 years and that all attempts to wipe them out would be a failure as people still hoped to bring Mahinda Rajapaksa back into power.

He challenged the Government to prove that the Rajapaksas possess enormous wealth and had stolen billions of rupees. “The Financial Criminal Investigation Division (FCID) was created with selective people, who are political stooges. The FCID acts against the laws of this country because somebody wanted to punish somebody else. That is not justice and not what they have promised the people,” he charged.

Following are the excerpts of the interview:

Q: What is keeping you busy these days?

A: The Presidential Commission, the Bribery Commission and the FCID. I am also spending time with my lawyers consulting them to face the false accusations by those commissions against me. That is how my life goes on these days (laughing).

Q: Discussions to form a new political party by the Rajapaksas have also kept you busy, haven’t they?

A: Yes, discussions are going on these days to form a new political party but it is not exactly by the Rajapaksas. The idea purely came from the original and true SLFPers, who are thoroughly disappointed and also in the wilderness now that their much-loved party is now in disarray. The SLFPers at grass-roots level have urged us to form a new party for them. However this will be the real SLFP.

Continue reading ‘“I am Ready to Provide Any Support to Build up new Political Party to Lead True SLFPers” says Ex – Def Secy Gotabhaya Rajapaksa’ »

By Ram Manikkalingam

Two days ago the national anthem was sung in Tamil for the first time at the official celebration of independence day since independence in 1948. Six years ago the government’s own regional director for education in the Tamil north, Markandu Sivalingam, was assassinated by “unidentified”gunmen for disagreeing with President Rajapaksa’s directive to ban the singing of the national anthem in Tamil at official functions.United Nation’s High Commissioner for Human Rights Prince Zeid, who is in Sri Lankatoday, must welcome the transformation this signals in Sri Lanka’s politics in just over a year with President Sirisena’s election.

No doubt, he will also express the UN view – set out in a Human Rights Council resolution last September – that President Sirisena must set up a court to try war crimes committed during the bloody civil war that ended in 2009. The President is on record in favour of holding violators of humanitarian and human rights law to account. But he is also committed to reaching a deal that would give the Tamil community in the north and east of Sri Lanka power to manage economic, land and cultural issues. Some argue both objectives can be realized in tandem, but the political realities in post-conflict Sri Lanka suggest otherwise.

Continue reading ‘A War Crimes Court Should Not be the Top Priority At The Present Time’ »

By Cyril Wimalasurendre

The Mahanayaka Theras of Malwatte and Asgiriya Chapters, the premier seats of Sri Lanka’s Buddhist Order, informed the visiting UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra-ad Al Hussein, yesterday (08) that there was no need for foreign involvement in an inquiry into allegations of war crimes.

The prelates categorically stated that a local inquiry could be held if such a probe was necessary.

Hussein called on the Most Venerable Tibbatuwawe Sri Sumangala Thera and Most Venerable Galagama Sri Attadassi Thera, the prelates of Malwatte and Asgiriya respectively after paying his homage to the Sacred Tooth Relic at Sri Dalada Maligawa.

Continue reading ‘Malwatte and Asgiriya Mahanayakes tell UN Human Rights Chief there is no need of Foreign Involvement into Alleged War Crimes Inquiry’ »

by Zacki Jabbar

Amidst objections by Justice Minister Wijeyadasa Rajapaksa, the UNP Working Committee yesterday endorsed the appointment of Democratic Party Leader, Field Marshal Sarath Fonseka to Parliament via the National List.

The vacancy arose as a result of the recent death of Lands Minister M. K. A. D. S. Gunawardena.

Informed sources told The Island that Fonseka had been assured of being appointed an MP by Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe subject to Working Committee approval, prior to the Democratic Party (DP) entering into a Memorandum of Understanding with the UNP led United National Front (UNF) last week to further the policies that the people had endorsed at last August’s General Election.

A proposal submitted to nominate Fonseka to Parliament had been endorsed by the decision making Working Committee yesterday, sources said.

Continue reading ‘UNP Working Committee Decides to Appoint Democratic Party Leader Sarath Fonseka to National List MP Vacancy Caused by MKADS Gunawardena’s Death’ »

By Anura Balasuriya

A campaign to collect one million signatures for a public petition against the proposed war crimes investigation commenced at the Sri Sambuddhaloka Vihara, Colombo yesterday.

Former President Mahinda Rajapaksa signed the petition first while members of the Maha Sangha chanted pirith.

Thereafter, Buddhist monks, former Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, former Minister Prof. G. L. Peiris, Dr. Gunadasa Amarasekera, MP Geetha Kumarasinghe and the supporters of the Joint Opposition signed the petition.

Continue reading ‘Campaign to Collect 1 Million Signatures For Petition Against Proposed War Crimes Investigation Launched with Mahinda Rajapaksa Signing First’ »

By PK Balachandran

The Sri Lankan government has set up an 11-member multi-ethnic Consultation Task Force (CTF), comprising leading lights of civil society, to aid the implementation of the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) resolution of October 1, 2015.

A top source in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs told Express on Monday, that the CTF will elicit views from the public through its website, and also go round the island to get the views of those unable to use the web.

Continue reading ‘11 Member Multi-ethnic Consulation Task Force to help Implement UNHRC Resolution of Oct 1st 2015 on Sri Lanka’ »

Just a day before Lt. Yoshitha’s arrest, investigations against members of the Rajapaksa family figured at the national executive council meeting on January 29 (Friday). The meeting was chaired by President Sirisena. Besides ministers, the heads of the CID, FCID and representatives of the Attorney General’s Department and organisations representing civil society were present. The latter had met both Sirisena and Wickremesinghe only last month to complain of delays in action over investigations and the resultant public discontent. Public Administration Minister John Seneviratne was locked in an argument with his ministerial colleague Champika Ranawaka (Megapolis and Western Province Development).

It was after Seneviratne declared that people who make comments should know the law. It was over investigations into Avant Garde Maritime Services Limited, shot back Ranawaka. He said the case was handed to a senior officer in the Attorney General’s Department. He had studied the files and recommended that those involved in the alleged irregularities should be arrested. However, weeks later, another official had come up with a contrary view. There was also an issue over former Minister Tilak Marapana. “Read the Sunday Times and you will know why then Minister Marapana resigned. He said in an article that he feared some 6,500 employees of the firm would retaliate,” he pointed out.

Continue reading ‘Rudimentary Details of Police FCID Probe Into Suspected “Shady” Activities of the Carlton Sports Network’ »

by Tamara Kunanayakam

It should by now be obvious to any keen observer of events in Geneva and vacillations of Sri Lanka’s ruling class that the ‘human rights’ game being played out has little to do with the Sri Lankan people and everything to do with the island’s strategic location on the Indian Ocean as vital maritime link between a declining West and a rising East, with China at its centre, and strategic observation post, and with Washington’s fundamental commitment to maintaining a unipolar world in which it has no peer competitor. Sri Lankans matter only insofar as they constitute obstacles to that goal, or would-be collaborators, or opportune victims to be used and abused as and when strategy requires.

Yesterday, Sri Lanka got too close to China and Russia, and regime-change was in order. Today, having obtained the support of collaborators within the Yahapalanaya regime to subscribe to a resolution devastating for Sri Lanka’s sovereignty, all efforts concentrate on stabilizing its auxiliaries in Colombo by ensuring implementation of a precedent-setting joint resolution whose reach extends far beyond Sri Lanka’s shores or its relations with Washington.

Washington’s ambitions are not just geopolitical, but the erection of a new international architecture that will permit its unilateral, preemptive, and preventive use of force, anywhere, at any time, unconstrained by the rules and norms of the multilateral system of international relations that is Charter-bound to respect sovereignty.

Continue reading ‘Insidious Role Relating to Sri Lanka Played by Washington’s Proxy the UN Human Rights High Commissioners Office’ »

By

Kishali Pinto Jayawardene

The 20th century essayist and philosopher George Santayana’s caustic observation that ‘those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it’ may well have been specifically tailored for Sri Lanka. This is true not only for politicians who are generally characterised by a singularly bovine stupidity but also for many others whose capitulation to political agendas is deplorable.

A common focus in securing justice

Last year, with the routing of the Rajapaksas, the several United Nations Resolutions committing Sri Lanka to securing justice for war time atrocities remained a foremost challenge. Ideally this should have been coupled with a strong law centered determination in bringing corruptors to justice. Both aspects may have been part of one process, bringing the people into the centre of change. Public support for this would have been overwhelming across the country, with the firm relegation of the Rajapaksa support base to the sidelines.

There is an important common focus in both processes. This is the cleansing of the defiled Augean stables of Sri Lanka’s police and prosecutorial agencies. In that regard, I do not use the term ‘defiled’ lightly. This is not to say that honourable individuals do not serve in these agencies. On the contrary, the system works in such a manner that honour and dignity have little place in decision making. Currently there is public scrutiny of the pending appointment of Sri Lanka’s Attorney General. The subversion of the prosecutorial role is neither recent nor intermittent. It has been well documented before courts as well as during Commissions of Inquiry, most recently by a senior police officer who pointed to the active role played by a particular senior state law officer in obstructing the inquiries of the 2006 Udalagama Commission.

Continue reading ‘Key Challenge For This Presidency And Govt Is The Deepening Crisis Of Public Credibility’ »

Minister of Law and Order and Southern Development Sagala Ratnayake in a statement yesterday said that thorough scrutiny of company emails had uncovered the connection between former President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s son Yoshitha and Carlton Sports Network (CSN), which is being probed by the Financial Crimes Investigation Division (FCID).

The FCID commenced investigations on March 15, 2015 according to a complaint submitted by ‘Citizens for a Just Society’ to the Inspector General of Police (IGP) accusing the CSN of money laundering and misuse of state property.

The Minister said 20 submissions have been made on the investigations to the court and the court’s advice has been obtained for investigations. The FCID has conducted the investigations according to the country’s criminal law.

Initially the FCID had investigated the initial capital of Rs 234 million raised to establish the CSN television channel, Minister Ratnayake said in his statement.

Continue reading ‘Attorney –General Will File Indictment in High Court Against Yoshitha Rajapaksa Over His “Connection”to Carlton Sports Network’ »

By

Ranga Jayasuriya

Finally, the Joint Opposition, a euphemism for the cronies of the ex-President in Parliament, has turned to God. If the legend in Sinigama lives up to its fame, the hundred thousand coconuts they smashed at the Devalaya there during the weekend to invoke ritualistic curse on the Financial Crime Investigation Division could raise hell.

Even if it stops short of unleashing some sorts of nuclear holocaust, the Joint Opposition’s latest mood swing to black magic is bad news. It would continue to blind them with bitterness, and lead the nation to a period of increasingly acrimonious politics. (That is in addition to the possible legal implications of an alleged pre-dawn theft of a trailer load of nuts from a State Plantation Down South).

All this rancour is because the FCID locked up Yoshitha Rajapaksa, the second son of the ex-President and four others over the charges of money laundering to the tune of 250 million rupees. The latest arrests could be a precursor to many things to come as many members of the first family are now under investigation. Carlton Sports Network (CSN) at the centre of the current investigation is a classic case of Rajapaksa nepotism.

Continue reading ‘Was Mahinda Rajapaksa of Sri Lanka Like Mao Ze Dong of China “70 % Right and 30 % Wrong”?’ »

By

P.K.Balachandran

The main thrust of the two-day visit of Indian External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj to Sri Lanka which ended on Saturday, was abundantly clear. It was to increase and strengthen India’s economic ties with Lanka, taking advantage of the “transformational change” brought about by the coming into power of two – India-friendly leaders, Maithripala Sirisena and Ranil Wickremesinghe, in January last year.

Although Swaraj assured the leaders of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) that ensuring a political solution “acceptable to all Sri Lankans” would be India’s “continuing objective”, her primary interest was in enlarging India’s economic footprint in the island for mutual benefit.

Swaraj got Lanka’s consent for the establishment of a Special Indian Economic Zone at Trincomalee, a place of strategic importance to India in East Lanka. She was assured that India’s plans to set up a 500 MW power plant at Sampoor would see progress since environmental clearance had been obtained. Swaraj also took up the development of the 99 giant oil tanks in Trincomalee.

Though given to India years ago, the tanks are largely unused for want of cooperation from Lanka. She got the Lankans to invite a delegation from ONGC Videsh and Natural Gas of India to see how best the tanks could be used.

Continue reading ‘Main Thrust of Trip by Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj was to Increase and Strengthen Indian Economic Ties with Sri Lanka’ »

By

C.A.Chandraprema

UN Human Rights Commissioner Zeid Al Hussein arrived in Sri Lanka yesterday. In the days prior to his arrival, it appeared as if a divergence of opinion had emerged between the President and the Prime Minister about the implementation of last September’s UNHRC resolution against Sri Lanka. One of the key demands in that resolution was the institution of a war crimes tribunal in Sri Lanka with the participation of foreign judges, prosecutors and investigators. In the past couple of weeks, President Maithripala Sirisena gave two interviews to the BBC and Al Jazeera where he claimed that there were no war crimes allegations against Sri Lanka and that there was no need for foreign judges to be imported to Sri Lanka as we had enough expertise in this country. In the meantime, the Prime Minister gave an interview to Channel 4 saying that the participation of foreign judges had not been ruled out.

This apparent divergence of opinion was widely commented on. But in President Sirisena’s Independence Day speech, he set the record straight by coming into alignment with the PM’s statement. What the president said in essence was that because we had not done what should have been done in the post conflict period after the war, some ‘recommendations’ had been put forward by the UN Human Rights Council. He stated that had we done what needed to be done after the war, such recommendations would never have been put forward and that the people had voted him into power in order to fulfil incomplete tasks pertaining to national reconciliation and unity between Sinhalese Tamils, Muslims and Burghers. He stated that the UNHRC recommendations which had been put forward in this connection were being given wrong interpretations by some people.

President Sirisena further stated that we will be ‘facing’ (muhuna denne) these recommendations to safeguard the respect of the state, the armed forces and the people and gain acceptance for our armed forces in the world. He stated that we will be ‘facing’ these recommendations and implementing them (kriyathmaka karanne) with patience, and fortitude. He stated that those who sought quick ways to get into power were trying to mislead the people about the actions taken by the government to implement these recommendations and that implementing those recommendations will only strengthen freedom, democracy, and reconciliation in the country. The president stated that extremist forces were carrying out propaganda aimed at causing anxiety among members of the armed forces and he said that as the president he was making the solemn pledge that in implementing the (UNHRC) recommendations, the independence and territorial integrity of the country, and the respect of the country and the armed forces would be safeguarded.

Continue reading ‘What did Govt Undertake to do by Co-sponsoring the US Initiated UNHRC Resolution Against Sri Lanka in Geneva?’ »

By Shamindra Ferdinando

Former Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa yesterday said that the UK’s outright rejection of the UN ruling that Wikileaks founder Julian Assange be allowed to go free highlighted again British double standards vis-a-vis Sri Lanka.

“Obviously, the British do not practice what they preach to us here as well as other international forums regularly,” Rajapaksa sarcastically said.

Referring to recent statements made in Colombo by Hugo Swire, UK Minister of State at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, he told the Sunday Island that the UK had been exerting pressure on Sri Lanka on the basis of unsubstantiated UN accusations propagated by the pro-LTTE Tamil diaspoa.

The war veteran pointed out that UK Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond has branded the UN ruling as ridiculous.

Continue reading ‘Ex-Def Secy Gotabhaya wants Lankan Media to Raise Julian Assange Issue with Visiting UN Human Rights Chief Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein’ »

by Dr Nihal Jayawickrama

The Constitutional Council was hailed as the principal and singular achievement of the Nineteenth Amendment to the Constitution. Its duty was to recommend to the President fit and proper persons for appointment to the independent commissions established under the Constitution, and to approve or reject persons recommended by the President for appointment to certain important scheduled state offices. What the Government promised was a Council consisting predominantly of independent persons of eminence and integrity who were not members of any political party. What came forth, after the amending bill was mutilated in Parliament, was a Council in which the overwhelming majority were active politicians. This was compounded by the appointment of two Ministers to the Council, thereby creating an obvious conflict of interests. Be that as it may, several questions now arise in regard to the performance of the Council so far.

Duty to formulate procedures

The first task of the Constitutional Council, as prescribed by the Constitution, is to “determine the procedures to be followed in regard to the recommendations or approval of persons suitable for any appointment”. These “procedures”, in the form of rules, are then required to be published in the Gazette and placed before Parliament within three months of such publication”. In other words, these “procedures” are required to be made public and then approved by Parliament. As far as I am aware, that has not been done. In the absence of published “procedures”, one is entitled to assume that the Council, acting in secrecy, is simply rubber-stamping executive decisions. That was neither the intention nor the promise.

Continue reading ‘An Absurd Drama Being Staged- “The Constitutional Council and the Appointment of an Attorney – General”’ »

By Gamini Weerakoon

Ranil Wickremesinghe has pelted stones at Lanka’s demi-gods and the gods have taken to quite an ungodly act: pelting back not only stones but hurling mud, rumours and calumny against Ranil for his sacrilegious act. We feel inclined to raise at least one and a half cheers – instead of the full throated three – at Wickremesinghe’s performance for we do not go all the way with what he said.

We must confess that despite being a professional scribe loyal to the profession for a near half century, we were getting rather bored at the stuff coming out in the print media the whole of last year and quite annoyed at those performing in the Idiot Box.

Media narcissism?

Ever since the January 8 victory last year, we have been reading in the press and observing on TV vigorous chest-thumping and unrestrained self- acclaim about how ‘great we journalists and our institutions’ have been. It reminds of the tale of the ant telling the elephant on crossing the bridge: Boy, didn’t we rock that thing!

Continue reading ‘Ranil Exposes “Media Veerayas” who Ate”Pattis – Cutlis” with the “Maha Brahma” of “Pavul Palanaya” Regime’ »

The recent arrest of former President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s second son, Navy Lt. Yoshitha Rajapaksa, was cast to the shadows last week by the latest move in the country’s political scene – the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) between UNP Leader Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and Democratic Party Leader, Field Marshal Sarath Fonseka.

The signing of the MoU was perhaps confirmation of the recent rumor that Fonseka will be appointed to parliament to fill the vacancy created by the demise of Lands Minister M.K.A.D.S. Gunawardena last month.
News about the likelihood of Fonseka’s appointment to parliament and eventually a ministerial appointment started to make the rounds on Friday (January 29). Several groups affiliated Fonseka and his private secretary during the 2010 Presidential election campaign Senaka de Silva heard word that the UNP leadership has agreed to appoint Fonseka from the party’s national list to fill the vacancy in the House. Going a step further, it was also stated that Fonseka had initially sought a portfolio that would provide him access to the military, but had been assured the portfolio of Law and Order currently held by Sagala Ratnayake.

Continue reading ‘Proposal to Induct Sarath Fonseka Into Cabinet as a Powerful Minister Strongly Opposed by Influential Sections Within the UNP.’ »

(Following is the full text of the speech delivered by President Maithripala Sirisena at the 68th Independence Day celebrations on Feb 4th 2016 at Galle Face, Colombo 3)

Today we all join together to celebrate the 68th anniversary of Independence Day with pomp and glory. Since we got independence from the British colonial rulers, we have been marking this momentous day of Independence every year and this is the 68th occasion.

When we consider the day like this in 1948 and today, in 2016, in our country as well as the in other countries in the world, there had been vast transformations in economic, political, social and cultural fields.

If we analyse or interpret the independence we gained, I believe that there is a vast difference in what our people expected in 1948 and what the people expect today, 68 years later.

I describe a child born in 1948 as a child of culture. Today, a child born in 2016 in the beginning of the 21st Century, we see as a child of technology. I believe that we should, collectively make efforts to build the nation by joining the child of culture born in the post 1948 era or early 1950s and today’s child of technology.

When we talk of the great freedom fighters who struggle valiantly to win freedom from the colonial rule, we can see very clearly that among the national heroes, there were Sinhala, Tamil and Muslim leaders who fought together, shoulder to shoulder in unity and brotherhood to win independence for the Motherland.

Continue reading ‘“If Media Freedom is not Properly Used ANY Future Govt Could Curtail Media freedom Once again” Cautions President Sirisena’ »

By

P.K.Balachandran

Reginald Cooray, an acclaimed leftist liberal and a veteran Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) politician who had been Chief Minister of the Western Province twice, is most likely to be appointed Governor of the Tamil-majority Northern Province succeeding HMGS Palihakkara, who has expressed a wish to demit office at the earliest.

A source close to President Maithripala Sirisena told Express on Friday that Cooray was the front runner and his appointment will be announced “soon”.

Continue reading ‘HMGS Palihakkara to Quit as Northern Province Governor; Reginald Cooray Tipped as Successor’ »

By Shanika Sriyananda

The former defence secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa urged the Government to strengthen the mechanism to monitor the hardcore LTTEers before releasing the remaining hardcore LTTE operatives in jails.

He said without strengthening surveillances with the assistance of the military intelligence agencies, releasing hardcore LTTE cadres will pose a grave threat to the country’s peace and security.

According to Rajapaksa, there were over 5,000 LTTE cadres, who had been arrested over the years by the military from different parts of the island, before the end of the war in May 2009.

Continue reading ‘“We Have Completely Defeated LTTE But LTTE Remnants May Re-organize” Warns Ex – Def Secy Gotabhaya Rajapaksa’ »

by

P.K.Balachandran

The Sri Lankan Fisheries Minister Mahinda Amaraweera will visit India at the earliest at the invitation of the Indian External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, the media was informed here on Friday.

Swaraj is now on a two-day visit to Lanka to co-chair the 9th meeting of the India-Lanka Joint Commission along with her Lankan counterpart Mangala Samaraweera.

External Affairs Ministry Joint Secretary Renu Pall said that problems relating to fishing were discussed and both sides agreed to look at the issue from the livelihood and humanitarian points of view and come to an “innovative solution.”

Continue reading ‘Sri Lankan Fisheries Minister Mahinda Amaraweera Invited to India to Find “Innovative Solution” to Problem of Indian Fishermen Poaching in Sri Lankan Waters’ »

By

P.K.Balachandran

Breaking a long-standing tradition of singing only the Sinhalese version of the Sri Lankan national anthem at official functions, President Maithripala Sirisena allowed the singing of the Tamil version at the Independence Day celebrations held at the Galle Face Green here on Thursday.

“Sri Lanka Thaaye”, the Tamil version of the anthem written by Pulavar Nallathambi of Vaddukkottai in 1951, and officially endorsed by the then government of Ceylon, was sung at the end of the military parade by students of the Ramanathan Hindu Ladies College. The Sinhalese version was sung at the beginning of the function.

President Sirisena took the decision to break the practice of singing the anthem only in Sinhalese, after the Cabinet Sub-Committee on National Coexistence unanimously recommended on January 27, that the anthem should be sung in Tamil also to promote post-war ethnic reconciliation.

Continue reading ‘President Sirisena Allows the Singing of National Anthem in Tamil Also at Independence day Celebrations’ »

By- Sharmini Serasinghe

A 2500 year-old Culture that was!

The current wave of Sinhala-Buddhist supremacism/extremism/racism, and attempts to establish a ‘Sinhala-Buddhist Raj’ in Sri Lanka, if left unchecked will eventually lead, to fragmentation of Sri Lanka into separate states, of the minorities. It may not happen in the immediate future, but it’s a reality staring us in the face.

With the military defeat of the LTTE in 2009 Lankans as a people, were hardly afforded the chance to breathe a sigh of relief, before the Sinhala-Buddhist extremists, in the form of Bodu Bala Sena (BBS), Sinhala Ravaya (SR) and Ravana Balaya (RB) emerged, waving the flag of Sinhala-Buddhist supremacism/extremism/racism, in the faces of the others.

Instead of nipping this sociological scourge in the bud, the then political administration gave succor to it. The endgame was to be, to juxtapose the majority Buddhists and the minority communities of this land, and classify the latter, as inferior. This caused and continues to cause, irreparable damage to the process of peace and reconciliation in post-war Sri Lanka.

The well-orchestrated Aluthgama riots by these extremists against Muslims in June 2014 bore, all the hallmarks of the dark days of the July 1983 riots targeting Tamils, but, on a smaller scale. In both instances, the law enforcement authorities looked on, while the carnage took places under their very noses. Why?

Continue reading ‘Crowing About an Ancient and Glorious Culture Without Upholding the Morals and Ideals of Such!’ »

By P.K.Balachandran

The entry of Field Marshal Sarath Fonseka’s Democratic Party (DP) into the United National Party (UNP)-led United National Front (UNF) on Wednesday, coupled with the distinct possibility of his being nominated to Parliament later this week, will add to the nationalistic credentials of the UNP ahead of the crucial local body elections in June.

Field Marshal Fonseka is an acclaimed war hero, having led the Lankan army to victory against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in a no-holds-barred fight in the 2006-2009 Eelam War IV. His entry into the UNF as an ally of the UNP, will help the latter blunt the Rajapaksa group’s criticism that the UNP-led government of Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe is not nationalistic and is dancing to the tune of the Western powers, the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) and India. It also helps divert attention from the Rajapaksa group’s taunt that Wickremesinghe had said that the war against the LTTE was unwinnable.

Continue reading ‘Induction of Sarath Fonseka Into UNF Enhances Nationalist Credentials of UNP Govt in Combatting Rajapaksa Challenge’ »

by Dr. Kalana Senaratne

With days turning into weeks and weeks into months, President Maithripala Sirisena appears to have realized that power is ultimately the primary concern of politics and political leadership. What necessarily follows from this is also the realization that to sustain a ‘good government’ in trying times one has to engage in practices which are antithetical to the very idea of good governance. Ever a contradiction to the ordinary mind, this is an uncomfortable reality in politics.

But, in a democracy (unlike in any other system of governance), political realities can carry unpredictable consequences. Now with President Sirisena’s completion of the first year in power, the people are exposed to a leader and a government, confronted by daunting challenges, facing an uncertain future. Once considered a refreshing voice – and still the West’s newfound darling of South Asia – President Sirisena has begun to speak and act in old and familiar ways. This isn’t surprising.

As a political honeymoon (between a President and the people) slowly ends, the popularity wanes and the stains become more apparent, it would be natural for a leader to wonder how to retain power while protecting himself from his political enemies.

Continue reading ‘Sirisena Leadership Has to be More Like the Rajapaksas in Order to Defeat the Rajapaksas’ »

By

Rasika Jayakody

Although Yoshitha Rajapaksa was never a politician like his father, brother and uncles, the junior Navy officer never failed to make headlines after his father fell out of power in January, last year.

Despite being a military officer, Rajapaksa addressed meetings organized by Tharunyata Hetak and Nil Balakaya, the youth wing of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party led by Parliamentarian Namal Rajapaksa. All three sons of the former President were heavily involved in the affairs of these two organizations. Although Yoshitha Rajapaksa was not allowed to engage in activities related to politics, he was above the ordinary military law when his father was in power and no senior officer in the service had the audacity to initiate action against the young officer. That was one reason why Rajapaksa drew the attention of many circles, including civil society activists, who called for action against him.

In the Rugby sphere, the Sri Lankan Navy team, led by Yoshitha Rajapaksa, gained an unchallengeable position in local Rugby tournaments as the team wielded immense authority over the entire system. When the Rajapaksas led the team, the Navy rugby team was almost invincible. It was a Herculean task to defeat the Navy team in a local Rugby match when the Rajapaksas were in power. There was a strong sense of fear, not only among rival teams but also among referees, when the three Rajapaksa sons were on the field representing the Navy team. Such fears were justifiable in the light of what happened to certain prominent players who defied their authority, wittingly or otherwise, off the field!

Their other major area of passion was the sports broadcasting of the country. Carlton Sports Network was launched in March, 2011, nearly a year after former President Rajapaksa secured his second term. The name ‘Carlton,’ needless to say, is closely linked to the Rajapaksas. The house the Rajapaksa family occupied in Tangalle was known as the ‘Carlton bungalow’ and the pre-school former First Lady Shiranthi Rajapaksa formed also had the same name. Accidentally or not, the TV channel launched in March, 2011 happened to ‘Carlton Sports Network’.

Continue reading ‘Arrest of Yoshitha Rajapaksa Sends Strong Signals to all Influential Sons,Daughters and Relatives of Politicians’ »

By

Upul Joseph Fernando

A glance at a decade in the past records that Mahinda Rajapaksa’s son, Yoshitha joined the Sri Lanka Navy in December 2006. When Yoshitha joined the Navy, Mahinda proudly announced that unlike other world leaders, he had given his son to fight the war to protect the country. The Maha Sangha was full of praise for Mahinda hailing him as a true patriot.

When Mahinda gave his son to the Navy, Prabhakaran’s son, Charles Anthony was already fighting the war against the Sri Lankan troops in the jungles of Vanni. Prabhakaran put his son into action when Mahinda launched a do or die battle following the breakdown in peace talks through Norway mediation. It was reported that Charles Anthony rendered yeoman service to the LTTE being in charge of LTTE air strikes.

According to a recent confession by Kumaran Pathmanathan alias KP, Charles Anthony had spoken to KP and had requested him to take his father, mother, sister and the younger brother to a safe location overseas. Charles Anthony had reported to KP that his (Charles Anthony’s) father, Prabhakaran had turned down repeated requests by him (Charles Anthony) to leave the North and seek safety overseas.

However, Prabhakaran’s determination to stay in the battlefield in the face of defeat with his son Charles Anthony fighting the war demonstrated the commitment of Prabhakaran to his organization. Finally, the military found the body of Charles Anthony killed in the war.

Continue reading ‘Mahinda’s Son Yoshitha Rajapaksha Joined the Navy in 2006 but Never Fought in the War like Prabhakaran’s Son Charles Anthony.’ »

By
Dayan Jayatilleka

‘President Sirisena says his government will not act “in haste.” This is unacceptable.’
– New York Times Editorial, Jan 28, 2016.

“…there is no ethnic group called the Sinhalese.”
– Chief Minister Wigneswaran, Jan 19, 2016.

President Sirisena has followed up his important BBC interview on accountability with a lengthier one on Al Jazeera. The BBC interview evoked a swift, sharp reaction from Human Rights Watch, the Global Tamil Forum,the New York Times,and the US Ambassador to the UNHRC—as well as the Sri Lankan PM himself. Samantha Power took a swipe on missing persons and impunity. Ban-Ki-Moon weighed in, supporting international participation in the judicial mechanism. Zeid al Hussein, Human Rights High Commissioner, is due. Meanwhile the President reiterated his basic position at some length while facing gruelling questioning by Al Jazeera.

In the BBC interview the President restated and elaborated his stand on the accountability process. I say “restated” because he said as much, albeit far more briefly, to the BBC’s Sandeshaya on his trip to the UK last year, and to the New York Times in early Oct 2015.

The President told the BBC he was for a purely domestic inquiry mechanism without foreign judges or personnel, because he had faith in the Sri Lankan legal system and processes. This was a rebuttal of the position of the Zeid Report and the Geneva resolution that Sri Lanka did not have the capacity to inquire on its own, into its own recent history,and that any domestic mechanism required a significant “international element”, as UK Foreign Secretary Hugo Swire put it.

Continue reading ‘Will President Sirisena or Prime Minister Wickremesinghe Prevail in Leading the Country?’ »

By

Hafeel Farisz

Girls too young to understand the essence of religion adorn the Nikab. Some forced due to cultural imposition, and others too young to know why. Madrasas spread across the island ignore history, art culture, literature and theology which form the core of religious education. Instead the focus is on rituals and taboos. Kattankudy, in the East, is but one example of cultural alienation and segregation.The effects of the alienation and archaic practices which the majority of Muslims in Sri Lanka are against and don’t adhere to have to face, day in and day out. Some 36 Muslims have left to fight for the IS (Islamic State), and we wonder why?

Following the opinion piece titled ‘ Sinhaley, Muslims and Fascim’ the response from the Sri Lankan Muslims has been overwhelming. Many have written to say that their fears were exactly the same as penned down and their oppositions were no different. Many others have written in to say that they have been left helpless and are merely bystanders witnessing the usurpation of a once vibrant culture, unique to Sri Lankan Muslims.However there has been a backlash of sorts.

On the one hand for which the crux stems from the reasoning given behind the face veil, a garment alien to Sri Lankan and South East Asian culture and its practices.A symbol of the radicalism among Sri Lankan Muslims. And on the other from those who espouse their fascist ‘Sinhaley’ agenda. They are but two sides of the same coin. For the purpose of this article, the focus will be on the former.

I am inclined to believe that the many who adorn the face veil and those who justify the wearing of such have based their reasoning on a practice that goes beyond the realms of logic and reasoning. I am aware that rationality would not prevail within their minds. The essay therefore is to provide the majority of Muslims in Sri Lanka a grounding through which they could withstand any further escalation of radicalism.

Continue reading ‘The “Nikab”Veil and Increasing “Arabianization”of the Muslims of Sri Lanka’ »

By Norman Palihawadana

On a request made by the family members of the five suspects including former President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s son Yoshitha charged under the money laundering Act, all their meals were allowed to be brought to the Welikade prison from home, Commissioner General of Prisons Nishantha Dhanasinghe said.

Continue reading ‘Yoshitha Rajapaksa and Others Comprising the “Carlton Five” at Welikade Jail Allowed to get Meals from Home’ »

By Cyril Wimalasurendre

KANDY: Former President Rajapaksa yesterday urged the government to hold local government elections. Else, legal action would be taken against it, he warned.

The ex-president was answering queries by the media after paying homage to the Sacred Tooth Relic at the Sri Dalada Maligawa.

Rajapaksa said the government did not seem keen to hold the LG polls. “During our administration we held elections one after the other. There were plenty of elections.”

The government which had pathetically failed to make good on its promises was maniacally focussed on harassing his family to cover up its failure, Rajapaksa said.

Continue reading ‘Mahinda Rajapaksa says Govt may Arrest him next and then his Wife, Namal, Basil and Gothabaya.’ »

By DHARISHA BASTIANS and GEETA ANANDJAN.

Sri Lankan authorities arrested a son of former President Mahinda Rajapaksa on money-laundering charges on Saturday, the government’s latest attempt to prosecute members of the previous administration, many of whom have been under investigation since Mr. Rajapaksa’s election defeat last year.

The police said Mr. Rajapaksa’s 27-year-old son, Yoshitha, a lieutenant in the Sri Lanka Navy, had been questioned for six hours by investigators from the Financial Crimes Investigations Division about allegations of misappropriation of funds at a television channel that is widely believed to be owned by the Rajapaksa family. The family has denied that it owns the channel.

The police said they had questioned Yoshitha Rajapaksa and four directors of the Carlton Sports Network, including its chairman, Rohan Welivita, who currently serves as the former president’s spokesman.
After the questioning, a magistrate rejected Lieutenant Rajapaksa’s bail application and ordered that he be detained for 14 days.

Continue reading ‘Teary-Eyed Mahinda Rajapaksa says Arrest of son Yoshitha is “Act of Revenge Against me”’ »

By

Rasika Jayakody

The Ven. Galagodaaththé Gnanasara Thera, a relatively unknown bhikkhu in the latter stages of the Rajapaksa administration, has now become the face of Sinhala-Buddhist ultra-nationalist ‘terror’ in the country’s political sphere.

Ven. Gnanasara Thera rose to fame in mid-2012 when he formed the Bodu Bala Sena (Buddhist Power Force) organization, a movement whose mis-behaviour was partly responsible for former President Rajapaksa’s defeat at the last Parliamentary election.

Ven. Gnanasara Thera and the BBS contributed to Rajapaksa’s defeat not by declaring war on his government, but by unconditionally backing Rajapaksa at a crucial moment. The BBS’ affiliation with the Rajapaksa drove away ethnic and religious minorities from the former President’s campaign in January, last year, depriving him of a vote-base of at least half a million.

Although the 41-year-old Buddhist monk only rose to fame recently, his involvement in the Sinhala-Buddhist nationalist movement of the country has a longer history. Born in a remote village named ‘Galagoda-aththa’ near Karandeniya, Elpitiya, in the Southern Province, Gnanasara Thera became a Buddhist monk at the age of 14, in 1989, when the country was experiencing a violent uprising initiated by the Desha Vimukthi Janatha Vyaparaya, a political movement led by the JVP.

Continue reading ‘Who is Galagodaaththe Gnanasara Thera the Face of Sinhala –Buddhist Ultra-nationalist “Terror”?’ »

By

Don Manu

He may not have realised it yet, perhaps it may take some time for the light to shine through his burly, black, boorish brawn, but Bodu Bala Sena Chief Galagodaatte Gnanasara Thera is, no doubt, the darling of the foreign missionaries who use his mug to portray the ugly face of Buddhism.

Neither may he have fathomed it yet, but he is also the pin up boy of the Tamil Diaspora who use his racist acts as the choreographed steps and his hate filled words as the heady music to dance their Eelam Rhapsody upon Lanka’s grave.

The more he attacked the Muslims in the name of singlehandedly protecting Buddhism in Lanka the more he became a Buddhist Ayatollah. The more he denigrated other races and other religions and threatened violence upon them, the more he turned Buddhism’s disciples to a fundamentalist Buddhist Taliban, ever ready to stain, without qualms, Buddhism’s saffron robe with blood.

Continue reading ‘Bodu Bala Sena Chief Gnanasara Was Convicted for Drunken Driving in Case No 6315/2000 at Colombo Magistrates Court 15 Years ago’ »

by Saman Indrajith

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe yesterday told Parliament that there was a Brahmin class within the media and that class was becoming vasalas (outcasts).

“The Brahmin class in the media was created by a Maha Brahma who is non-existant now. The so-called Brahmin class has become a vasala class. That Brahmin class used to dine and wine with the Maha Brahma. We have no use of that Brahmin class,” the Prime Minister said, making a ministerial statement.

“The so-called Brahmin class used to go hunting with the Maha Brahma. There are some journalists who actually fought for freedom of media. We are with them. It is those who engaged in their profession while others went on hunting with the Maha Brahma.

Continue reading ‘“Brahmin Class” in Media that went Hunting with “Maha Brahma” is Now Becoming Outcastes” says Ranil Wickremesinghe’ »

Former president Mahinda Rajapaksa’s second son was remanded in custody for two weeks after he was arrested and questioned yesterday under the Money Laundering Act, police and court officials said.

Navy officer Yoshitha Rajapaksa, 27, was questioned at length at the navy headquarters in Colombo and then arrested and taken before Kaduwela magistrate Dhammika Hemapala who ordered his remand till February 11.

The police Financial Crimes Investigation Division (FCID) had questioned four others, including Nishantha Ranatunga, who had been the chief executive officer of Yoshitha’s Carlton Sports Network (CSN), police said.

Former president Rajapaksa who was in court told reporters after his son was taken away in a prison bus that the arrest was to seek revenge from him.

Continue reading ‘Ex-President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s Second Son Yoshitha Arrested for Alleged Money Laundering and Remanded Until Feb 11th by Kaduwela Magistrate Dhammika Hemapala’ »

By

C.A.Chandraprema

Sri Lanka is indeed a country like no other as the tourist brochures say. We have a president, a prime minister, a cabinet and a parliament where the PM commands a two thirds majority, but no functioning government. There is no sense of direction and no decisions are being made. An ambitious programme to promulgate a new constitution was inaugurated as the first major task for this year but it seems to have ground to a halt even before it began. At the SLFP executive committee meeting held last week, constitutional reform was one of the main items discussed and President Maithripala Sirisena’s view was that what was needed was not a new constitution but amendments to the present constitution to ‘reduce’ the powers of the executive presidency and for electoral reform.

President Sirisena now avoids the word ‘new’ when talking about constitutional reform and ‘abolition’ when it comes to the executive presidency. This was the line he toed at the SLFP executive committee meeting. What this means in effect is that the constitution making process of the UNP has effectively been derailed by Sirisena. This is not the first time that he did this. The 19th Amendment which purported to reduce the powers of the executive presidency was also sabotaged by him in just the same manner. Of course so long as he persists in this kind of sabotage, the UNP is not going to agree to electoral reform and there we will be stuck. It’s not just in the field of constitution-making that this cold war has intensified. Last week the president told the BBC that he is against foreign judges participating in the judicial mechanism to try our war heroes and soon afterwards the prime minister told Channel 4 that the participation of foreign judges has not been ruled out.

As always, Sirisena was trying to feign that he ‘did not know’ the contents of the UNHRC resolution that his government co-sponsored last March. It is of course a fact that for the first time we have a Head of State who is not proficient in English and he has no way of reading and understanding the UNHRC resolution that his government co-sponsored. However he has advisors who can read and explain to him the contents of what his government agreed to in Geneva and in any case former President Mahinda Rajapaksa highlighted the contents of the UNHRC resolution in Sinhala on several different occasions and that alone should have been enough to educate Sirisena as to what the actual contents of the UNHRC resolution were. The doubt that has entered the minds of many UNP types is whether Sirisena is trying to play the patriotic card as a cover for refusing to abolish the executive presidency.

Continue reading ‘Does President Sirisena Have an Underlying Motive in Undermining his Own Government?’ »

By

Kishali Pinto Jayawardene

Several wickedly problematic tragi-comedies are playing on Sri Lanka’s political stage right now, none of which are to the benefit of the country.

Why was no deterrent action taken earlier?

The spectacle of mad monks running amok in the Homagama Magistrate’s Court abusing the magistrate, the lawyers and the wife of disappeared journalist Prageeth Ekneligoda during an ongoing court hearing this week was unprecedented, assessed even by the abysmal non-governance that prevailed during the Rajapaksa decade. No doubt, this was a well orchestrated drama. But the question remains as to why the Sirisena-Wickremesinghe coalition did not take steps last year to bring the monks of the Bodu Bala Sena (BBS) and their unruly leader to heel?

This would have been perfectly possible given their notorious history of incitement to racial hatred, including during the Aluthgama communal disturbances in 2014. The Government did not need new laws for this purpose. As pointed out previously in these column spaces, the Penal Code and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights Act (ICCPR Act, 2007) sufficed. But without actually employing what was available to send a clear message to saboteurs, wholly unwarranted amendments were sought to be made to existing laws. The amendments were then postponed on the floor of the House in considerable disarray after public protests that the clauses replicated provisions of the dreaded anti-terrorism laws.

Continue reading ‘Why Was No Deterrent Action Taken by Sirisena-Wickremesinghe Coalition Earlier to Curb Bodu Bala Sena Monks and Their Unruly Leader?’ »

By

Rashmin Tirimanne de Silva

On the 25th and 26th of January a group of monks came in to conflict with the law when Ven. Galagodaaththe Gnanasara Thero, General Secretary of the infamous Bodu Bala Sena stormed into Court and disrupted proceedings by giving a speech which led to the Homagama Magistrate issuing an arrest warrant in his name on charges of contempt of Court. The following day a group of people, including some monks, created an uproar outside the Court upon his arrest by the Homagama Police.

The imposters

The immediate response from any Buddhist when questioned about the eyebrow-raising behaviour of certain monks in Sri Lanka is that “They don’t stand for true Buddhism.” However, from Aluthgama to Homagama and everything in-between the nature of violence under the guise of religion and patriotism has been seen by everyone. This is not in anyway an abuse by Buddhism itself or by those monks who are devoted to the true principles of it but by a select few on a different agenda and may even come across to some as an abuse of the status that the religion itself holds in the country as the majority religion. We are proud to call ourselves a Buddhist country and celebrate our Poya days with gusto, all the while being okay with impostors using a religious garment for all the ‘benefits’ it brings.

Continue reading ‘Homagama Magistrate Has Acted in an Independent and Fearless Manner For Which he Must be Commended’ »

By C. A. Chandraprema

The scenes outside the Homagama Magistrate’s court highlights more than ever the need for the speedy passage of the Kathikawath Bill that is before parliament. Registered bhikku Ven. Galagodatte Gnanasara Thera was arrested and remanded in relation to several charges including contempt of court amidst chaotic scenes outside the courthouse with unruly monks staging a sit down protest and one even threatening to set himself on fire unless Ven. Gnanasara was released. Not that the scene outside the Homagama magistrate’s court was totally out of the ordinary.

We have been seeing such scenes over the past four years and in contrast to what preceded it, the Homagama episode was quite mild. Bhikku Gnanasara was the monk who singlehandedly destabilised the Rajapaksa government with his anti-Muslim campaign which was orchestrated after a trip to Norway.

Norway was the Western nation that first realised the need to obtain the involvement of Buddhist monks, if the Sinhalese were to be destroyed from within. They started making friends among the monks by helping rebuild temples in the South in the aftermath of the 2004 Tsunami. This may have given certain conspiratorial powers an insight into how easy it is to buy over monks and to get them to do what external powers can never hope to do.

When registered bhikku Galagodaatte Gnanasara first burst in upon the scene in 2012, nobody had heard his name. He had reached middle age and become the nayaka monk in his temple without his name being known to anybody. When his name first began appearing in the newspapers, journalists were confusing his name with that of Ven. Galaboda Gnanissara – so unknown was this monk who has now become a household name for the wrong reasons.

Continue reading ‘Gnanasara is the Only Bhikku in Sri Lanka to Plead Guilty in Court to Charges of Driving a Vehicle Under the Influence of Liquor.’ »

By Saman Indrajith

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe yesterday, in Parliament, lashed out at the media, accusing them of promoting racism.

“You don’t talk big because your hands are not clean. What are all doing with regard to racism? I mean all newspapers. I am asking the electronic and print media. What do you have to say about the incident at the Homagama Court? Write an editorial, if possible, on the Homagama incident.”

The Prime Minister was participating in a debate at the time of adjournment of the House on the recent incidents in Embiliptiya and issues involving the police.

Text of The Prime Minister’s statement:

“There are problems as regards police the world over. Following police shooting in Ferguson in the US, people took to the streets against it. Similar incident happened in England last year. Police have to maintain law and order.

Recently, we saw such problems here. Embilipitiya incident is only one of them. The other incident was with regard to the conduct of officers at the Kotadeniya Police station. That has been investigated and courts of law have been moved. If the police have done anything wrong, we have no intention of covering up their wrongdoings. We all came here after fighting for the need for restoring the rule of law. The British instituted the police here. Within 30 years of establishing the police in Britain, they established the police here. It is not only the police who are involved in maintaining law and order. Courts of law, the police and the media are needed for that purpose.

Continue reading ‘Ranil Wickremesinghe Names and Shames Mainstream Media Organizations and Journalists in Hard Hitting Speech in Parliament’ »

By Ashwin Hemmathagama

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe yesterday lambasted the media, accusing mainstream newspapers of turning a blind eye to racism and conducting a witch-hunt against the Police Department.

Issuing a scathing statement in Parliament, the Prime Minister charged that the media was hailing the Embilipitiya courts while condemning the Homagama courts, for their actions.Wickramasinghe

“We don’t want a media who would applaud the Embilipitiya court and undermine the Homagama courts. How many editorials are there preventing racial hatred? Have you ever written an editorial about Homagama courts? Those who supported Mahinda have no right to talk about Buddhism,” the Prime Minister charged.

Naming several Sinhala language newspapers, the Premier said that not a single one of them had written an editorial about the unruly behavior outside the Homagama Magistrate’s Court, when Bodu Bala Sena General Secretary Galagoda Aththe Gnanasara was arrested and remanded by the court.

Continue reading ‘Prime Minister Wickremesinghe Lashes Out at Mainstream Newspapers Spreading Racism and Calls Upon Media to Decide Where it Stands.’ »