By

Kishali Pinto -Jayawardene

When Sri Lanka’s Justice Minister calls upon an opposing parliamentary colleague taking issue with the ‘new’ Anti-Terrorism Bill tabled in Parliament this week, to justify where and in what country, anti-terrorism laws are solely dispensed with, he is missing the wood for the trees to put it mildly.

The burden of the State

The Minister must refrain from engaging in classically ad hominem arguments when he tries to meet his critics on the floor of the House. Rather, his and his Government’s task on hand is to counter the critique of the Bill as ‘seriously flawed’ by discharging the burden in establishing that national security needs have been fairly balanced with the constitutional rights of citizens.

Does this ‘new’ Bill, which by the way is merely the ‘old’ version gazetted in September 2023, reflect that ‘fair balance’? Or does it repeat the ‘same old, same old’ while posing additional dangers?

To be fair, there is one positive difference between the September 2023 gazetted Bill and the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA, 1979). The obnoxious provision in the PTA allowing confessions made to a senior police officer to be admissible has been taken out.

Of course, this is too little, too late for thousands of detainees convicted wholly on the strength of confessions extracted through torture during past decades.

Even so, this change is welcome in preventing (otherwise) indefensible convictions which promotes the spread of terrorism and radicalises victims and their families. The Justice Minister also pointed to the fact that stipulating the extension of the period of detention to be by way of a judicial order as a positive safeguard.

Continue reading ‘The solution for Sri Lanka is to enact a narrowly drafted Anti-Terror Act that does not cause unholy confusion between who is a terrorist and who is not.’ »

By Sandun Jayawardana

On Parliament’s first sitting day on Tuesday, Badulla District Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) parliamentarian Chaminda Wijesiri, making a shocking announcement, told the House that he chose to resign as the people had rejected all 225 MPs in the present Parliament and that it no longer had the people’s mandate.

Mr. Wijesiri also said the immense difficulties he faced the previous week compelled him to submit his resignation as an MP.
Those difficulties related to a complaint against him being taken up by Parliament’s Committee on Ethics and Privileges. What caused him “immense pain” and finally prompted the disillusioned MP to resign was the sense of betrayal he felt after some of his own SJB colleagues failed to support him at this inquiry, Mr. Wijesiri told the Sunday Times.

He said he had to appear before the Ethics and Privileges Committee due to a complaint that he had used abusive language against a senior Parliament official. According to the former MP, the complaint stemmed from an incident several months ago when he wanted to make a speech earlier than scheduled as he had to pick up his child. Mr. Wijesiri claimed Assistant Opposition Whip Gayantha Karunathilake had asked Parliament officials to allow him to make his speech earlier, but one Parliament official did not permit this. “I was incensed by this action, and when the opportunity was given to speak, the tone of my speech changed according to my emotions. I called the official a thief and a political thug.”

Continue reading ‘Former Badulla MP Chaminda Wijesiri says what made him resign from Parliament was the sense of betrayal he felt when his own SJB Colleagues Failed to Support him at the Parliamentary Ethics Committee against him’ »

By
D.B.S.Jeyaraj

The ringing in of a new year is a time for reflection,re-appraisal and renewal. The year 2024 marks the 94th anniversary of universal franchise and the 76th anniversary of Independence from Britain for the Island nation. 2024 also marks the 15th anniversary of the end of its three decade long “civil” war.

The effects of this lengthy war were felt in all parts of the country and affected all of its people. While there is no denying that the war impacted on all the people of Sri Lanka it must be admitted that the Tamil people of the North and East bore the brunt of suffering . Also the Tamil inhabited regions of the North and East became in practice the theatre of war. The protracted nature of the conflict saw the north and east virtually turning into a “scorched earth”.

The hopelessly beleaguered Tamils have paid a heavy price for engaging in this uneven war. The Tamil people have undergone a war of lengthy duration that was in scale and scope excessively disproportionate to their numbers and capacity.The war may have ended but the consequences of prolonged conflict are yet being felt and will continue to be felt for a very long time.

Quo Vadis?

It is against this backdrop that this column poses the question “Whither the Tamils of Sri Lanka?”. It stems from the latin phrase “Quo vadis?”meaning “where are you going?”.Quo vadis is translated in poetic form as “whither bound?” or “whither goest thou?”

The phrase has its origin in Christian tradition. It is supposedly the first words uttered by Jesus’s disciple Peter to the risen Christ. .Idiomatically this phrase calls upon individuals and groups to evaluate their sense of direction and purpose, entreating them to reflect on their goals and re- assess the consequences of their current actions or future choices.

January

Posing the question Whither the “Ilankai Thamizhar” (Lankan Tamils) of Sri Lanka? at the beginning of the year in the month of January is qute relevant and apt within the Tamil ethos too. “Thai Piranthaal Vazhi Pirakkum” is a popular saying in Tamil about the month of January or “Thai” in Tamil. It’s meaning in English would be something like this – “When January is born, a way will dawn”.

The birth of January in the Hindu Almanack is in mid-January according to the Western calendar. It generally co-incides with the Tamil harvest festival called “Pongal” or “Thaippongal”.It is usually a season of Thanksgiving and celebration.

Amidst the atmosphere of festive joy, it is also a time of individual and group reflection where the past is re-examined critically, present re-assessed pragmatically and future plans renewed optimistically.

It is in that context therefore that this column focuses on the past,present and future of Sri Lankan Tamils in this series of articles titled “Whither the “Ilankaith Thamizhar”of Sri Lanka?. The objective is to briefly examine the past with the wisdom of hindsight, analyse the present and present a prognosis of a potential future. The articles will be published intermittently and not consecutively.

Continue reading ‘Whither the “Ilankaith Thamizhar” (Lankan Tamils) of Sri Lanka?’ »

By

D.B.S.Jeyaraj

The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam(LTTE) had for long enjoyed the reputation of being a cohesive ,monolithic organization.Whatever the differences within the LTTE, the Tigers, to their credit, were able to project to the outsider a picture of impregnable unity. Despite the rumblings of discontent that have arisen at various times within the LTTE, those sounds were never permitted to reach external ears.

This “unity” image however was seriously dented in August 1993 when the then deputy leader of the LTTE , Gopalaswamy Mahendrarajah alias “Mahathaya” was taken into custody by the movement’s former intelligence chief Shanmugalingam Sivashankar alias “Pottu Ammaan”. A large number of suspected Mahathaya loyalists were also arrested. The former tiger deputy chief was detained and interrogated on charges of plotting to overthrow tiger supremo Prabhakaran and take over the LTTE leadership. After 16 months of incarceration, Mahathaya was executed on 28 December 1994.

It was this writer who scooped 29 years ago, the news of Mahathaya’s arrest and detention at the hands of the organization of which he was the deputy leader. I first broke the story in Tamil for te Tamil weekly “Muncharie”that I was editing in Toronto then. Subsequently I broke the story in the English language media through articles in the Indian newsmagazine “Frontline” and “The Island” English daily in Sri Lanka.

The arrest,detention,interrogation and execution of tiger deputy chief Mahendrarajah alias Mahathaya is a sordid chapter in LTTE history. The Tiger intelligence chief Pottu Ammaan was acting on the instructions of his boss and LTTE numero uno Veluppillai Prabhakaran. It is against this backdrop that this column focuses on the arrest and execution of Mahathaya with the aid of earlier writings.

Continue reading ‘How Former LTTE Deputy Leader Gopalaswamy Mahendrarajah alias “Mahathaya” was Arrested on 3 August 1993 and Executed on 28 December 1994.’ »

By

Dilrukshi Handunnetti

(Text of message delivered at Lasantha Wickrematunge’s Grave, Borella on 8 January 2024)

Fifteen years is a long time. A very long time to wait for justice and closure.

Just now we spoke about keeping memories alive. Memories stay strong and our memories have made this gathering possible.

But why are we here? What do we remember about Lasantha that makes us visit his grave? Is it to weep at his grave? What is it that we remember of him and celebrate about him? Please take a moment to reflect on our reasons for being here.

I think we do not want to forget. And there is much we do not wish to forget.

I come from Lasantha’s empowering editorial. There is much in my life that has changed for the better due to his guidance.

The anti-corruption reporting is a humble tribute to this great man. Lasantha was extra ordinary. He was an endearing human being, a trail blazer, a brilliant journalist, lawyer, and a humanist. He contained multitudes. He was also a man who had the courage to propose and mainstream an alternate media narrative, unpopular with those in power but a vivid reflection of the times.

Continue reading ‘Lasantha’s “Sunday Leader”’ was a long and sustained “Aragalaya” against Racism,Nepotism and Corruption and the newspaper was an early warning system coupled with a call to action.’ »

By

Kishali Pinto -Jayawardene

Whether in regard to war crimes, gross corruption or economic white collar crimes, unearthing accountability in Sri Lanka is somewhat akin to peeling away multiple layers of a rotten onion. First, the stench overwhelms you. Secondly, each layer is correspondingly more decayed than the previous. Finally, one is left with the core which is but a revolting mass of pulpy nothingness, to be consigned to the dustbin.

Another ‘showpiece’ transitional justice body?

These less than propitious thoughts at the dawn of a less than propitious New Year are compelled by the necessary (albeit reluctant) scrutiny of the Bill seeking to establish a so-called ‘Commission for Truth, Unity and Reconciliation.’ Essentially, if a private entity with more money than commonsense wished to establish bodies with grievously overlapping mandates such as an Office on Missing Persons (OMP), an Office for National Unity and Reconciliation and now, a Commission on those same lines, that is not our business.

If so, we may hold our tongues and say ‘good luck’ to that process. But the problem is when the State spearheads these efforts, when ‘showpiece’ bodies are touted as being what Sri Lankan victims have asked for and when public funds of no inconsiderable amount are expended. Finally, the ‘mountain in labour gives birth to a mouse,’ which must inevitably be the case. And then, where are we? Worse off than before.

Why is a ‘mouse’ so inevitable, someone might ask? In July last year, I answered that question in a caustic reflection as apt now as it was then (‘Go to the law, not another truth and reconciliation charade’, Focus on Rights, July 2nd 2023).

Pointing to thousands of cases where the criminal justice law had been subverted to prevent accountability for extraordinary human rights violations, it was reminded that the priority is to correct systemic failings.

Continue reading ‘An unholy nexus between police abusers and politicians is very much out in the open, in the highly mis-titled ‘Yukthiya’ (‘Justice’) operation spearheaded by Public Security Minister Tiran Alles and Acting IGP Deshabandu Tennekoon.’ »

By

D.B.S.Jeyaraj

When the Tigers Shot Down the Lionair Flight 602 in the Mannar Sea-PART TWO

The focus of this two-part article is the tragic plight of Lionair 602 flight twenty-five years ago. The first part of this article published last week related how the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam(LTTE) shot down an Antonov 24 carrying 48 passengers and 7 crew on 29 September 1998. This second and final part will describe the prevailing circumstances before and after the downing of Flight 602 in the seas off Mannar coast by the LTTE known widely as the tigers.The tragic incident of 1998 occurred during the long war between the Sri Lankan armed forces and the LTTE ended in May 2009.

As stated earlier the Sri Lankan Army had re- captured Jaffna through “Operation Riviresa” in 1995-96. Earlier the LTTE had been in control of the area. Even though the Jaffna peninsula was controlled by the state, Jaffna remained inaccessible by land from the rest of the country as the LTTE continued to control a major portion of the northern mainland, known as the Wanni. Transport to and from the Jaffna peninsula was possible only by air or sea.

Civilians were earlier flown to and from Jaffna in Air Force flights, for a fee. From August 1996, civilian air transport was handed over to Lion Airlines, a private airline. The airline, which enjoyed a monopoly in this area, immediately increased the fare to almost double the earlier rate. Operating flights from Colombo to Jaffna and back was highly lucrative. The demand for transport to Jaffna was tremendous and there was always a long waiting list. Subsequently, a second private airline, “Monara”, was allowed to operate flights to Jaffna.

The LTTE was then in possession of anti-aircraft missiles. The tigers had from 1996 onwards brought down a few Sri Lankan Air Force planes and helicopters by firing surface to air , SAM-7 missiles. As such SLAF aircraft usually flew far out to the sea from Palaly and proceeded towards Colombo.

When civilan flights between Jaffna and Colombo commenced, the planes were asked to observe the same safe routes in the interests of civilian passenger safety. This rule however was frequently observed in the breach by the airlines concerned.

In a bid to cut down on fuel costs and reduce flying time, the passenger planes regularly deviated from the safe route and flew by the shorter route hugging the northern coast. According to the University Teachers for Human Rights (Jaffna) report, this was known to Flight Control at Palaly and the Defence Ministry had been directly told about it. But no effective action was taken.

Continue reading ‘The Tragic Plight of Lionair 602 Flight 25 Years ago.’ »

By Veeragathy Thanabalasingham

Sri Lanka has seen eight Presidential elections after the introduction of Executive Presidency in 1978. But no previous election has been hyped like the upcoming Presidential election months before it is due to be held.
President Ranil Wickremesinghe, who was elected by Parliament for the remainder of the term of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, after he resigned under a cloud in July 2022, can only remain in office until November 18 this year.

According to the constitution, the next Presidential election should be held within a period of not less than one month and not more than two months before the end of the term of office of the President.
Therefore, the next Presidential election should be held between September 18 and October 18 this year. The date for the election will be determined by the National Election Commission.

There was a stage when there was a serious suspicion that President Wickremesinghe, who postponed the local government elections indefinitely citing the economic crisis, might try to delay the national elections as well. However, he announced several times in recent months that the Presidential elections will be held later this year, followed by parliamentary elections.

Even after his announcement, there is widespread doubt in political circles as to which election will be held first. The President had the power to dissolve the current parliament at any time after February 20, 2023.

Many political observers had commented that Wickramasinghe might dissolve Parliament and go for the general election by the coming March to facilitate the creation of a favourable political situation for him to face the presidential elections.
However, the main opposition political parties have started preparing themselves for the Presidential election since the middle of last year.

Continue reading ‘It is unfortunate that Sri Lankan Tamil politics is increasingly becoming a laughing stock! Is there a Tamil leader today who commands wide acceptance among the Tamil people in both the Northern and Eastern provinces?’ »

The 15th anniversary of the assassination of The Sunday Leader founder Editor-in-Chief Lasantha Wickrematunge, which falls on Monday, 8 January, will be marked with a service at his graveside.
Family, friends, former colleagues, and others will gather at Borella Kanatte at 9 a.m. to mark the anniversary and remember Lasantha.

Assassinated on 8 January 2009, Lasantha was one of Sri Lanka’s leading journalists and an outspoken critic of the then Rajapaksa Government. He was attacked as he drove to work and later died of his injuries.

The brazen attack was carried out by two gunmen on motorcycles in the middle of morning-rush-hour traffic.

The investigation into Lasantha’s murder has yielded no tangible results thus far and his killers still roam free, 15 years later.

*************************************************************************

By Tisaranee Gunasekara

“We talk about Tiananmen Square being all about democracy; it was because they had runaway inflation. The French Revolution wasn’t about liberté, fraternité, egalité, it was about rampant food price inflation” – Albert Edwards (Societe Generale: Global Strategy Alternative View)

In China Mieville’s speculative murder mystery, The City & The City, two cities, Beszel and Ul Qoma, occupy the same territory. The citizens of each city are trained from infancy to unsee the other. They exist with each other all their lives without ever seeing, hearing, thinking about or consciously acknowledging each other.

Sri Lanka was always many Sri Lankas, divided vertically along ethno-religious and horizontally along class-caste lines. Perhaps our only moment of unity came as an unintended consequence of Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s economic insanity. Even the pandemic, a common danger, was experienced differently by Lankans (especially the urban poor and the Muslims). But in the fuel and gas queues of 2022, there was a rare sense of togetherness. From tenement gardens to luxury apartments, via middle-class houses, Gota go home rose as a single cry.

That conjunctural unity evaporated once Gota was made to go home. A speedy resolution of the Rajapaksa-wrought crisis was a common demand, but the recovery is being experienced differently by Lankans.

This difference was manageable so long as policy makers tried not to burden, further, the already overburdened poor/vulnerable segments through indirect tax and rate hikes. Indeed, during the first post-Gotabaya year, commendable efforts were made to distribute the costs of economic recovery with some fairness. But this effort now lies largely abandoned.

Ranil Wickremesinghe was more correct than his opponents when he opted for direct taxation to raise revenue; by returning to the seemingly easy path of hiking indirect taxes, he has regressed to the economic-policy-levels of those who seek to replace him.

Continue reading ‘Ranil Wickremesinghe was more correct than his opponents when he opted for direct taxation to raise revenue; by returning to the seemingly easy path of hiking indirect taxes, he has regressed to the economic-policy-levels of those who seek to replace him.’ »

By

D.B.S.Jeyaraj

Twenty-five years ago an Antonov 24 aircraft carrying fifty-five civilians from Jaffna to Colombo was shot down over the Gulf of Mannar by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) on 29 September 1998. The LTTE known as tigers was then at war with the Sri Lankan armed forces. Of the fifty- five on board forty-eight were passengers and seven crew. All the 48 passengers were Tamil. The 4 -member cockpit crew were Ukrainian nationals while the 3 cabin crew were Sinhalese.

Shooting down a plane with civilians was the first of its kind in Sri Lanka’s long war.The tragic fate of Flight LN 602 would under normal circumstances have been the epicentre of a major controversy. But a censorship was in force then. The censorship prevented precise reporting of the incident within Sri Lanka then. I too had to write a detailed article about the incident and its ramifications for an Indian journal, so as not to fall under the purview of censorship prevailing in Lanka then.It is against this backdrop that this column re-visits the colossal tragedy 25 years later in this two part article.

The main players in this deplorable drama , such as the Sri Lankan Government, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), and the airline concerned, Lion Airlines, all have to share the blame in different degrees for what had happened. Nevertheless, it was the self-proclaimed liberators of the Tamil people of Sri Lanka, the LTTE, which was primarily responsible for the tragedy.. All available evidence pointed to that organisation as being responsible for shooting down the plane.

Thus the LTTE scored another despicable “first” – it became the first organisation claiming to fight for the rights of a particular ethnic group that shot down deliberately a civilian plane carrying passengers who were all members of that ethnic group. However the LTTE escaped being condemned universally for this outrage at that time ,mainly because of the prevailing censorship and the lackadaisical attitude displayed by the Government and Lion Airlines.

In order to clearly comprehend what had happened it is necessary to delve into the environment that existed then. The available details reflect badly on all parties concerned-the Govt, the LTTE and the airline.

Continue reading ‘When the Tigers Shot Down the Lionair Flight 602 in the Mannar Sea.’ »

By

D.B.S.Jeyaraj

Mohammed Najeeb Abdul Majeed created history eleven years ago when he was sworn in as the Chief minister of the Eastern province on 18 September 2012 by the then President Mahinda Rajapaksa. Najeeb Abdul Majeed known popularly as Najeeb achieved two significant “firsts” then . Not only did he become the first Muslim chief minister of the Eastern Province but more importantly Najeeb also gained the honour of being Sri Lanka’s first ever Muslim chief minister.

The affable Najeeb who recorded these two remarkable firsts passed away due to illness last week at a private hospital in Colombo on 22 December 2023. The funeral took place at night on the same day in Najeeb’s hometown of Kinniya in the Trincomalee district. 66 year old Najeeb Abdul Majeed is survived by his wife and five children. This article focuses on Najeeb’s eventful life with special emphasis on the circumstances that led to his elevation as Lanka’s first Muslim chief minister.

Trincomalee District

Let me commence with a brief description about Muslim political history in the Trincomalee district. After Independence ,Trincomalee district had two single- member electorates from 1947 to 1960. One was the Tamil majority Trincomalee Constituency and the other, the Muslim majority Mutur pronounced as “Moodhoor” in Tamil. Although the electorate was named Mutur which had a substantial mixed population of Muslims and Tamils, the area where Muslims were largely concentrated was Kinniya, the hometown of Najeeb. It is about 20 km away from Trinco town and about 240 km from Colombo. Kinniya with over 97% Muslims has been the determining factor in the Muslim politics of Trincomalee.

Continue reading ‘Sri Lanka’s First Muslim Chief Minister Najeeb Abdul Majeed.’ »

Kishali Pinto-Jayawardene

As Sri Lanka’s newest Bribery Commission cracks its shell with more than a smidgen of difficulty in the backdrop of ugly strain between its metaphorical parents, the Constitutional Council and President Ranil Wickremesinghe, circumstances can hardly be less propitious for this fledgling creature to survive, let alone thrive.

Ministers and the proverbial figleaves

The Commission is established under a law which the President once airily promised, ‘would be the best in South Asia’ regardless of all the lessons that history teaches us on the sharp difference between a ‘law’ and its implementation. One does not need to go very far to highlight the paradoxes. The President’s own Cabinet is stuffed with (alleged) gross corruptors, the latest scandal linked to the former Minister of Health regarding the unbelievably unconscionable procurement of substandard human immunoglobulin.

This is in the wake of two suspects including the former Secretary to the Ministry of Health alleging that their statements to the Minister’s culpability had not been properly recorded by the Criminal Investigations Department (CID). Commonsense dictates that the Minister concerned does not have a fig-leaf with which to cover himself. But commonsense is, of course, different from the rigorous course of the law. That is why we advisedly use the term ‘alleged.’

This caution is expressed entirely tongue-in-cheek, if the meaning has to be made clearer to the dim-witted among us. But public sentiment has no such reservations, the question is (legitimately) asked as to why the Minister concerned, continues to serve in the Cabinet with another portfolio. In other words, the mood in the court of public opinion is unforgiving if not murderously angry. It is the man and woman on the street who have to pay with their lives for these frauds, not the rich who retreat to private hospitals or flee to Singapore after all.

Continue reading ‘Deshabandu Tennekoon along with Tiran Alles and Sagala Ratnayake presides over a media parade, ironically titled ‘Yukthiya’ (Justice) in catching ‘sprats’ of the drug underworld while their political and police Godfathers escape the net.’ »

by Arun Janardhanan & Janardhan Koushik

Tamil super star and Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam (DMDK) founder Vijayakanth, fondly called as ‘Captain’, passed away at a private hospital in Chennai on Thursday after a prolonged illness. He was 71.

Vijayakanth’s death marks the end of an influential chapter in Tamil Nadu’s political history and leaves a void in the state’s diverse political tapestry.

MIOT Hospital in Chennai released a statement confirming that ‘Captain’ Vijayakanth, who was admitted for pneumonia, was placed on ventilator support due to the severity of his condition. Despite the dedicated efforts of the medical team, the statement said, he succumbed to illness and passed away on the morning of December 28, 2023.

Vijayakanth had previously been admitted to the same hospital on November 18 for a febrile illness, from which he was discharged on December 11.

On December 14, the actor-turned-politician made his first public appearance post-discharge to participate in DMDK’s executive and general council meeting. During the meeting, his wife Premalatha Vijayakanth was announced as the party’s new general secretary.

The passing of Vijayakanth not only signifies the loss of a distinguished personality but also highlights the diminishing influence of a political party that once held considerable potential.

Continue reading ‘Popular Tamil Cinema Actor and DMDK Party Founder -Leader Vijayakanth Known as ‘Captain’ and “Black MGR” passes away at the age of 71.’ »

By

Shamindra Ferdinando

Eksath Janaraja Peremuna leader and SJB MP Patali Champika Ranawaka has said that Public Security Minister Tiran Alles could resort to legal action if there was no basis for the recent declaration by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) that he has offshore holdings, identified by Pandora Papers.

Former Minister and SJB MP Ranawaka said the Inland Revenue Department (IRD) should conduct a proper inquiry into the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) that he has offshore holdings, identified by Pandora Papers.
allegation.

Lawmaker Ranawaka said so at a recent public gathering at Ambatale. The ICIJ in a statement said that Minister Alles was the first sitting Sri Lankan minister to be identified in the Pandora Papers data trove as having offshore holdings.

Continue reading ‘Patali Champika Ranawaka wants the Inland Revenue Department (IRD) to conduct a proper inquiry into the allegatiion against Public Security Minister Tiran Alles by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) that he has offshore holdings, identified by Pandora Papers.’ »

டி.பி.எஸ். ஜெயராஜ்/ D.B.S.Jeyaraj

(This is a Tamil Translation of the English article headlined “fSumanthiran , Shritharan and Yoheswaran in Triangular Contest to Become Ilankai Thamil Arasuk Latchi (ITAK)President.)

பெடரல் கட்சி (எவ் பி ) என ஆங்கிலத்தில் அழைக்கப்படும் இலங்கை தமிழரசுக்கட்சி வடக்கு மற்றும் கிழக்கிலுள்ள இலங்கைத் தமிழர்களின் முதன்மையான அரசியல் கட்சியாகும்.தமிழரசுக்கட்சி யா னது 1949 டிசம்பர்18 இல் உருவாக்கப்பட்டது.இலங்கைத் தமிழரசுக்கட்சியின் 75வது தினம் அடுத்த வருடம் கொண்டாடப்படவிருக்கிறது .

தமிழர் ஆயுதப் போராட்டம் வருவதற்கு முன்னர் இலங்கைத் தமிழர்களின் முன்னணி அரசியல் கட்சியாக இலங்கைத்தமிழரசுக்கட்சி இருந்தது. பல ஆண்டுகளாககட்சியின் அளவு மற்றும் செல்வாக்கு குறைந்துள்ள போதிலும், ஏனைய இலங்கை தமிழ் தேசியவாதக் கட்சிகளுடன் ஒப்பிடுகையில் அது இன்னும்குழுவில்சிரேஷ் டராக விளங்குகிறது.

வடக்கு மற்றும் கிழக்கு மாகாணங்களில் உள்ள ஐந்து தேர்தல் மாவட்டங்களில் இருந்தும் பாராளுமன்ற பிரதிநிதிகளை கொண்ட ஒரே இலங்கை தமிழ் அரசியல் கட்சி இக்கட்சி என்பது குறிப்பிடத்தக்கது. தற்போது அக்கட்சிக்கு தேசியப்பட்டியலில் உள்ள ஒரு ஆசனம் உட்பட பாராளுமன்றத்தில் ஆறு ஆசனங்கள் உள்ளன. இவர்களில் இருவர் யாழ்ப்பாண தேர்தல் மாவட்டத்தில் இருந்தும் தலா ஒருவர் வன்னி, திருகோணமலை மற்றும் மட்டக்களப்பு மாவட்டங்களிலிருந்தும் தெரிவு செய்யப்பட்டுள்ளனர். தேசியப் பட்டியல் பாராளுமன்ற உறுப்பினர் திகாமடுல்ல/அம்பாறை தேர்தல் மாவட்டத்தைச் சேர்ந்தவர். எனவே, வடக்குகிழக்கின் அனைத்து தேர்தல் மாவட்டங்களிலும் உள்ள தமிழர்களைஇலங்கை தமிழரசுக்கட்சி பாராளுமன்றத்தில் பிரதிநிதித்துவப்படுத்துவதைக் காணமுடிகிறது.

1949 இல் அதன் தொடக்கத்தில் இருந்து பல ஏற்ற தாழ்வுகளுடன் பரபரப்பானதும் சுவாரஷ்யமானதுமான வரலாற்றைக் கொண்டுள்ளது.புத்தாயிரமாமா ண்டில் தமிழ் தேசியக் கூட்டமைப்பு (ரிஎன்ஏ) எனப்படும் முதன்மையான இலங்கைத் தமிழ் அரசியல் அமைப்பில் கட்சியானதுமுதன்மையான அடையாளமாக மாறியது. 2004 ஆம் ஆண்டு முதல் தமிழ் தேசியக் கூட்டமைப்பு பாராளுமன்றம், மாகாணம் மற்றும் உள்ளூராட்சித் தேர்தல்களில்தமிழரசுக்கட்சியின் சின்னமான ”வீடு’ என்ற பெயரில்இந்த அமைப்பு போட்டியிட்டது.

Continue reading ‘தமிழரசுக்கட்சியின் தலைமைப் பதவிக்கு மும்முனைப் போட்டி: களத்தில் சுமந்திரன், சிறிதரன், யோகேஸ்வரன்’ »

By

Veeragathy Thanabalasingham

National People’s Power (NPP) Leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake (AKD) is at present intensely focused on the need for a national liberation movement. According to him, when looking at the social, political, and economic realities of Sri Lanka, it is clear that what is needed today is social change; what is needed for the system change that people yearn for is not a political party, but a national liberation movement.

He explains that the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) is this party and that the NPP is the national movement.

Judging by the views expressed by Dissanayake at a recent interview with Meera Srinivasan, Colombo correspondent for Chennai-based influential English daily The Hindu, it is understandable that he is trying to say that the NPP – which was formed few years back under JVP leadership in alliance with more than 25 other parties, groups, women and youth rights organisations, and trade unions – will carry forward the national liberation struggle he envisions.

“Looking at developed countries, their progress was largely linked to the national liberation struggle. India had a great national liberation movement. Sri Lanka never had such a movement. When the British ruled the country, there was an opportunity to build a national liberation movement. After they left, there was another opportunity to build such a movement. Our leaders at the time missed both those historic opportunities.

“Now we have a third opportunity which should be used without fail to defeat the corrupt ruling political class. For this purpose, all communities – in the north, east, and south – should be united. The aim of this national liberation struggle is to free the country from a corrupt political culture. Our first priority is to free the country from the corrupt political elite that has been ruining the country for decades,” he explained.

Continue reading ‘Anura Kumara Dissanayake ’s national liberation movement and the Tamil National question’ »

Rev. Fr. Jude Chrysantha has accused Public Security Minister Tiran Alles of making false accusations regarding an alleged appeal made to the Acting Inspector General of Police (IGP) on behalf of Fr. Cyril Gamini after a road accident.

Convening a special press conference on Friday (22 Dec.) in his capacity as the Director of the Archdiocesan Commission for Social Communications, Fr. Chrysantha said that no such plea for help was made by Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith to Acting IGP Deshabandu Tennakoon.
Speaking to the media in this regard, Fr. Chrysantha disclosed that the Cardinal had become aware of the incident only the following morning, suggesting that it was impossible for him to have contacted Tennakoon the night before seeking assistance.

Continue reading ‘Catholic Church in Sri Lank Publicly Accuses Public Security Minister Tiran Alles of Uttering Lies; “We urge Minister Tiran Alles to refrain from spreading such falsehoods” states Fr. Jude Chrysantha Director of the Colombo Archdiocesan Commission for Social Communications’ »

By

Tisaranee Gunasekara

“Hey, c’mon, come out, wherever you are
We need to have this meeting, at this tree
Ain’t even been planted yet.” June Jordan (Calling on all minorities)

On August 14, 2006 the Sri Lankan air force bombed an orphanage in Vallipunam killing 61 schoolgirls. The Rajapaksa administration insisted that the location was a LTTE training camp and the victims were child soldiers. Independent reports, including by the UTHR-J, confirmed that the victims were students taking part in a non-military first aid programme organised by the LTTE.

Once the civilian nature of the victims became incontestable, Colombo could have acknowledged a mistake and apologised. Instead the regime doubled down on its child soldiers claim. The incident caused an uproar in India but no ripples in the Sinhala South. For most Sinhalese, this killing of 61 schoolgirls didn’t matter because they were Tamil. It was possible to be anti-LTTE while condemning the crimes by the Lankan military; anti-separatism could have gone hand in hand with pity for all victims of the war. But that path of justice and compassion was one most Sinhalese – and Tamils – opted not to take.

Marione Ingram survived the Holocaust as a German Jewish child. When the US Congress censured Democratic congresswoman Rashida Tlaib for her opposition to Israel’s war on Gaza, Marione Ingram called Ms. Tlaib a hero. Ms. Tlaib’s opposition to the war in Gaza is not anti-semitic, Ms. Ingram pointed out. “It is pro-human being.”

“All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.” So begins the UN’s 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights, promulgated 75 years ago. The declaration was inspired in part by the horrors of Holocaust. The basis of the Holocaust was the tribalist, anti-universalist belief that not all humans were equal and that some humans were less human than other humans, that they were sub-human (Untermenschen), more like animals. This belief of superior and inferior humans was a Nazi and a Fascist staple but not a Nazi or Fascist construct. For centuries, it had informed and shaped the imperialist project, from Europe to Japan. Just five years before the UN declaration, as the Bengali famine of 1943 was killing one to two million Indians, British officials in India pleaded with the Churchill administration to release food stocks. Winston Churchill’s only response was to send a telegram asking why Gandhi hasn’t died yet. Secretary of State for India, Leopold Amery called Prime Minister Churchill’s indifference to Indian deaths “a Hitler like attitude”.

Continue reading ‘The dehumanising of non-Buddhists by the Mahawamsa is the tribal counterpoint to the Buddha’s universalist teaching. Though Sinhala-Buddhist children memorise that Dhammapada stanza, it is the Mahawamsa attitude that guides their lives.’ »

By
Ranga Jayasuriya

Sri Lankan economy expanded by 1.6 per cent in the third quarter of this year, slowly emerging from one and half years of contraction. With the service sector picking up and manufacturing showing a seasonal hike, the fourth quarter may log 7-8 per cent growth, partially compensating for the first two quarters of negative growth. The momentum is finally here, though given the extent of the economic rout in the first half, the economic growth of 2024 would be negative.

How much of that momentum would continue to next year and beyond is not just an economic function- more than anything, it is a political question. Even after one counts the volatile growth projections in the rich world, the greater danger to the nascent economic recovery of Sri Lanka would be within. And the biggest of all is the marauding political opportunism, likely to be the most distinguished feature in the political stages next year- the election year.

Election year
The presidential election should be held by September next year, and Parliamentary polls should follow. Postponed local government elections should also be held at some point, though it is unlikely to precede either of the national polls, for the political leadership would not want it to be a barometer of voter sentiment.

Most of all, Presidential elections would decide the future economic trajectory. Considering that it would precede the rest, anyone who wins the presidential election would convert the early momentum at the Parliamentary polls.

Continue reading ‘One cannot deny Ranil Wickremesinghe the credit for lifting Sri Lanka from its worst-ever economic crisis. Ranil’s feat would loom large over peers in similar predicaments from Argentina to Lebanon.’ »

(Text of Media Release Issued by the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) on 20 December 2023 under the heading “Reducing the Tax Burden”)

Around 40 professional associations and trade unions representing vital sectors of the economy and the public services have been agitating for a reduction in income taxes for many months. In the meantime, the high tax burden has precipitated an exodus of educated and highly trained professionals from the country giving rise to a new crisis.

Following increases in the VAT through the budget for 2024, tax policy is set to become a major political issue in 2024.

The call to reduce taxes is based on solid economic principles. When taxes are low, both individuals and corporations have more money to spend and invest and this acts as a driver of the economy. Low taxes was a cornerstone of my government’s policy and it made a major contribution to the unbroken nine year economic boom that this country experienced between 2006 and 2014.

So as not to burden the people with taxes, my government of 2006-2014 restricted the overall year on year increase in government tax revenue to around Rs. 100 billion a year. Through careful economic management, my government reduced the debt to GDP ratio from 90% at the end of 2005 to 69% at the end of 2014 thus ensuring the feasibility of the low tax regime.

However, over the past several years there have been well-funded propaganda campaigns promoting a headlong and mindless opposition to everything even remotely associated with the name ‘Rajapaksa’ including the low tax policy. In order to blacken the very concept of low taxes, some even claimed that the Rajapaksa-led governments reduced taxes to help cronies. That is an outright lie. Tax exemptions can be granted only under laws like the Board of Investment Act and the Strategic Development Projects Act in order to attract investors for specified projects.

After 2015, the low tax regime was rejected in favor of a high tax regime.

Unsurprisingly, Sri Lanka’s growth rate declined precipitously after 2015 ending up at 0.2 below zero by 2019. Due to bad economic management, the period from 2015 to 2019 saw an increase in taxes while at the same time experiencing a precipitous increase in foreign debt. When I was voted out in January 2015, the outstanding International Sovereign Bond debt was only USD 5,000 million. The Gotabaya Rajapaksa government of 2020-2022 paid off USD 2,500 in outstanding ISBs which means that only USD 2,500 million in ISBs now remains from my era.

Over USD 10,000 million in new International Sovereign Bonds were taken between 2015 and 2019. Hence we still have an outstanding ISB stock of USD 12,500 million. It was this USD 10,000 million in new ISBs taken between 2015 and 2019 that broke the back of our economy.

When the Covid-19 pandemic struck Sri Lanka a few months after I became Prime Minister at the end of 2019, we wrote to the IMF in March 2020 asking for emergency assistance. The IMF wrote back saying that our debt levels disqualifies us from their emergency relief package.

They then proposed a raft of conditions that would qualify us for IMF assistance but those conditions would have made it impossible for us to face the Covid-19 threat in the manner that we did in 2020 and 2021.

The present government is now implementing stringent conditions as part of an IMF programme. Thus one thing led to another, finally resulting in a situation where we now see top professionals holding multiple university degrees and professional qualifications agitating on the streets, demanding a reduction in taxes.

The SLPP which I lead is a part of the government. However the present Head of the Government and Head of State is the leader of a different political party with different policies. In a situation where this country was faced with complete anarchy, Parliament elected a President to serve the remainder of former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s term. The new President successfully restored law and order to the country. He is now directing government policy as the Executive President. At this moment, the primary duty of the SLPP is to ensure a stable government until the next national elections.

In future, every member of the public should pay special attention to the tax policy and the past economic practices of the political party they vote for. As elections draw closer, once again we see attempts to hustle people blindly and unthinkingly in various directions through ramped up propaganda and social media hysteria.

Whatever decision the people make at the next elections should be based on rational thinking, proper facts and correct data. We are still living through the consequences of January 2015 and this country cannot afford another mistake like that again.

Mahinda Rajapaksa M.P.
Leader
Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna

********************************************************

By

D.B.S.Jeyaraj

Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) leader Veluppillai Prabhakaran,his spouse Madhivadhani Erambu. Daughter Thuvaraka and sons Charles Anthony and Balachandran along with thousands of other Tamils died in the final phase of the armed conflict at Mullivaaikkaal in the Karaithuriaipattru AGA division of Mullaitheevu district in May 2009.

Though fourteen years have passed since the war ended, there are many who claim that the LTTE supremo is yet alive and that the body found on the shores of Nandhikkadal lagoon was a look alike of Prabhakaran. Subseqently it was claimed that some other family members too were alive. In recent times there has been a concerted effort by tigerish and pro-tiger elements to make people believe that Prabhakaran, Madhivadhani and Thuvaraka are alive.

Furthermore it was projected that the LTTE was going to be revived under the leadership of the tiger supremo’s daughter Thuvaraka Prabhakaran.(her name is being spelt by many as Duvaraka and Dwaraka but I am following the manner in which the name is pronounced by Sri Lankan Tamils).

Theasathin Puthalvi (Nation’s Daughter)

The campaign promoting the LTTE leader’s daughter described as the “Theasathin Puthalvi”(Nation’s daughter) reached its zenith on the LTTE’s “Maaveerar Naal”(great heroes Day) observed on 27 November 2023. It had been the practice in earlier times for LTTE leader Prabhakaran to deliver a speech on that day. The last time the Oration was made was on 27 November 2008. In may 2009, the LTTE was militarily defeated and the hierarchy including Prabhakaran was no more. Though Maaveerar Naal was observed every year in many parts of the world on November 27th there was no annual address by Prabhakaran as the LTTE leader was not among the living.

However in an unexpected twist this year, it was proclaimed that Thuvaraka Prabhakaran would deliver the great Heroes day speech on behalf of her father from an undisclosed location.. A sustained campaign of expectation was propagated. While the silent majority of Tamils quietly watched this brazen attempt to bamboozle the community, several voices were raised in protest against what was obviously a fraudulent exercise. This was resisted by the elements promoting the “duplicate”daughter. The pro-LTTE world was torn asunder by the so called return of the tiger leader’s daughter.

Continue reading ‘“Operation Leader’s Daughter”: The Attempted Fraud Using a False Thuvaraka Prabhakaran.’ »

By

D.B.S.Jeyaraj

The Ilankai Thamil Arasuk Katchi (ITAK) known in English as the Federal Party (FP) is the premier political party of the Northern and Eastern Sri Lankan Tamils.The ITAK/FP was formed on 18 December 1949. The 75th birth anniversary of ITAK will be celebrated next year.

The ITAK was the leading political party of the Sri Lankan Tamils before the advent of the Tamil armed struggle. Though the ITAK has diminished in size and influence over the years, it is still “Primus Inter Pares” (First among equals) in comparison with other Sri Lankan Tamil nationalist parties.

It is indeed noteworthy that the ITAK/FP is the only Sri Lankan Tamil political party that has parliamentary representatives from all five electoral districts in the Northern and Eastern Provinces. Currently the party has six seats in Parliament including one on the national list. Of these two were elected from the Jaffna electoral district and one each from the Wanni, Trincomalee and Batticaloa districts. The national list MP is from the Digamadulla/Amparai electoral district. It could be seen therefore that the ITAK represents Tamils from all electoral districts of the North-East in Parliament.

The ITAK has had from its inception in 1949 a colourful history with many ups and downs. In the new millennium the party became the dominant entity in the premier Sri Lankan Tamil political configuration known as the Tamil National Alliance (TNA). The TNA contested Parliamentary, Provincial and local authority elections under the ITAK symbol of House from 2004 onwards.

The split in the TNA early this year has resulted in two of the three constituent parties of the TNA namely the Tamil Eelam Liberation Organization (TELO) and Peoples Liberation Organization of Tamil Eelam (PLOTE) moving out and re-configuring along with three other parties as the Democratic Tamil National Alliance(DTNA). Since the TELO (3) and PLOTE(1) have four MP’s, the TNA tally in Parliament has dropped from ten to six MPs all of whom belong to ITAK. Thus the ITAK continues to be the Sri Lankan Tamil Political party with the highest number of seats in Parliament.

Currently the ITAK seems to be on the threshold of a potential intra-party crisis. The ITAK’s long delayed party convention is scheduled for the last week of January next year. A crucial change of leadership is on the cards as the current ITAK president Somasuntharam Senathirajah known as “Maavai” is on the verge of relinquishing his post. “Maavai”has been ITAK president since 2014. Hence a new president will be elected at the convention to be held next January in Trincomalee.

What appears to be problematic from a party perspective is the fact that three contenders are in the fray for the ITAK presidency. The three aspirants to ITAK leadership are Mathiaparanan Abraham Sumanthiran, Sivagnanam Shritharan and Seenithamby Yoheswaran. As is well known, Sumanthiran and Shritharan are both Jaffna district MP’s while Yogeswaran is a former Batticaloa district parliamentarian.

Continue reading ‘Sumanthiran , Shritharan and Yoheswaran in Triangular Contest to Become Ilankai Thamil Arasuk Latchi (ITAK)President..’ »

By

D.B.S.Jeyaraj

Readers have evinced a lot of interest in the contents of the first part of this article published last week. This article’s focus on the fraudulent attempt to promote an impostor as Thuvaraka the daughter of Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) leader Veluppillai Prabhakaran has evoked much response from readers. The feedback I have been getting is basically of two types.

The first kind of response is from readers who were unaware or knew very little about this false Thuvaraka. They are intrigued and curious about this brazen attempt to hoodwink people. The second kind of response is from persons who are aware of this duplicitous exercise to some extent. Some have even experienced salient aspects of the fraud in different degrees. The input provided by these readers is proving to be invaluable. A common factor between both types is the request that I should continue to write in detail about this issue.

Before continuing , there is another related dimension that I need to explain and elaborate. upon Some readers have specifically asked me about the LTTE’s Nediyavan who was in charge of the overseas tiger network. Since it was I who had first written about him many years ago and also referred to him briefly in this article’s first part, their queries were about Nediyavan’s role in this false Thuvaraka fraud. Apparently there had been media reports stating that Nediyavan was the mastermind behind this duplicitous exercise.

The simple answer is “no, Nediyavan is not involved in this”.. Though Nediyavan was at one time the powerful overseas head of the LTTE, in recent times he has become very inactive and is practically “retired”. What has happened is that the once monolithic LTTE overseas network is now fragmented. There is no single point of control or authority. As a result several tiger outfits are now functioning autonomously. It is a Switzerland based faction of the tigers that is behind this Thuvaraka fraud. They are aided and abetted by individuals and small groups in other countries.. However Nediyavan’s decline has a direct bearing on the current situation.

Continue reading ‘How the Overseas LTTE Raised Funds From the Tamil Diaspora.’ »

By

Kishali Pinto -Jayawardene

In another dubious record for Sri Lanka’s paralyzed criminal justice system, the Acting Inspector General of Police (IGP) who had assumed his post recently trailing clouds of controversy regarding his professional conduct, has been held directly responsible by the Supreme Court for violation of Article 11 of the Constitution (freedom from torture and cruel, inhumane and degrading treatment).

“The big fish in the pond’

As observed with justifiable ire, the Court had on umpteen times, laid down ‘guiding principles’ as to how law enforcement officers must act but ‘all such attempts continue to fall on deaf ears.’ It was held that Acting IGP Deshabandu Tennekoon, along with subordinates had violated the law in arresting an ex-soldier for alleged implication in several thefts, thereafter unlawfully detaining and torturing him during 15th -22nd December 2010.

Articles 11 (freedom from torture), 12 (1) (right to equal treatment of the law) 13 (1) and (2) (unlawful arrest and detention) were found to have been violated. Writing for the Court, S Thurairaja J (with K Wickremesinghe and Priyantha Fernando JJ agreeing) observed in Weheragedera Ranjith Sumangala v Bandara, Police Officer and others, SCM 14.12.2023), that ‘while findings of fundamental rights are ample, the wrongdoers – specially the big fish in the pond – are seldom held duly accountable.’

Senior officers, under whose authority and direction their subordinates may act, have a special duty that they do not abuse such authority or go beyond such direction,’ the Bench said. In the wake of this ruling, some have (unconvincingly) opined that this decision does not attract such awful repercussions as for example, a criminal conviction of the senior police officer in question.

Continue reading ‘Acting IGP Deshabandu Tennekoon, along with subordinates had violated the law in arresting an ex-soldier for alleged implication in several thefts, thereafter unlawfully detaining and torturing him during 15th -22nd December 2010. States Supre Court Ruling’ »

By

D.B.S.Jeyaraj

The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) ‘Arasiyal Madhiuraignar’ (Political Adviser) Anton Stanislaus Balasingham passed away seventeen years ago at his South London residence on 14 December 2006.Bala ‘Annai’ (elder brother) as he was generally known among Tamils died of cancer at the age of 68 years. The funeral was held at the Alexandra Palace in London on 20 December 2006. LTTE supremo Veluppillai Prabhakaran conferred the title ‘Thesathin Kural’ (Voice of the Nation) upon Tiger ideologue and political strategist posthumously.

Balasingham was a colourful yet controversial figure who was admired by some and despised by others. This writer’s relationship with Balasingham too has had its twists and turns. I have both criticised and praised him depending of course on the issue at hand. Likewise he too has both spoken and written ill and well of me. I have written about this man and his role in Tamil affairs on several occasions. I shall rely on some of these writings while focusing on the professional-personal relationship between “Bala Annai” and myself in this article.

Balasingham’s background

Balasingham born on 4 March 1938 was a blend of many strands. His father was from the east and mother from the north. His mother was a Christian and father a Hindu. Though raised as a Catholic Balasingham soon became a rationalist and agnostic.

Balasingham’s first wife was a Jaffna Tamil protestant. His second wife was an Australian woman of Anglo-Saxon extraction. He was a British citizen but yearned for his homeland “Tamil Eelam” which he believed was a state in formation.

Balasingham’s grandfather was a “saiva kurukkal” (non-Brahmin priest) from Mandur in Batticaloa District. His father was an electrical foreman at the Batticaloa Hospital. Bala’s mother was from Jaffna town and a former resident of Martin’s Road. She was a midwife by profession and was working at the Batticaloa Hospital when she met, loved and married Bala’s father Balasingham Snr.

Continue reading ‘Anton Stanislaus Balasingham alias “Bala Annai” : An Up , Close and Personal. Account.’ »

By

Meera Srinivasan

As Sri Lanka tries to rebuild its battered economy after last year’s devastating crisis, the country’s political scene is gradually heating up, in the run up to two national elections scheduled next year — parliamentary and presidential — that will give citizens their first chance to vote, after they dislodged the Rajapaksas from power in 2022. The National People’s Power [NPP] alliance, led by the leftist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP or People’s Liberation Front) is drawing attention, with its leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake topping opinion polls as the people’s preferred choice for President. In a wide-ranging interview, the 55-year-old parliamentarian from Colombo spoke to The Hindu at the JVP’s headquarters and laid out what he has to offer.

Excerpts…

The government says there is relative stability now. The IMF programme is being implemented, and austerity measures are coming into effect. What is your assessment of the economic situation in the country now?

The economic crisis in Sri Lanka has not been fully resolved. One major issue is that the country’s goods and services sectors are not being developed. Due to that reason, we are not able to earn enough foreign exchange, or rupee revenue needed to run the country.
According to the budget for the next year, the government is expecting a revenue of over 4,164 billion rupees [LKR], while it is expecting to spend around 11,277 billion rupees [LKR]. Of this revenue, a big portion is going to come from indirect taxes as well as PAYE taxes from the professionals.

Sri Lanka has not been servicing its debt for almost two years. The country needs LKR 7350 billion in 2024 to finance its [domestic] debt obligations. We are not spending in dollars, and we are not paying our debt. That is why the government is able to import gas and fuel. The government has not really found solutions to the real economic crisis.

Continue reading ‘“Our appeal to people of the north is not ‘please join us, we will fulfil your needs’. We are appealing to them, to be part of this movement to defeat this corrupt ruling clique. We are saying let us unite, rebuild this country, and fulfil the requirements of the all the communities together” – JVP Leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake’ »

By

Kishali Pinto -Jayawardene

Parliamentarians draping shawls supposedly in sympathy for the plight of the people of Gaza while deaf, dumb and blind to the fate of their own constituents and exchanging tiringly customary allegations across the floor of the House as to who is ‘more corrupt’ and ‘who is more communalist’ underlines the growing irrelevance of Sri Lanka’s Parliament in the public perception.

A House disconnected from the people

Evidently, the Centre cannot hold. Perhaps this was inevitable post the unprecedented ‘Aragalaya’ (mass protests) of 2022. Sri Lanka’s young had demanded a transformative cleansing of the State in their thousands on Colombo’s streets. Instead of that transformation that may have put a kinder face on the nation’s discontent, old crude games of power politics prevailed.

So, what we have now is a transitional interval where, under a Wickremesinghe Presidency and a Rajapaksa House, the foci of both executive and legislative authority have become alarmingly disconnected from the people.

That is true of both the Government and the main Opposition, content to hurl barbs at each other while disregarding weighty matters that are in the public interest. The signal focus of the House during the budget debates should be as to how Sri Lanka’s ‘recovery’ from bankruptcy can be ‘engineered’ to shield the most vulnerable segments of the populace from literal starvation.

Yet this is far from the case, apart from the Government’s handing out of ‘favours’ be it deeds to land and houses or bolstering the country’s political patronage system in other familiar ways.

There is little sight of intent to trim a bloated state sector apart from selling off prized and historically valuable state assets. Governance reforms that would put the country on a new path are sadly lacking despite a plethora of new laws.

Gross political corrupters remain in the Cabinet despite the President waxing eloquent on debt sustainability and a new anti-corruption law. Other rude contradictions abound. On the one hand, reliance is placed on brutish force reinforced by a raft of Bills on anti-terrorism and ‘controlling’ the media.

Continue reading ‘The signal focus of MP’s during the budget debates should be as to how Sri Lanka’s ‘recovery’ from bankruptcy can be ‘engineered’ to shield the most vulnerable segments of the populace from literal starvation.’ »

By Arjuna Ranawana

The deep shadow of conspiracy that allegedly created the conditions for Gotabaya Rajapaksa to become President through the Easter Sunday massacre continues to darken many aspects of Sri Lankan life.

Governance is in disarray, and the government’s inability to pick an officer of high calibre, whose reputation is intact, to fill the post of Inspector General of Police, is a glaring example of that.

Most countries groom successors to such high-level posts well in advance, enabling a smooth transition. Malaysia is a good example.
That country, which has a colonial legacy much like ours, saw a change of guard at the top in the Police department when IGP Acryl Sani retired on June 22, 2023.

His successor, Razarudin Husain, who had been groomed for the top job for months, took office the next day, and the government announced that Ayob Khan would be Husain’s successor. That announcement coincided with Husain’s taking office.

Not so in troubled, dysfunctional Sri Lanka.

Continue reading ‘A Dysfunctional Government Brings Out a Controversial Acting Top Cop’ »

By

D.B.S.Jeyaraj

Yesteryear Actress Nissankara .Savitri was at one time regarded as the greatest actress to adorn the Tamil silver screen. She was hailed then as “Nadigaiyar Thilagam “( Doyenne of Actresses) in Tamil and “Mahanati” (Great Actress) in Telugu. Savitri was born on 6 December 1934. This article therefore is to denote her 89th Birth anniversary .

Savitri was known as Savitri Ganesh after she married Tamil romantic actor Gemini Ganesan who was also known as R. Ganesh and Gemini Ganesh. Savitri in a thespian career of more than three decades acted in 258 films in five languages. The breakdown was – Telugu- 146;Tamil -90; Kannada -09;Hindi -07 and Malayalam -06. Savitri ruled the roost in Telugu and Tamil filmdom for nearly 15 years in the fifties and sixties of the last century. She was hailed as the finest actress of her time and earned several laudatory sobriquets .

Continue reading ‘“Nadigaiyar Thilagam “( Doyenne of Actresses) Savitri.; The Rise and Fall of a Great Actress.’ »

By

Meera Srinivasan

Lankan poet and linguist M.A. Nuhman is deeply pained by the bloodshed and mass killings that ravage Gaza, sparing no one — not even infants.

His anger at the brutal violence against civilians, and his solidarity with the people of Palestine, have found familiar expression in Tamil verse. Last month, he wrote a poem, ‘Oru Palestina Kural’ (A Palestinian Voice), as he watched the violence escalate, from his own war-scarred island, tens of thousands of miles away.

Only weeks earlier, the Israeli defence minister Yoav Gallant had said: “We are fighting against human animals,” and later, the Israeli prime minister remarked that “Israel is fighting with the enemies of civilisation,” as he sought to cast the ongoing war as one between the “forces of civilisation and forces of barbarism.”
Disturbed by this framing of the conflict, Nuhman wrote in one of the opening verses:

Continue reading ‘A Voice for Palestine: How M.A. Nuhman’s translations of poems on the Palestinian cause have resonated with Sri Lankan Tamils Fighting State Oppression’ »

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By Tisaranee Gunasekara

“So it goes.” Kurt Vonnegut (Slaughterhouse-Five)

In the grand scheme of things, a monk and a quack draping a robe on a Buddha statue may seem silly, at most. Even if the statue is a 1,500-year-old work of art. Sri Lanka, contrary to President Wickremesinghe’s assertions, is still teetering on the rotten-bridge, a bankrupt country with fractious leaders and no good options. What does one act of vandalism matter?

What is significant is what didn’t happen.

According to the law, the quack who masterminded the robe-draping at Avukana and the monk who permitted it should have been arrested and charged. There’s no dearth of evidence, videos, pictures, words of perpetrators themselves. Yet, police are moving at glacial pace. The chances of the perpetrators getting away scot-free are considerable as the march of time sweeps away the memory of their crime.

In Sri Lanka, saffron is the new colour of impunity. There’s very little a man cannot get away with, from slapstick comic to violently dangerous, if he happens to wear a yellow robe. Monks are not just above the law; they have a law unto themselves. Often, they are the law.

Dr. Gabo Maté, a Holocaust survivor, recently highlighted the double-standards in the Western coverage of the Palestinian issue. “…when demonstrators throw stones at the police in Hong Kong, that is considered to be heroism in American press. When Palestinian kids throw stones at the Israeli soldiers they are called terrorists”

(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z0P67aWO1V0). Lankan media accord an identical impunity to monks who break laws and norms. Pastor Jerome Fernando is lambasted for stating his belief in the greatness of Christ – would he be a Christian otherwise? – while Pitiduwe Siridhamma thero’s (aka Arhat Sammanthabadra) distorting of Tripitaka is mostly ignored. One is arrested. The other gets away with an apology.

Zeid Al Hussein, the former UN Human Rights Commissioner, introduced the phrase, tribalism of pain to explain official Western indifference to Gazan sufferings. In Sri Lanka, we have tribalism of law. If you are a monk or a lay Sinhala-Buddhist extremist, the uniformed guardians of law permit you immeasurable leeway. You can invade State institutions, vandalise archaeological monuments, threaten and attack people, and still remain freer than birds.

The impunity goes beyond legal. Politicians who yell at everything ignored the crime committed at the Avukana statue. Monks who interfere in everything turned a collective blind eye to this outrage against Buddhist teachings and traditions. Society, at large, seemed unconcerned. Had the Archaeological Department not intervened, however belatedly, Aukana robe-draping might have kicked off a new trend. Dressing Buddha statues with robes, as if they were mannequins in a shop window, and providing them with slippers – and other such essentials – could have become the new normal.

Continue reading ‘In Sri Lanka, saffron is the new colour of impunity. There’s very little a man cannot get away with, from slapstick comic to violently dangerous, if he happens to wear a yellow robe. Monks are not just above the law; they have a law unto themselves. Often, they are the law.’ »

By

Dr.Dayan Jayatilleka

The responses to Henry Kissinger’s death at 100, proves that if a person’s contribution to his/her field is sufficiently significant, he or she will, on balance, be regarded positively as having made a lasting mark within that field, whatever the horrors he/she may have been responsible for along the way. Kissinger was the last great Realist thinker-practitioner in the fields of foreign policy and diplomacy. Viewed from the standpoint of ethics and morality, his crimes outweighed his constructive contribution, but from a Realist perspective, the evaluation is the reverse.

Kissinger’s crimes took place in the global South, from Vietnam, Cambodia and Indonesia to Chile and Angola. His constructive contribution took place in the classic zone of Realism: the relationship between Great Powers.

Like his hero and object of study, Metternich, Henry Kissinger grappled with restoring and maintaining the world order in an era of world revolution (from Vietnam through France to Angola). Unlike Metternich he did so in a nuclear age. How to avoid nuclear war in a revolutionary time, was his central problematique.

He did so with his new ‘concert of powers’ between the besieged USA, the USSR and China. He not only forged such a relationship at the side of Richard Nixon, a highly intelligent but morally vacuous leader, he did so in a manner that further divided America’s competitors while bringing each closer to the USA than to each other.

While I hardly share his vision and values, it would be a-historical not to concede his grand-strategic success after and despite a huge strategic defeat and retreat. Kissinger and Nixon escalated the bombing campaign of North Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos, in order to drive Hanoi to the negotiating table and obtain what he called “peace with honour”; the time and space for a dignified US withdrawal from Vietnam in the hope that the ‘Vietnamization’ campaign of shoring up South Vietnam’s military would pay-off. That gamble failed. But the relationship Kissinger had built with Russia and China and the exacerbation of the contradictions between the two Communist-run giants, ‘contained’ i.e., limited the effects of that failure and saved a US global leadership at the tipping-point.

Continue reading ‘Kissinger was the last great Realist thinker-practitioner in the fields of foreign policy and diplomacy. Viewed from the standpoint of ethics and morality, his crimes outweighed his constructive contribution, but from a Realist perspective, the evaluation is the reverse.’ »

By

D.B.S.Jeyaraj

Alluring actress turned powerful politico Jayalalithaa Jayaram passed away at the Apollo Hospital in Chennai on 5 December 2016. Her condition had been pronounced grave after being admitted to the Intensive Care Unit following a cardiac seizure on Dec 4. Her Demise seven years ago caused a void in the politics of India’s Tamil Nadu state that is yet to be filled adequately.

The 68-year-leader of the All-India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagham (AIADMK) served as Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu from 1991-96, 2001-06 and from 2011 to date. Jayalalithaa hailed as “Amma” (meaning mother/madam) was virtually the uncrowned queen of Tamil Nadu during her years of rule as Chief Minister.

Fabulous film career

There was however an earlier phase in her life when the beautiful Brahmin woman reigned as the uncrowned queen of Tamil cinema for over a decade from the mid-sixties to mid-seventies of the 20th century. This article re-visits the fabulous film career of actress Jayalalithaa.

Jayalalithaa dazzled on the silver screen during the years she was an actress. According to filmographic estimates, she acted in 142 films from 1964 to 1980 in the Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, Hindi and English languages. Of these 77 films ran for over 100 days and 18 for more than 25 weeks.

Continue reading ‘Alluring actress turned powerful politico Jayalalithaa Jayaram reigned as the uncrowned Queen of Tamil cinema for a Decade’ »

By

Ranga Jayasuriya

Two weeks back, crisis-hit Argentina elected a far-right outsider as the President, ending nearly eight decades of dominance of the mainstream right and left in the politics of South America’s second-largest economy. President-elect Javier Milei, a libertarian and a media showman, rode on a wave of public anger at the political establishment, as inflation hit triple- digit levels and the country was stuck in yet another sovereign debt crisis.

Argentina is the longest-running case of the middle-income trap. Being one of the richest countries in the world in the early 20th century, the Argentinian economy has lurched from crisis to crisis since the early 30s. It defaulted on debt nine times, including three times in the 21st century – the latest default included a US$ 45 billion IMF funding facility extended during the previous crisis.

Mr Miles’s litany of controversial remedies looks more destabilizing than being a coherent fix. However, he has succeeded in exploiting the popular sense of despondency. He has offered to dollarize Argentina’s economy, ditch the national currency, “dynamite” the Central Bank, shut the ministries, including education, health and social welfare, and introduce Bitcoin as legal tender.

However, Argentina is not necessarily an outlier of a global trend of far-right and nationalist takeover of governments.

The same week, far-right and Islamophobic Geert Wilders and his Freedom Party – which canvassed to ban mosques and the Quran and end the ‘tsunami of asylum seekers’ – won the Dutch elections. Elsewhere in Europe, the far-right is the dominant party in governments in Italy, Switzerland and Hungary and partners in Finland and Sweden. In the USA, Donald Trump, once an outsider, has hijacked the Republican Party and leads Joe Biden in opinion polls.

The factors that led to their success vary from Argentina’s economic woes to growing opposition to the unchecked migration to Europe and aggrieved white working-class pride in the US. However, everywhere, the far right and the nationalists – and in rare cases, the far left, as in the case of Chile – managed to convert the protest vote into an election winner.

Continue reading ‘The JVP does not have the right ideological inclination and intellectual sophistication to lift the country out of the economic crisis. It might make things worse and cause Gotabaya’s destruction of the economy to look like child’s play’ »

By

D.B.S.Jeyaraj

William Shakespeare wrote in his play “Julius Caesar” thus – “His life was gentle, and the elements So mixed in him that Nature might stand up And say to all the world, This was a man.” . Much hackneyed as they may be , these enduring words of the Bard of Avon aptly describe veteran journalist Gamini Weerakoon who breathed his last on 11 November 2023.His funeral was held at Kanatte on Sunday Nov 12.

Gamini Weerakoon known to his friends and colleagues as “Gamma” was an integral part of Sri Lanka’s English journalistic realm for more than five decades. He entered journalism as a news reporter and gradually rose up from the ranks to retire as Editor. He served in many capacities such as reporter, sub- editor, feature writer,news editor,deputy editor, editor, columnist and consulting editor in his eventful career. Until the very end he was in harness as a journalist by writing the weekly column titled “Doublespeak” for the “Sunday Times”.

Though his entry into Journalism was through “Lake House” Gamma spent the greater part of his journalistic life at Bloemendhal road with Upali newspapers. It was there that he excelled as editor for more than two decades. “The Island”of 13 Nov 2023 published an editorial titled “When great Oaks fall” about the former editor. The editorial sums up Gamini Weerakoon’s contribution to Journalism concisely. Here are some excerpts –

“When Great Oaks Fall”

Continue reading ‘Gamini “Gamma”Weerakoon: From Reporter to Editor.’ »

By
D.B.S.Jeyaraj

Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eleam (LTTE) leader Veluppillai Prabhakaran was born on 26 November 1954. If he were among the living, Prabhakaran would be celebrating his 69th Birth Anniversary today (Nov 26). This article intends focusing on the life and times of the man who determined the politico-military course of the island nation for many years.

I have in the past written extensively on the LTTE and its supremo. As such I do not intend re-inventing the wheel all over again. Instead I would be focussing in this piece on some lesser known facts of the LTTE leader’s personal history with the aid of earlier writings.

At the outset I want to emphasise that this article is neither a biography nor an eulogy. It is not even a critique or analysis. What I hope to do is to try and shed some light on the man and his personality without attempting to glorify him. I shall try do so by highlighting certain facets of Prabhakaran’s eventful life.

Thiruvengadam Veluppillai Prabhakaran was born on November 26th 1954. He was the youngest in a family of four children – two boys and two girls. The two sisters live in Canada and India. The brother resides in Denmark. Prabhakaran’s father was Veerasamy Thiruvengadam Velupillai. Prabhakaran’s mother’s name was Paarvathipillai. Her maiden name was also Velupillai. His parents who lived in the northern mainland, Wanni, later surrendered to the armed forces and were placed under protective custody Both are no more now having died of natural causes.

Valvettithurai (VVT)

Prabhakaran’s family hailed from the Northern coastal town of Valvettithurai referred to generally as VVT. His father joined the Government clerical service and eventually became a district lands officer. I think he retired from Govt service when the late Gamini Dissanayake was Lands minister.

Prabhakaran’s family was of respected lineage in VVT. They were known as belonging to the “Thirumeni kudumbam” or Thirumeni family. Prabhakaran’s ancestors constructed the famous Sivan temple of VVT. His father should have been the chief trustee but declined to be so as he was in govt service. So his younger brother became chief trustee instead.

The LTTE leader’s father was a duty conscientious mild-mannered gentleman well respected and well-liked. People of VVT used to say that even the grass wouldn’t get crushed when Mr. Velupillai treads on it. Later many comparisons were made about father and younger son. In fact the father disapproved of the son’s path and was not on speaking terms with Prabhakaran for many years.

Continue reading ‘Little-known Facts About Legendary LTTE Leader Veluppillai Prabhakaran’ »

By

Kishali Pinto – Jayawardene

Weeks after the November 14th decision of the Supreme Court with the majority holding gross failures in fiscal and monetary discipline by the Rajapaksa-led regime from 2019-2022 had comprised an extraordinary breach of the Public Trust triggering Sri Lanka’s bankruptcy, it does not seem that political leaders or their cheering squads have learnt important lessons reflected therein.

How the mighty can fall

Debates on both the majority (four judges) and minority (one judge) rulings are primarily driven by political partisan agendas. Predictably, the cherry on top of this pedestrian squabbling is a ridiculous distinction drawn between whether the majority decision had said that the Rajapaksas were ‘responsible’ for the economic crisis or (merely?) that their actions were ‘contributory’ thereof.

But analysing the sequence of reasoning in the majority opinion makes it quite clear that this so-called distinction is without a palpable difference, legally and factually. Some aspects of the majority ruling have been remarked upon in these column spaces previously. This includes the Court’s assessment that the late 2019 policy decision to revise taxes leading to an enormous loss of revenue was a direct factor in the collapse of the economy.

Appropriate remedial action to offset the adverse consequences had not been taken in time. But what could not be remarked on earlier due to constraints of space is the manner in which that judicial assessment is laid out, offering the public a fascinating glimpse into how a nation is driven to ruin by a cabal of political, corrupt, inept and incompetent opportunists.

Continue reading ‘The mood on the street is clearly ugly and turning towards an even more deep-seated rejection of the ruling political establishment beyond the ‘Aragalaya’ (protest) of last year. Then, it was spontaneous anger combined with an idealistic demand to ‘send the crooks home. What is surfacing now is deadlier and vastly unpredictable in form.’ »

By Mimi Alphonsus

In April 2020, the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) arrested Mohamed Razeek Mohamed Ramzy at his home in Katugastota for violating the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), among other charges.

His crime was to have written a Facebook post urging Muslims to counter alleged racist attacks against their community through an “ideological jihad” (struggle) using the “pen and keyboard.”
Today, free and exonerated by the Supreme Court (SC), Mr. Ramzy, a poet and social media activist, reflects on that painful period and the permanent scars it left on him, his wife, and their two teenage children. “I suffered so much,” he said in an interview with the Sunday Times. “And my family suffered a lot, too.”

Asked if he regrets using the word ‘Jihad’ in his post, which became contentious–and whether he would have phrased the post differently–he said, “I don’t think it’s necessary to change anything about the post. I only need to change something if it’s wrong.”
“I used the word ‘Jihad’ because I wrote that post for the Muslim community,” he maintained. “So, when I address them I should allude to things understood by Muslims, not writing like a plain report. We use poetic words and language from our literature.”

Continue reading ‘The Persecution of Mohammed Ramzy for writing a Facebook post urging Muslims to counter alleged racist attacks against their community through an “ideological jihad” (struggle) using the “pen and keyboard.”’ »

By
Meera Srinivasan

Recent arrests made by Sri Lanka police using a controversial anti-terrorism law, whose repeal remains a key demand of rights defenders in the island nation, has sparked concern among Tamil legislators, activists, and international agencies including the UN.

In a post on social media platform ‘X’ on Friday, Tamil National Alliance parliamentarian Shanakiyan Rasamanickam said: “Govt is not genuine in its reconciliation efforts. So far 10 individuals have been arrested under the PTA [Prevention of Terrorism Act] in Batticaloa this week. Amongst the arrested is a woman, student and a politician. The most ridiculous arrest is of a bakery employee for selling a cake. #repealPTA”.

He was referring to the arrests made around ‘Maaveerar Naal’ [Heroes’ Day], marked earlier this week, by Tamil families to remember Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) cadre who died in the country’s civil war.

Continue reading ‘Recent Arrest of 10 Persons by Sri Lankan Police Under the “Draconian” Preventionof Terrorism Act Sparks Concern among Tamil MPs, Human rights activist and International Agencies Including UN.’ »

For someone who promoted his own views so tirelessly, Henry Kissinger was surprisingly misunderstood. Many see him as the arch-exponent of an amoral realism that tarnishes America. Sure enough, like any diplomat, he lied for his country (and occasionally himself). More disturbingly, he was willing to see tens of thousands of people killed if he thought that the national interest demanded it. Yet what distinguishes Mr Kissinger, who died this week aged 100, was not only his realpolitik, but the fact that his practice of diplomacy was also shot through with idealism. It is a style that still holds valuable lessons today.

The would-be Kissingers in the Biden White House (and they exist) confront some daunting challenges. The rivalry between China and America is increasingly poisonous. Bitter wars rage in Ukraine and Gaza. Political divisions are tearing apart Western democracies. Hard-to-solve global issues, such as how to curb climate change and minimise the risks of artificial intelligence, are piling up.

Speaking to The Economist in April, Mr Kissinger himself seemed almost overwhelmed. But his central theme cut to the heart of his idealism. His life’s work, he said, had been devoted to preventing a repeat of the wars in 1914-18 and 1939-45 that had destroyed his childhood in Germany and much of the world besides. Today that means keeping the peace between China and America.

Continue reading ‘Many see Henry Kissinger as the arch-exponent of an amoral realism that tarnishes America.More disturbingly, he was willing to see tens of thousands of people killed if he thought that the national interest demanded it.’ »

Early in june 1970, soon after America had invaded Cambodia, Henry Kissinger secretly visited Brian McDonnell, a 27-year-old peacenik he had spotted in Lafayette Park opposite the White House. It was one of his many efforts that year to persuade his younger critics that they should give war a chance.

As with so many others, he failed with Brian, but they stayed in touch. While Richard Nixon sulked in the West Wing, his national security adviser and the long-haired activist would meet from time to time to talk about the war and the philosophy of Kant, struggling, Mr Kissinger wrote, “to fashion at least a temporary bridge across the mutual incomprehension”. He never lost the belief that he could win over his critics. And not just the movers and shakers, but also those far from the cover of Time and out of range of the Oval Office microphones. By arguing and arguing some more, he was asserting that he belonged and that he counted.

He had started as an outcast, growing up in pre-war Germany among people who despised and rejected him for being a Jew. The Nazis sacked his father from the public high school in Fürth, near Nuremberg. His mother was the first to grasp that the “Hitler State” held no future for her children.

In 1938, 15-year-old Heinz, as he was then, fled to America with his family. He never shed the accent; his voice, like gravel in a goldfish-bowl, added deeply to his seriousness. But his younger brother Walter learned to speak like a regular American, claiming later to be “the Kissinger who listens”.

Even his detractors admitted he had a brilliant mind. His undergraduate thesis was so profuse, at 383 pages, that it supposedly led Harvard to introduce the “Kissinger rule”, limiting students to less than half that length.

Continue reading ‘Henry Kissinger’s style was to work outside the official machinery of the State Department and the foreign service, which he thought had sapped American diplomacy of its vigour and creativity.’ »

(Text of Editorial appearing in the “Daily FT”dated 30 November 2023 under the heading “Get basics right first in Colombo city before envisioning entertainment hub)

President Ranil Wickremesinghe announced plans this week to make Colombo an “entertainment hub.” Any plan to make the country’s metropolis a more liveable city and make it tourist-friendly is welcome.

Colombo has seen a rapid change in the past decade with the addition of high-rise buildings being the most visible among them. These buildings have altered the face of Colombo, particularly the sea facing areas and has attracted many new residents to the country’s commercial capital.

Along with them have come the high-end shopping malls, cinemas, restaurants, etc. all intended to attract high spending tourists, both local and foreign. While the focus of any visitor to Colombo is on these new shiny structures, there are many areas in the city that are grossly neglected and have been so for years.

Continue reading ‘President Ranil Wickremesinghe is a Colombo. Resident. Before Making Colombo an “Entertainment Hub”,he should be aware of the numerous issues that not only the residents of the city face but also thousands who come to the city every day.’ »

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By

Suhasini Haidar

India has set up a “high-level” enquiry committee to look into allegations made by the United States government regarding an Indian plot targeting Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, a U.S.-based Khalistani activist wanted on terror charges, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) announced here on Wednesday.

The explosive allegations, contained in a U.S. Department of Justice indictment that was publicly released on Wednesday, accuse a senior Indian intelligence official, as yet unnamed but referred to as CC-1, of masterminding the assassination plot. The indictment alleges that the official enlisted an individual named Nikhil Gupta to hire a hit man with an advance payment, and also suggests that the Gujarat Police dropped criminal charges against Mr. Gupta at the behest of the Indian intelligence official in order to facilitate the contract killing.

It also claims that there is a link between the alleged plot against Mr. Pannun and the plot to kill Hardeep Singh Nijjar, which Canada has accused Indian government agents of masterminding.

Continue reading ‘US Justice Dept Files Indictment against Indian National Nikhil Gupta Over Alleged Conspiracy to Assassinate US Citizen Gurpatwant Singh Pannun; Senior Indian Intellige Official Suspected of Masterminding Plot to kill Sikh Activist Pannu on US Soil’ »

By’

Meera Srinivasan

Sri Lanka has reached an “agreement in principle” with India and the Paris Club group of creditors including Japan, on a debt treatment plan that will help the crisis-hit island nation tap the next tranche of the International Monetary Fund’s nearly-$3 billion recovery package.

“The OCC [Official Creditor Committee] and Sri Lanka agreed on the main parameters of a debt treatment consistent with those of the Extended Fund Facility (EFF) arrangement between Sri Lanka and the IMF,” the Paris Club said in a statement on Wednesday. While the statement did not spell out the parameters, the OCC said it “stands ready and looks forward to formalising” the agreement in the coming weeks in a Memorandum of Understanding with Sri Lanka.

At the height of last year’s crippling economic crisis, Sri Lanka decided to default on its nearly $51 billion foreign debt. A comprehensive restructuring of loans became necessary to begin an economic recovery programme backed by the IMF. Major lenders formed the OCC in May 2023 in response to Colombo’s request for debt treatment. It is co-chaired by India,

Continue reading ‘Sri Lanka has reached an “agreement in principle” with India and the Paris Club group of creditors including Japan, on a debt treatment plan; Lenders ‘expect’ transparency from ‘other bilateral creditors’ alluding to China’ »

By

Kishali Pinto -Jayawardene

President Ranil Wickremesinghe’s highly inappropriate jocularity in Parliament this week when commenting about the ‘Public Trust’ Doctrine only reinforces the (unfortunately) pejorative stamp of his Presidency as undermining the Constitution.

‘Public Trust is everything’

Mind, this is not in the typically crude sledgehammer style of Medamulana rule but more subtle and hence far more dangerous.

The President alleged that the Opposition Leader’s refusal of former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s offer to take the Presidency last year in the wake of unprecedented public anger against the Rajapaksas, was a breach of Public Trust.

‘Where does this (ie; Public Trust) end?’ the President caustically asked. This was an obviously sneering aside to the Supreme Court ruling earlier this month referencing the breach of Public Trust by the Rajapaksa ruling coterie and its supporters who catastrophically mismanaged the country’s monetary and fiscal policy from 2020/2021.

That was held by the Court to have directly contributed, (by commission and by omission), to Sri Lanka’s painful bankruptcy.

That extraordinary crisis from which the country is still struggling to extricate itself, has precipitated large segments of the populace into penury, led to the breakdown of the public health and education systems resulting in thousands fleeing its shores.

Not satisfied with that aside, the President went on to say that if he is not given the ‘support’ that he needs at this critical juncture, that again violates the Public Trust.

Components of the Public Trust Doctrine

But such frivolity is both unseemly and imprudent. The core components of the majority Supreme Court ruling is far from what the President mockingly reduces it to.

Public Trust is not a question of a Presidential demand for ‘public support’ or finding fault with the Opposition Leader’s decisions as the case may be.

In fact, this cursory treatment of an important legal doctrine going to the heart of political accountability is a reflection of how little Sri Lanka’s leaders regard the Rule of Law. President Wickremesinghe would do well to refresh his memory on the manner in which the doctrine of Public Trust had been painstakingly developed as an expansion of judicial review of executive and administrative action from the early 1990’s.

Certainly this is not a new jurisprudential graft on judicial thinking of the apex court and he is not the first President challenged therein. On the contrary, the doctrine forms a bedrock of jurisprudence based on public law principles read with Article 12 (1) ensuring the equal protection of the law.

Its core warning is that discretions and powers vested in those wielding executive and administrative office cannot be ‘absolute, unfettered and unreviewable.’

Gross failure in managing Sri Lanka’s economy

Through decades, (I must add, when the Court was propelled by its conscience as opposed to political ambition of a few judges), the doctrine has been judicially employed to reprimand constitutional violators for capricious, arbitrary and unreasonable exercise of power.

This has ranged from giving relief for citizens affected by land acquisitions, compensation for evictions, appointments and dismissals and the corrupt exercise of political power.

In the instant decision, the Court’s majority reasoning meticulously examines the various factors that led to the country’s financial collapse. Particularly pivotal were the 2019 tax revisions of the Gotabaya Rajapaksa Presidency which had been justified by the respondents as ‘re-engineering’ the tax system, creating a positive environment to spur business growth despite enormous loss of revenue.

In dismissing that explanation, the Court observed that legislation to that effect had been introduced only in mid 2021 even though, by that time, it was patently clear that such a positive impact had not been evidenced. Instead, an ‘unmanageable budget deficit’ had been created and the country’s credit ratings had been lowered by ratings agencies.

This in turn led to the ‘loss of access to capital markets at reasonable costs which resulted in the drying up of foreign exchange inflows (see at page 74).

‘Irrational and unreasonable’ leadership

Remedial measures were imperative but not taken. These failures had a domino effect on the economy, which finally collapsed. Even so, the response by the Government of the day had been ‘confrontational’ with the Ministry of Finance and the Central Bank refusing to accept the downgrading. This was, in the Court’s view, both irrational and unreasonable, breaching the Public Trust reposed in the (then) President, Prime Minister, Finance Minister and the Secretary to the President.

That same gross negligence was demonstrated in seeking assistance from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and in not properly assessing the fact that a so-called ‘homegrown solution’ would not be viable to resolve serious economic ills. ‘The sudden departure or deviation from commitments with the international organisation had resulted in consequences detrimental to the country’ the Court observed (see at page 78).

Even so, the attack on the ‘Public Trust Doctrine’ was not the only constitutional fracas that arose vis a vis the President’s remarks in the House. Firing on all guns as it were, President Wickremesinghe also characterised the Constitutional Council (CC) as being ‘part of the executive’ and claimed that it was ‘sabotaging’ the appointment of a new Inspector General of Police (IGP) and judges to the superior courts.

The CC is not ‘part of the executive’

For good measure, it has been proposed to appoint a Parliamentary Select Committee to ‘examine’ the CC’s working. The CC, as initially envisaged in the 17th Amendment, was conceived as a constitutional creature, sui generis in nature, meant to ‘restrict’ Presidential discretion when making appointments to constitutional commissions and key public/judicial offices (SC Determination No 6/2001, Decisions of the Supreme Court on Parliamentary Bills, 1991-2003, Vol VII).

Undeniably, the CC was established to check executive power not to act as an executive appendage. Indeed, this Presidential reduction of the CC places it on par with the discredited Parliamentary Council of the Mahinda Rajapaksa-driven 18th Amendment and the Gotabaya Rajapaksa-driven 20th Amendment. In other words, President Wickremesinghe cannot run with the hare and hunt with the hounds as it were.

He cannot boast that he made a ‘change’ with the 21st Amendment (and earlier with the 19th Amendment) by doing away with the obnoxious Parliamentary Council. And at the same time, reduce the CC to a cipher.

This is not to say that the CC is all that it should be. Far from it. It is deficient in its supposed claim to ‘independence’ in its composition, presided over by the Speaker.

What is this Parliament all about?

The CC’s procedures in regard to its functioning should also be far more transparent. This has been a long standing problem for several years. That is not rectified by the Opposition Leader’s tabling of the minutes of the CC justifying his position over the still pending appointment of the tenth member to the CC.

But all that does not justify the description of the CC as ‘part of the executive,’ let it be said clearly.

Meanwhile, what is this squabbling over who should occupy front row seats in the House which took up a considerable amount of time with legislators jeering as the President baited the Opposition Leader. Are these matters that should even take up the time of parliamentary business forsooth?

President Wickremesinghe was heard the other day to announce that parliamentary time should not be wasted. Well, it seems as if he is the first offender thereof.

This sort of devilry in the House is to the detriment of the country, the people and indeed, the incumbent holder of the seat of the Presidency himself.

Courtesy:Sunday Times

(Text of Speech made by Jaffna District Parliamentarian MA Sumanthiran in Parliament on 22.11.2023)

Thank you Hon. Chair for the time allocated to speak a few words on these heads of expenditure We have had an interesting debate so far, with his Excellency also participating. One of the institutions under consideration is the constitutional council, many things have been said today back and forth about the constitutional council but I want to raise a more fundamental issue.

There is a vacancy in the constitutional council; all ten members have not been appointed, this is a very serious issue, it’s a very serious issue for us. Because we were entitled to nominate a member, and such a meeting was held, and I proposed a senior parliamentarian Hon. Dharmalingam Siddharthan to be that member in the constitutional council. But to date he has not been appointed to the constitutional council.

We have raised this many times; the leader of the opposition has raised in Parliament, at the party leaders’ meeting, and the Hon. Speaker has clearly said that it is our right.

In fact others who are claiming to have a right to nominate are all members of the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna. The general secretary of Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna has written to the speaker and said that they are members of the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna, if they are not members of the SLPP, they can’t be members of parliament.

So they can’t claim to be ones who have the right to nominate this member to the constitutional council. But this is not just a technicality, by this, the 3rd largest party in parliament, the second largest party in the opposition, has been deprived of our right to participate in the deliberations of the constitutional council.

Continue reading ‘“Former President Mahinda Rajapakse,must resign, if he has any semblance of a sense of dignity, and if he respects rule of law, if he respects democracy, he must promptly resign from Parliament and accept responsibility.”- MA Sumanthiran MP’ »

By

Tisaranee Gunasekara

“It is apparent that the continued inaction to reintroduce and/or to raise taxes, and regain the government revenue that was lost, brought about an adverse impact on the economy which had a domino effect on the entire social fabric.” Supreme Court of Sri Lanka

The Supreme Court judgement about the Rajapaksa culpability for Sri Lanka’s economic ruin couldn’t have come at a better time. The sense of hope generated by the ending of chronic shortages and the partial restoration of normalcy has waned. The forward movement of the economy has grinded to a halt, impeded by multiple malaises solidified through inaction and indifference into components of the governance landscape. The president is no longer walking the talk and the parliament is a demented kindergarten where most debates degenerate into a violent slanging matches.

Economic pain is no more a shared problem as it was during the months of crippling shortages. Now the affliction belongs to those occupying the bottom half of the income totem pole. In 2022, the shared hardships of fuel queues and power cuts brought about a rare sense of solidarity.

At Galle Face and across the country, the rich, the middle classes and the poor stood shoulder to shoulder united in their common deprivation. Now that sense of being in it together is gone. There’s no solidarity any more. Only anger. Nearly a half of Sri Lankans are hurting without hope, a condition that bodes ill for all.

The findings of a recent UNDP survey demonstrate the extent to which the public has lost confidence in the political class, in national institutions, in governance itself.

The judiciary is one of two exceptions to this general disenchantment. Forty percent of respondents trust the judiciary. This week’s landmark supreme court judgement proves that that trust is not misplaced. The judiciary is not immune to the general attrition but it is not broken. It remains a part of a solution rather than a part of the problem.

That the Rajapaksas have learnt nothing from the disaster is obvious from their reaction to the judgement. They don’t believe they did anything wrong. Therefore, they don’t believe they need to change. Maybe some superficial alterations to regain the lost sheen, a bit of a propaganda hype but nothing substantial, nothing real. They and their supporters remain confident of their own inerrancy and their infallibility. In their worldview, the only problem with Gotabaya Rajapaksa is that he ran away.

Continue reading ‘Sri Lankan military is Sri Lankan in name only. In reality, it is a Sinhala-Buddhist military wedded to Sinhala-Buddhist interests. An anomaly in a demographically pluralist land and a dangerous one.’ »

By

Ranga Jayasuriya

Last week, the Supreme Court ruled that the three Rajapaksa brothers and a cabal of officials were responsible for the economic crisis, delivering an unprecedented judgement that could be the precursor to Sri Lanka’s long march for justice.

The Court ruled by the majority judgment that the Rajapaksa brothers and five of their acolytes who were handpicked to the top government positions “had demonstrably contributed to the economic crisis” by their actions, omissions, decisions and conduct.

Alongside the Rajapaksas – President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, then prime minister and Finance Minister Mahinda and Basil Rajapaksa, who succeeded Mahinda as Finance minister- the Court found guilty five close associates who held key government positions by virtue of their loyalty to the family: former Central Bank Governors Ajith Nivard Cabraal and W.D. Lakshman, former Treasury Secretary S.R. Attygalle, the Monetary Board’s former member Samantha Kumarasinghe, and former Finance Ministry Secretary and Presidential Secretary P.B. Jayasundera.

The 120-page judgement highlighted a number of costly ideocracies of Gotabaya Rajapaksa that precipitated the economic crisis, driving millions of families into destitution and doubling the poverty rate in a year.

The Court noted that Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s ‘imprudent” tax revision in 2019 brought about a ‘domino effect’, which resulted in downgrading by rating agencies, depletion of foreign reserves, and loss of access to the international finance market.

Continue reading ‘Supreme Court ruling has opened a window for any Sri Lankan to seek compensation from the Rajapaksas for economic, physical and psychological distress they had been subjected to due to the economic crisis.’ »

By Josh Robertson

A retired police commander has shed new light on claims that the former Sri Lankan government may have colluded with a terrorist group for political gain, resulting in the deaths of hundreds of people, including Australians, in the 2019 Easter Sunday bombings.
The attacks by Islamic state-inspired terrorists on churches and luxury hotels killed 269 people including two Australians and injured about 500 other people.

The head of the Catholic Church in Sri Lanka is now calling on the Australian government to support an independent investigation into the allegations, a call backed by Melbourne woman Chathudilla Weerasinghe, who survived the attack on Colombo’s Kingsbury hotel.
“They should carry out an investigation … because there were so many blasts on the date — similar timings, coordinated – it has to be a major planned-out thing,” Ms Weerasinghe said.

In September, the UK’s Channel 4 aired claims by a former government aide, Asad Maulana, that a top intelligence official met with members of the terrorist group National Thowheed Jam’ath (NTJ) as part of an alleged plot to help former Sri Lankan president Gotabaya Rajapaksa win government by creating a national security crisis from the attacks.

Continue reading ‘Former Deputy Inspector General of Police Ravi Seneviratne Tells Australia’s ABC investigations that Probe by Police into the 2019 Easter Attacks were Derailed Through Political Interference Immediately after Gotabaya Rajapaksa was Elected President; Says Leade Investigator and 22 others were Removed and Over 700 CID Personnel Intimidated by an Overseas Travel ban.’ »

By
Meera Srinivasan

China is “prioritising” the extension of the China-Myanmar Economic Corridor (CMEC) to Sri Lanka, the country’s Special Envoy told President Ranil Wickremesinghe on Monday, in an indication that China is looking to scale up the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) project in South Asia.

Paying a courtesy call on the Sri Lankan President, Special envoy of the Chinese President, state councillor Shen Yiqin, said China is prioritising the extension of the Corridor to the island nation, according to a press statement issued by Mr. Wickremesinghe’s office on Monday.

“Additionally, both parties agreed to expedite the implementation of the China-Sri Lanka Free Trade Agreement,” the statement said.

Continue reading ‘China will Prioritize the Extension of the China -Myanmar Economic Corri dor(CMEV) to Sri Lanka states Visiting Chinese Special Envoy Shen Yiqin in Colombo at meeting with President Ranul Wickremesinghe’ »

By

D.B.S.Jeyaraj

Today November 11th is observed in many parts of the World including Sri Lanka as Remembrance day or War memorial day. It is also called Poppy day due to the tradition of wearing a poppy flower. Remembrance day has its origins in the end of world war one. Although world war 1 concluded officially on 28 June 1919 with the signing of the Treaty of Versailles, hostilities on ground had ended “at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month” of 1918 with the signing of the armistice . Hence Nov 11 is observed as remembrance day on which soldiers who fought and died for their country are commemorated.

It is against this backdrop that this column remembers a fallen Sri Lankan soldier in this article . Brigadier L.A.R. “Larry”Wijeratne the then commander of the “Vadamaratchy” division in the Jaffna peninsula was killed on 14 May 1998 in an explosion triggered by a suicide bomber assassin of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam(LTTE). Larry Wijeratne who was posthumously promoted as Major – General personified the hackneyed phrase ‘an officer and a gentleman”.

The fair, handsome Sinhala officer mistaken very often for a burgher was killed in Point Pedro on the last day of his tenure in Jaffna. The erstwhile commander of the Vadamaratchy divisional zone was returning to base after a farewell ceremony. Fate in the form of a suicide bomber decreed that it was not a case of Larry bidding au revoir to Jaffna but adieu to the world.

Continue reading ‘Larry Wijeratne: The Sinhala Army Officer who Won the Hearts and Minds of Vadamaratchy Tamil People.’ »

By
D.B.S. Jeyaraj

Popular Tamil cinema actor Gemini Ganesan whose 103rd birth anniversary falls on November 17th is regarded widely as the greatest romantic lover in Tamil cinema . In a career spanning more than five decades Gemini Ganesan made his mark in Tamil films as the romantic hero par excellence. In fact he was dubbed “Kaadhal Mannan,” meaning “King of Romance”. What is most interesting about Gemini Ganesan is the fact that his romantic on-screen and off-screen persona got intertwined in reel life and real life.

While the actor hero crooned and danced his way into the hearts of many lovely heroines on screen, the off-screen Gemini too romanced many women in real life.

Gemini had four wives plus several liaisons including live -in relationships with attractive women. He himself admitted to his numerous affairs with other married women to the Indian magazine”Debonair” in an interview . When the magazine wanted more details, Gemini declined to elaborate saying, “Gentlemen don’t tell!”

This article therefore focuses on Gemini Ganesan to commemorate his 103rd Birth anniversary.I have written about Gemini earlier and shall rely upon some of these writings to help revive pleasant memories of an actor who gave me and millions of others immense pleasure through his movies.

I would like to start off this article on a personal note.

Continue reading ‘Gemini Ganesan Known as “Kaadhal Mannan” (Romance King) was the greatest lover on the silver screens of Tamil Cimema’ »

By

Kishali Pinto-Jayawardene

A ringing reminder by the Supreme Court this week holding three Rajapaksas (two former Presidents and a Minister of Finance) along with their economic tsars and a politically driven Monetary Board responsible for Sri Lanka’s calamitous bankruptcy, was that ‘the Rule of Law is not only rights and equality….(it) is also about functionality and efficiency for (the) sustainable economic development of the nation and all of its people.’

Politicians and the evils that they do

That awful pronouncement must surely make the political establishment, its avaricious panjandrums and the sundry collection of white collar parasites still feeding off Sri Lanka’s rotting carcass, shudder in their well heeled shoes. The instant decision is, in many respects, an interesting accompaniment to an earlier decision of the Court holding another former President (Maithripala Sirisena), his defence and police chiefs culpable for reckless failure to prevent the 2019 Easter Sunday attacks.

Indeed the sequence of events relevant to the disasters in point (2019 and 2022) speak to certain commonalities in their happening, Both cumulatively tipped Sri Lanka into an abyss from which there is yet no salvation, if there can ever be.

In focus were two singularly catastrophic eventualities that called upon the Court to examine extraordinary situations of national distress.

Both were brought about by a vicious combination of an unquenched thirst for power and raw greed on the part of those once hailed as Sri Lanka’s saviours but whose actions, ironically, led to the ‘death’ of the nation as we know it. That was combined, we must not forget, with mind numbing personal and professional opportunism by a galaxy of men and women who stood by and said nothing, did nothing and heard nothing as the country died, ‘not with a bang but with a whimper.’

Continue reading ‘Supreme Court Ruling must surely make the political establishment, its avaricious panjandrums and the sundry collection of white collar parasites still feeding off Sri Lanka’s rotting carcass, shudder in their well heeled shoes’ »

By Dan Sheehan

In a video address to the Munich Literature Festival yesterday, the human rights activist and Booker Prize-winning author of The God of Small Things Arundhati Roy made a powerful speech in solidarity with the Gazan people, and with the millions around the world marching for a ceasefire.

Roy—who could not attend the Munich Literature Festival in person because she is currently facing trumped-up sedition charges in India for comments she made in 2010 about Kashmir—forcefully condemned the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and the siege of Gaza, as well as the German government’s draconian crackdown on pro-Palestinian advocacy and the continued bankrolling of the occupation by the US and other countries, stating that “If we allow this brazen slaughter to continue … Something in our moral selves will be altered forever.”

Below is the text of Roy’s remarks in full:

Continue reading ‘“The solution can only be a political one in which both Israelis and Palestinians live together or side by side in dignity, with equal rights. The world must intervene. The occupation must end. Palestinians must have a viable homeland.”- Arundhati Roy’ »

(Text of Speech made by Jaffna District Parliamentarian MA Sumanthiran During the Budget Debate on – 15th November 2023)

Thank you presiding member for the opportunity to speak at the second reading of the budget proposals that have been presented to this House by his Excellency the President and Minister of Finance.

Whenever I have spoken on the second reading and if it was the president who held the portfolio of finance, I have consistently raised my objection to that fact and I must place my objection today also. I have said this since 2010. The reason is that the constitution says that public finance is a matter that is entirely in the preserve of Parliament, and therefore I take the view that it is only a Member of Parliament who is accountable to Parliament in that way, who must hold the portfolio of finance.

His Excellency the president is not a member of parliament, although he can attend Parliament and he can answer questions. I take the view that the chief of the executive, who is not a member of the legislature, should not hold that post. Having said that, I want to start by welcoming some of the proposals that have been made, for instance we welcome the increase in monthly cost of living allowance of public sector employees and pensioners.

Although insufficient it is a welcome increase. Also the increase the monthly allowance for persons with disabilities, elderly citizens and kidney patients – most welcome. Then expediting compensation for missing persons. There was a large sum that was allocated several years ago, that was not spent. There is an amount in the appropriation act but over and beyond that His Excellency in his speech said, he is allocating a further sum to expedite the payment.

Providing land ownership to farmers; Yes! that’s a very salutary proposal and we welcome that, fishery industry development in the northern region; a long felt need and in the budget proposal that has found mention and we welcome that. Construction of houses for internally displaced person, initiating preliminary work for the water supply project in Jaffna: all of these are matters in the budget proposal that we welcome.

However, it is one thing to have these proposals and it is quite another thing to see them realized. So that is why we have reacted with scepticism, when even these welcome proposals are mentioned. We have tracked or several agencies have tracked the progress made on budget proposals.

Continue reading ‘“Public Money has been Stolen by he Former President,his brothers and several others who worked with them. They have taken the money out of the country. What the Supreme Court should have done is to have ordered them to pay compensation for every citizen of this country, and bring that money into the treasury and that would have seen the revival of this country’s economy.”- MA Sumanthiran MP’ »

By Chandani Kirinde

President Ranil Wickremesinghe yesterday in Parliament presented his Government’s 2024 Budget, the second since taking office in July 2022 and the last before the country goes to the polls to elect a new Head of State late next year.

Though the President made it a point to say it was not an Election Budget, it was characteristic of what most finance ministers would do ahead of an election year with incentives for public servants, pensioners and those on State welfare programs as well as promises of housing and land ownership for thousands of others.

The President began his Budget speech at 12 noon, a break from tradition as most Budgets are presented later in the afternoon post-lunch. Speculation was that an auspicious time may have been selected for the crucial speech.

Continue reading ‘President Ranil Wickremesinghe Presents Pre -election year Budget with incentives for public servants, pensioners and those on State welfare programs as well as promises of housing and land ownership for thousands of others.’ »

By

Lakmal Sooriyagoda

The Supreme Court today held that several respondents including former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, former Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa, former Finance Minister Basil Rajapaksa and former Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) Governor Ajith Nivard Cabraal are responsible for economic crisis in the country.

Continue reading ‘5 Judge Bench of Supreme Court Headed by Chief Justice Jayantha Jayasuriya in 4;1 Majority Ruling Holds that Gotabaya,Mahinda,Basil and Cabraal are Responsible for Economic Crisis in the Country.’ »

(Text of Press Release Issued by the President’s Media Division on 14 November 2023)

President Ranil Wickremesinghe underscored his desire for a resurgence of cricket in the country, linking its revival to the broader economic recovery.

He made these remarks in response to a journalist’s inquiry during a meeting with heads of media organization at the Presidential Secretariat this afternoon (14). The purpose of the meeting was to brief media heads on the Budget 2024, with representation from print and electronic media.

Expanding on the significance of this year’s budget, the President asserted its transformative impact on the nation’s economy and politics. His primary objective is the restoration of the country’s fractured economy, emphasizing a non-political approach to achieving this goal.

Continue reading ‘“This year’s budget is poised to reshape both the nation’s economy and political landscape. My goal is to ensure the success of the country’s economic development program without the influence of politics.” President Ranil Wickremesinghe Tells Media Institution heads’ »

In a historic ruling, the Supreme Court yesterday determined that ex-President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, along with former Finance Ministers Mahinda Rajapaksa and Basil Rajapaksa, bear responsibility for Sri Lanka’s severe economic crisis and had thereby violated the fundamental rights of the people by mismanaging the economy between 2019 and 2022.

The apex court found that the 13 respondents, which also included Central Bank Governors Ajith Nivard Cabraal, Prof. W.D. Lakshman, former Secretary to the Ministry of Finance S.R. Attygalle, former Secretary to the President P.B. Jayasundara and Members of the Monetary Board of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka had violated public trust and breached Article 12 (1) of the Constitution, in their administration of the economy, leading to the economic crisis in the country.

Continue reading ‘Sri Lanka Supreme Court determines that ex-President Gotabaya Rajapaksa along with former Finance Ministers Mahinda Rajapaksa and Basil Rajapaksa, bear responsibility for Sri Lanka’s severe economic crisis and had thereby violated the fundamental rights of the people by mismanaging the economy between 2019 and 2022.’ »

(Text of Budget Speech Delivered in Parliament by Preside Ranil Wickremesinghe in his Capacity as Finance Minister on 13 November 2023)

Honourable Speaker,

The Lord Buddha has elucidated on a concept called “Samjeewikatha” (balance living). He explained this concept in the Vyagghapajja Sutta. The concept elaborates on how to balance our budget.
The Buddha has advised against leading a pompous and extravagant life, while receiving a low income. He explains that a mindful person would lead his life in a way that his income is aligned with expenditure.

We should spend according to the income we receive. That is what the Buddhist economic philosophy demonstrates to us. But, for the majority of the 75 years following the independence, our spending has often diverged from our generated revenue. When I say this, one might think that the governments of this country spent lavishly and wasted money. Not just governments. The country as a whole has lived beyond its means.

We resorted to borrowing or printing money to provide jobs, increase salaries, distribute free rice, offer relief, and maintain state-owned enterprises. We won elections by making promises about giving government jobs, safeguarding public resources, delivering relief packages, reducing commodity prices, and increasing salaries. We became indebted to the country as well as to the world to lead pompous and extravagant lives by not aligning revenue to our expenditure.

In the Samajjapala Sutta, the Lord Buddha has emphasized that we should borrow for investment rather than for consumption. But we borrowed for consumption. Ina Sutta in Anguttara Chakka Nipatha specifically points out that it is very dangerous to borrow and pay interest in this manner.

After 75 years of independence, we now find ourselves in a dire situation as a result of ignoring Samajeewikatha and the Buddhist economic philosophy. Our economy collapsed completely, leading us to a status of bankruptcy.

Continue reading ‘Budget themed “A Prelude to a Bright Future,” Presented in Parliament by President Ranil Wickremesinghe in his Finance Minister Capacity:Full Text Of Budget Speech’ »

By

D.B.S. Jeyaraj

The landmark verdict delivered by a three -judge bench of the Supreme court in the first week of October has brought “glad tidings of great joy” to most Sri Lankan political parties in general and the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) in particular. The Supreme court bench comprising Justices Padman Surasena , S. Thurairajah and Mahinda Samayawardhena heard a petition filed by former SLMC deputy leader Zainulabdeen Nazeer Ahamed challenging his expulsion from the party. The unanimous supreme court ruling dismissed the petition and upheld the expulsion.

Nazeer Ahamed had been elected to Parliament on the SLMC ticket from the Batticaloa district at the August 2020 elections. He had in April 2022 been appointed the cabinet minister in charge of Environment by the then President Gotabaya Rajapaksa.

The SLMC’s apex body known as the High Command (Athi Uyar Peedam) had taken a decision to vote against the 2022 Budget (Appropriation Bill) but Nazeer Ahamed breached party discipline by voting for it. The SLMC had expelled him after going through the due process of calling for an explanation. Nazeer Ahamed ‘s petition challenging the party decision had been dismissed by the Supreme court in a 62 page judgement.

The significance of the Supreme Court ruling was that it upheld the right of a political party to expel a member for flouting party discipline. An undesirable feature of the Sri Lankan political landscape in recent times has been the ease with which MPs defied party leadership and broke party ranks. Several crossed over with impunity to the Govt from opposition. It has been possible for these MPs to get away without censure due to favourable court rulings. Since this “impunity”had become the norm, many political parties had given up hope that they would ever be able to penalise errant party members.

In that context the October 5th SC verdict was like a refreshing breeze blowing in the musty legal corridors of Hulftsdorp. As a result of the ruling, Nazeer Ahamed lost his seat in Parliament.. The vacancy has been filled by the SLMC’s Seyed Ali Zaheer Moulana who has been sworn in as Batticaloa district MP. He polled the second highest number of preference votes on the SLMC list at the 2020 hustings.

Continue reading ‘Rise and Fall of “Hafiz” Nazeer Ahamed in the Muslim Congress.’ »

By

Kishali Pinto – Jayawardene

The Supreme Court’s pronouncement while examining Sri Lanka’s Online Safety Bill in the determination communicated to the Speaker earlier this month that, ‘Parliament need not wait till a crime is committed to enact laws’ invites a measure of critical scrutiny in good conscience.

What or who does the Bill protect?

It is self-evident that the legislature need not ‘wait’ till crimes are committed to enact laws. Nor has any legislature, including this country’s rambunctious House, exercised such extraordinary patience. But the point in issue is a different one altogether. In short, this is whether, as petitioners contended in challenging the Bill, a real and not fanciful fear existed that certain clauses of the Bill may, by virtue of their overbroad nature, lead to (unconstitutional) restrictions of basic liberties.

The Court engaged in a descriptive account of the rise of online sexual abuse of children and adults, the need for regulation of the internet, oneline financial scams and ‘interference with the administration of justice particularly when important matters of public discourse are taken up for hearing.’ In those circumstances, it was remarked that the State has a responsibility to enact legislation to prevent such crimes.

These sentiments may be laudable. The judicial litany of rising online abuse may also be conceded without much quarrel. In principle, there is no doubt that sensible and fair regulation is needed. The question remains however as to whether the Government’s Online Safety Bill is a fit and proper legislative vehicle for the purpose? That is so even with the profoundly astonishing number of amendments proposed by the Attorney General (thirty in number) before Court.

Continue reading ‘In principle, there is no doubt that sensible and fair regulation is needed. The question remains however as to whether the Government’s Online Safety Bill is a fit and proper legislative vehicle for the purpose?’ »

The Editors’ Guild of Sri Lanka has expressed its profound sorrow at the passing away of one of its founding members, Mr. Gamini Weerakoon, whose funeral took place in Colombo yesterday.

Mr. Weerakoon was the former Editor of The Island and the Sunday Island.He joined Associated Newspapers of Ceylon Ltd., as a parliamentary reporter in 1966 and rose to the position of News Editor of the Ceylon Observer and Ceylon Daily News and specialized in international affairs. He covered several Non-Aligned summits and interviewed a wide range of foreign presidents and prime ministers during his long and distinguished professional career.

Continue reading ‘Editors’ Guild of Sri Lanka Mourns the Passing away of Former Editor of “The Island” and “Sunday Island” Gamini Weerakoon; Expresses Profound Sorrow at the Sunday Funeral of Veteran editor who was one of the Founding Members of the Guild’ »

Gamini Weerakoon, veteran journalist and one-time editor of The Island and Sunday Island, passed away yesterday (Nov 11 2023) after a brief illness.

An alumnus of St. Thomas’ College, Mount Lavinia of which he was later a loyal old boy, he entered the Science Faculty of the University of Ceylon (Colombo campus) and later transferred to the Law Faculty but cut short his undergrad studies to join Lake House (Associated Newspapers of Ceylon) in the mid 1960s.

Continue reading ‘Veteran Journalist Gamini Weerakoo (Gamma)n No More! Former Editor of “The Island” and “Sunday Island” Passed Away on 11 November 2023 After a Brief Illness.’ »

By

D.B.S.Jeyaraj

This is the fourth and final part of the article about how I was arrested by the CID and detained on the infamous 4th floor in October 1987. The first,second and third parts were published in the “Daily Mirror” on 14,21 and 30 October respectively. In this fourth and final part the focus would be on how I was released by the Police and cleared of all charges by courts.

As stated last week, one of the CID officers quizzing me on the fourth floor had told me confidentially that I was going to be detained indefinitely to prevent me from reporting on the fighting between the Indian Army and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam(LTTE). Though I had been taken into custody under the emergency regulations, I was going to be charged under the Prevention of terrorism Act(PTA)soon.

While conversing further this police officer who seemed genuinely sympathetic towards me observed “You have been writing about the war between the Sri Lankan army and the tigers to Lankan newspapers and even Indian journals all these years but nothing happened to you. But when you wrote about the Indian army fighting with the LTTE you got into trouble . So think about it. Who would have got you arrested?

The Police officer then told me in cryptic terms “Lokka(JR) is pressured by powerful diplomats on your matter. “Apey minissu” can’t do anything for you. You must get an Indian diamond to cut another Indian diamond.”

I realised what he implied. It seemed clear that only powerful Indian intervention of one kind could save me from powerful Indian pressure of another kind.

Continue reading ‘How I was Released from 4th Floor Detention by the CID and Cleared of all Charges by the A-G Dept and Courts.’ »

(Full Text of keynote address by First Lady Prof. Maithree Wickramasinghe delivered at the Breast Cancer Symposium 2023 on the theme ‘Empowering Hope, Uniting Hearts and Advancing Minds’ organized by the Indira Cancer Trust on Friday,13 October 2023)

I consider it a distinctive privilege to be here this morning, (though not necessarily to be dressed in pink even though it is the custom for those campaigning for breast cancer awareness), but to be here, to articulate my views on breast cancer – stemming not only from my research on the topic but also from my personal experience of being a cancer patient.

I would like to thank Dr Lanka Jayasuriya-Dissanayake and her team as well as the diverse assemblage of stakeholders present here this morning for organizing the event and for their immeasurable and invaluable work in the aetiology, epidemiology, prevention, early detection, diagnosis, treatment, supportive/palliative care and awareness-raising relating to the disease.

In particular, I would like to express my heartfelt appreciation for the Indira Trust Fund for their foresight, motivation, and commitment to offering opportunities for the support, respite (even relief) of cancer patients undergoing treatment – especially, children.

I gather that the aim of the forum today is twofold. One – to take forward the conversation between and amongst multi-stakeholders in developing substantive initiatives to support the early detection. Two – to initiate and promote a national programme for the early detection of breast cancer.

And it is with this second objective in mind that I conceptualised this speech. Consequently, I would like to focus on the cultural and psychological factors, and social conditions that could deter the early detection of breast cancer – and contemplate on ways and means of negotiating these constraints – predominantly from experiential evidence.

In the year 2020, of the total number of cancers diagnosed in women, 25.7% were diagnosed with cancer in their breast. This translated to 3,975 new cases of breast cancer that year. And I was one of these ‘cases’ – detected during the month of March to be precise – just as COVID-19 began sweeping the world and our island went into lockdown. The clinical diagnosis was a Stage I HER2 carcinoma of the right breast. And I was in the 4.2% of all Stage 1 island-wide breast cancers diagnosed in 2020. This was an aggressive cancer and one reason for my presence here today was the early detection of the disease.

Continue reading ‘“I was Diagnosed with Breast Cancer in March 2020 just as COVID-19 began sweeping the world and our island”—- First Lady Prof. Maithree Wickramasinghe talks about her experience with Cancer for the First time at a Public Event’ »

The International Cricket Council (ICC) Board has suspended Sri Lanka Cricket’s membership of the ICC with immediate effect, the world’s cricket governing body said on Friday, a day after the island nation’s parliament unanimously decided to remove the current administrators of the sport.

Sport Minister Roshan Ranasinghe stubbornly took the leadership to sack the current Sri Lanka Cricket Board members following the 2023 World Cup debacle where the island nation lost seven out of nine games they played, their worst performance since 1999 World Cup.
Instead, Ranasinghe appointed an interim committee led by Sri Lanka’s former captain Arjuna Ranatunga.

“The ICC Board met today and determined that Sri Lanka Cricket is in serious breach of its obligations as a Member, in particular, the requirement to manage its affairs autonomously and ensure that there is no government interference in the governance, regulation and/or administration of cricket in Sri Lanka,” the ICC said in a statement.

“The conditions of the suspension will be decided by the ICC Board in due course.”

Continue reading ‘International Cricket Council (ICC) Suspends Sri Lanka Cricket(SLC) from Membership of the ICC with Immediate Effect a day after Sri Lanka’s parliament unanimously Resolved to remove the current administrators of SLC’ »

Scientists have rediscovered a long-lost species of mammal described as having the spines of a hedgehog, the snout of an anteater and the feet of a mole, in Indonesia’s Cyclops Mountains more than 60 years after it was last recorded.

Attenborough’s long-beaked echidna, named after British naturalist David Attenborough, was photographed for the first timesince 1961 by a trail camera on the last day of a four-week expedition led by Oxford University scientists in June and July.

Having descended from the mountains at the end of the trip, biologist James Kempton found the images of the small creature walking through the forest undergrowth on the last memory card retrieved from more than 80 remote cameras.

Continue reading ‘Mammal Species with Hedgehog Spines, Anteater Snout and Feet of a Mole re-discovered by Scientists in Indonesia’s Cyclops Mountain 60 Years after it was last recorded; Attenborough’s Long Beaked Echidna was named after British Naturalist David Attenborough’ »

In a rare moment of unity, parliamentarians of both the Government and the Opposition yesterday came together to unanimously pass a resolution in Parliament against Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC).

The resolution, titled “Removal of Corrupt Officials, Including the Chairman, from Sri Lanka Cricket Board,” received unanimous support from both Government and Opposition MPs, leading Speaker Mahinda Abeywardena to pass the resolution without a formal vote.

Sports Minister Roshan Ranasinghe, announced that the resolution would be forwarded to the International Cricket Council (ICC) and urged the SLC officials to resign promptly, preserving their honour.

The resolution, presented by Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa was seconded by Ports, Shipping and Aviation Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva on behalf of the Government before being taken up for debate.

Continue reading ‘Without Taking a Formal Vote, Parliament Unanimously Passes Resolution Against Sri Lanka Cricket(SLC) , titled “Removal of Corrupt Officials, Including the Chairman, from Sri Lanka Cricket: Sajith Premadasa Proposes and Nimal Siripala de Silva Seconds “Unity” Resolution.’ »

(Text of Speech made by Jaffna District MP M.A.Sumanthiran PC in Parliament on 08th November 2023)

Thank you Deputy Chairman for the time allocated for me to speak on the very important bill that has been presented by the Minister of Justice today.

I am saying important bill because for a long time the need was felt that the issue of contempt of court needed some intervention by the legislature. So what we thought was the application of the common law of contempt with all its uncertainties, be regulated better particularly with regard to the procedure one adopts in the Superior Courts.

The civil procedure code has a chapter that prescribes procedures for the inferior courts, and therefore there is some procedure prescribed. The judicature act prescribes limitation with regard to sentences that can be imposed and in any case that is in facie contempt – they cannot try anything done outside that court unless specifically authorised by law. Our constitution has given the jurisdictions to the court of appeal to try those.

The superior courts of record, both the Supreme Court and the court of appeal have adopted their own procedure in dealing with this issue. We have seen in the past not very long ago, when the Supreme Court in the exercise of its fundamental rights jurisdiction has summarily detained persons without a charge being read out; sent them to prison and tried and committed persons to judicial custody holding them in contempt.

This happened in one particular case or two cases, if I remember right, one with regard to sand mining and the other with regard to sound pollution, where the then Chief Justice Sarath Silva, presiding in the Chief Justice’s court, would entertain even photographs that somebody gave; will look at it and say “Ah here you have done sand mining” and sentence them to prison. These things happened.

Continue reading ‘“Fundamental right cases at leave stage itself have been argued for 10 days – surely to argue for 10 days there was reason to look into the matter. After full 10 days of arguments, full bench has said we see no reason to grant leave to proceed! That’s the only reason”- MA Sumanthiran MP’ »

By

Sahan Tennekoon

The Minister of Sports Roshan Ranasinghe claimed that the recent stay order issued by the Court of Appeal (CA) suspending the Interim Committee appointed to Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) depicts the downfall of the country’s Judiciary.

Making a special statement in the Parliament yesterday (8), Minister Ranasinghe said that a conflict of interest prevail in the country’s judicial system which has resulted in the deterioration of SLC and alleged that Room Number 301 of the CA has been a stronghold of the corrupt administrators of SLC whose conduct was recently approved by a stay order.

Speaking further, the Minister questioned the conduct of the President of the CA, Justice Nissanka Bandula Karunaratne who headed the bench which issued the particular stay order, citing his (Karunaratne) relationship with one of the closest aides of SLC Chairman Shammi Silva named Asela Rekawa who is an attorney-at-law by profession.

Continue reading ‘Sports Minister Roshan Ranasinghe Flays Appeal Court for Issuing Stay Order Suspending SL Cricket Interim Committee. Alleges in Parliament that Appeal Court President Nissanka Bandula Karunaratne’s Sister in Law;s son and Lawyer Asela Rekawa is Closely Associated with SLC Chairman Shammy Silva’ »

By

Jamila Husain

Hours after Sports Minister Roshan Ranasingha appointed an interim committee headed by former cricketer Arjuna Ranatunga to assume control of Sri Lanka Cricket yesterday, an angry President Ranil Wickremesinghe telephoned Ranasingha and asked for an immediate explanation as to why he had made such a move without consulting him or the cabinet.

The Daily Mirror learns that the President was made aware that the Sri Lanka Cricket Board had been suspended and an interim committee was appointed only by seeing the messages on the news and was surprised as to why Ranasingha had not consulted him or anyone in the cabinet.

An angry Wickremesinghe immediately telephoned Ranasingha and called for an explanation and asked him to be present at the cabinet meeting last evening.

Continue reading ‘Sports Minister Roshan Ranasinghe Suspends Sri Lanka Cricket Board and Appoints Interim Committee to Take Over Without Consulting President or Govt. A Furious President Ranil Wickremesinghe Berates Ranasingha and Calls for Explanation;Cabinet Appoints 4 Member Ministerial Committee to Oversee SLC’ »

By

D.B.S.Jeyaraj

The first and second parts of this article published on 14 and 21 Ocober respectively narrated the story of how I was arrested by the CID in October 1987 and detained on the 4th floor for having exposed the realities of the war between the Indian army and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam(LTTE) in Northern Sri Lanka. In this third part the focus would be on how I was interrogated by the CID while being held on the infamous fourth floor.

At the outset I wish to state that I have been pleasantly surprised by the positive response shown towards the previous articles by readers. The feedback I have been receiving indicates that readers want to know in greater detail about these happenings as opposed to the mere recording of facts. Also some human rights activists have evinced interest in gaining further insight into the relationship that prevailed between the police and the press in those days. It is against this backdrop therefore that I continue relating my experience of being “grilled” by the CID on the 4th floor.

The interrogation and recording of my statement was tedious and I do not intend writing too many boring details about it. When I was first brought to the CID headquarters, I had been shown a letter by CID director DIG Bennet Perera. This letter was from the then Defence secretary Gen Sepala Attygalle instructing the Police to question me regarding the killing of four Rupavahini employees by the LTTE. Strangely enough only one question was put to me about the killing of the Rupavahini crew at Maruthanamadan Junction. In Jaffna. This defeated the ostensible purpose of my detention which was to find out more details about that particular incident.

Continue reading ‘How the CID Interrogated me About Suspected LTTE -JVP Links on the 4th Floor.’ »

By
Meera Srinivasan, Dennis S.Jesudasan

A video-recorded message by Chief Minister M.K. Stalin was not telecast at the ‘Naam 200’ event in Colombo on Thursday due to reported objection from the Government of India over its “last minute” inclusion. Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had addressed the event in person.

However, Mr. Stalin’s video message was circulated to the local media by the organisers. A transcript of his address was released in Tamil Nadu by the Department of Information and Public Relations.
The ‘Naam 200’ event was organised by Sri Lanka’s Minister of Water Supply and Estate Infrastructure Development Jeevan Thondaman to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the arrival of Indian-origin or Malaiyaha Tamils in the island nation from southern India, mainly Tamil Nadu.

A Colombo-based official source said: “Since the Finance Minister was the main guest, New Delhi needed to clear the agenda. The Tamil Nadu Chief Minister’s recording arrived barely two hours before the event, and, hence, could not be obtained.”

Continue reading ‘Did BJP Govt in New Delhi Stymie Tamil Nadu Ruling Party DMK Participation in “Naam 200” HHill Country Tamil Event in Colombo? Chief Minister Stalin’s Message not Telecast; Delayed Clearance Prevents T,Nadu Finance Minister Thennarasu from Attending.’ »

(Text of address delivered by President Ranil Wickremesinghe when declaring open the modern courts complex in Welimada on November 3 2023)

“The administration of justice we have is about the oldest in Asia coming from the Dutch and the British and we are the oldest as far as the rule of law is concerned. It was applied here before it was applied anywhere else. Not even in India not in Japan, so that is the history we have and we have upheld this rule of law. Now the rule of law though at that time confined to a few countries, have now become universal and it is also enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which we have all to follow.

And that is the Universal Declaration of Human Rights which we have all respected and will continue to respect. But it requires every country to adhere to it. Today, there are major issues that have arisen with regard to the declaration of human rights and the course of normal international affairs.

I only must refer to the war that is taking place in Gaza. When Hamas attacked Israel, on the 07th of October the Government of Sri Lanka condemned it. I said though Sri Lanka stands by the principle of Palestine in statehood, we cannot condone this act. We can’t condone terrorism and it also left the government with the right of retaliation within the laws and rules available in the international community.

But, that in my view does not in any way justify the killing of over 10,000 people in the Gaza strip. This is not figures that I have, these are figures that are being quoted by the UN agencies. Now, this raises another issue. Are you entitled to declare war to one area of your own country. Can you go to war against it? Now we have gone through this question. And can countries condone it? Because, when we brought a motion for the ceasefire, many of our countries, all of us voted for it, USA opposed it and some other countries also opposed it.

Continue reading ‘It has been said that you must come to courts with clean hands. So why shouldn’t it apply to the Human Rights Council? Next September come with clean hands and we will also answer you. If you haven’t got clean hands, why should we answer you? -President Ranil Wickremesinghe’ »

By

Kishali Pinto-Jayawardene

President Ranil Wickremesinghe’s cracklingly combative question as to ‘why does the United Nations apply one rule to Israel and another rule to us?’ when declaring the opening of the Welimada courts complex this Friday must surely delight the hearts of his steadily growing band of nationalist cheerleaders in Sri Lanka.

“The end of times’?

Certainly these are repugnant hypocrisies, played out on the world stage to devastating effect. As thousands of bloodied children coated with dust are pulled out from the rubble of the Gaza Strip, Palestine bodies pile up on the streets and clog corridors in hospitals that have also been bombed. Israeli settlers are being armed by the security forces to infiltrate and chase out the Palestianians in the West Bank even as bombs flatten Gaza.

These horrifying scenes go to question the very basis of humanity, symbolising the evils that men do to each other and the atrocities that are unblushingly perpetuated in the name of religion, history and land. Make no mistake, the carnage that is continuing in the Palestine has a far wider impact than vexed questions of Israeli occupation or the right to self determination of Palestinians.

In effect, what is unfolding before our eyes is the final dismantling of the international ‘rules based order’ that emerged from the barbarities of two world wars when just men and women sat together and decided that there could never be a recurrence of the horrors that the world had witnessed. In the most dreadful irony, the killing of Palestinians, their ‘extermination’ and their ‘dehumanizing’ as ‘animals’ is justified by vocal front runners of Benjamin Netanyahu’s rightwing regime.

Continue reading ‘In each and every place where populations are ‘dehumanised,’ where children are killed and countries destroyed, the violators work to a single play book.It is the victims who have no voice.’ »

By Krishantha Prasad Cooray

Friends are the family we choose for ourselves. Friends are the home we never lose, the refuge we can count on when the world turns against us. Friends are the tree that shelters us from everything that is inclement and unseasonal. Johann Wijesinghe was such a friend to me. With him in my life, I never felt lonely, or alone. Now that he is gone, I feel as if I’ve lost a world.

I ask you to consider. What man or woman would find time, again and again, to visit a friend’s parents when that friend is away from the country? Not just the parents, but the father-in-law as well? What man or woman would stop the car if he sees a friend’s father-in-law going for a walk, talk to him and send his friend a photo saying ‘uncle looking good’?’ Johann Wijesinghe did all of that and more. When circumstances drove me out of Sri Lanka, a move that was as unexpected as it was wrenching, I knew that I could count on him to keep an eye on my aged parents and father-in-law. That lessened my burden a little.

Johann was close to my family, especially my two daughters. He would write to them on their birthdays and conspire with them to plan surprise birthday parties for me. However busy he was, however bowed down by care, he found the time to be an indispensable uncle to my daughters. He never looked down on them from the height of adulthood. He bent down to their level and became a part of their lives. He became their friend as he was mine.

Continue reading ‘“Friends are the tree that shelters us from everything that is inclement and unseasonal. Johann Wijesinghe was such a friend to me. . Now that he is gone, I feel as if I’ve lost a world”’ »

By Tisaranee Gunasekara

“How much past tomorrow holds.”
Mahmoud Darwish (A rhyme for the odes Mu’allaquat)

During her 2013 visit to Sri Lanka, then UN Human Rights Commissioner Navi Pillay wanted to lay a wreath to commemorate the war-dead. “When I go to a country, I like to honour the victims, all victims, victims of LTTE, soldiers, families,” she explained.

The Rajapaksa regime refused permission and launched a campaign of lies against her. “Informed sources said that Pillay had initially been informed of her desire to offer a floral tribute to the late LTTE terrorist leader Vellupillai Prabhakaran,” The Daily News wrote.

The Rajapaksas dubbed the final Eelam War a humanitarian offensive with zero-civilian casualties. Acknowledging civilian Tamil deaths was equated with playing the Tiger game. Mourning was a crime, criticising Lankan forces treachery, and referring to the root causes of the conflict justifying Tiger-atrocities. In this us-vs.-them universe, Pillay’s condemnation of the LTTE as a ‘murderous organisation’ counted for nothing.

Pillay, like UN agencies and humanitarian organisations, based her stance on International Humanitarian Law (IHL). IHL is premised on the concept of jus in bello, just conduct of war, which includes principles such as non-combatant immunity and proportionality. The Rajapaksas practiced the antithesis of IHL. As Prof. Rajan Hoole wrote, “From 2006, the Government began to do what would have been unthinkable after 1987. Intense shelling and deliberate displacement of Tamil populations became integral to its military strategy… (Himal – February 2009).

Before launching the final offensive, the Rajapaksas ordered all UN agencies, INGOs, and media to leave the war-zone. During the 2014 Gaza War, a pro-Netanyahu columnist in The Jerusalem Post urged the Israeli PM to learn from Lanka’s example of ‘resolute use of military force’ and give Hamas ‘the thrashing it deserves’(https://www.jpost.com/Opinion/Fundamentally-Freund-Defeating-terrorists-From-Sri-Lanka-to-Gaza-371428).

Today Israel is waging a total war in Gaza, a war that has killed over 3000 children so far (one child killed every 15 minutes). According to Save the Children, more children have been killed in Gaza in three weeks than in global conflicts annually in the last 4 years (2985 children 2022, 2515 in 2021, and 2674 in 2020). Oxfam has accused Israel of using starvation as a weapon of war. The UN is warning of hunger and desperation in Gaza leading to societal collapse.

Continue reading ‘Hamas committed war crimes. Israel is committing war crimes. And the West, the self-appointed guardians of International Humanitarian Law, is enabling Israel to go on committing war crimes.’ »

By
Lakmal Sooriyagoda

State Minister of Tourism Diana Gamage will keep her Parliamentary seat after the Court of Appeal ruled in its majority decision that there is no merits in the writ petition which sought an order declaring that she is not qualified to be a Member of Parliament.

Social activist Oshala Herath filed this petition seeking an order in the nature of a Writ of Quo Warranto declaring that Diana Gamage is disqualified to be a Member of Parliament and is thus not entitled to hold office as a MP.

Oshala Herath told Daily Mirror that he is expecting to file an appeal in the Supreme Court challenging the legality of the Court of Appeal judgment.

Continue reading ‘Appeal Court Dismisses Writ Petition against State Minister Diana Gamage in 2 to 1 Majority Judgement by Justices Karunaratne and Swarnadhipathy ; Justice Marikka Dissents and Issues Writ of Quo Warranto Separately Ruling That Diana is Disqualified as MP;Petitioner Oshala Herath to File Appeal to Supreme Court Challenging Appeal Court Order.’ »

By

D.B.S. Jeyaraj

It’s almost official or unofficially official! President Ranil Wickremesinghe has stated publicly that the next Presidential election would be held in 2024.

Addressing the United National Party ( UNP)’s Special convention held at the Sugathadasa Stadium on 21 October 2023, the President outlined the timeline for upcoming elections in line with the constitutional provisions. He said the presidential election would be held next year, followed by parliamentary elections.

“Next year, I will conduct the presidential election as mandated by the Constitution. Subsequently, parliamentary elections will be held, and perhaps Provincial Council elections in early 2025,” he told the UNP convention and emphasised that the party should begin electoral preparations now. Significantly President Wickremesinghe made no mention of elections to Local authorities.

Continue reading ‘Why Ranil Wickremesinghe Wants to Hold a Presidential Election First in 2024.’ »

By
Meera Srinivasan

Chinese research vessel Shiyan 6, which arrived in Colombo last week amid concerns raised by India and the United States, is set to begin its two-day research off the Sri Lankan coast today, Sri Lankan authorities said.

The research will be pursued off Sri Lanka’s western coast, and in collaboration with Sri Lanka’s National Aquatic Resources Research and Development Agency (NARA) and the University of Ruhuna, according to a spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Colombo.

Asked about the nature of research, the spokesperson told The Hindu: “It is marine scientific research.” The Ministry had earlier said the vessel was at the Colombo port for “replenishment”.
Research ship Shiyan 6 was added to China’s fleet of marine research vessels in December 2020. Said to be the country’s first scientific research vessel focusing on geophysical exploration,

Continue reading ‘Chinese research vessel Shiyan 6, which arrived in Colombo last week amid concerns raised by India and the United States will begin its two-day research off the Sri Lankan coast today.’ »

Sonia Gandhi

On October 7, 2023, on the 50th anniversary of the Yom Kippur War, Hamas launched a brutal attack on Israel, killing more than a thousand people, mostly civilians, and kidnapping over 200 more.

The unprecedented attack was devastating for Israel. The Indian National Congress strongly believes that violence has no place in a decent world, and the very next day unequivocally condemned Hamas’s attacks.

This tragedy is, however, being compounded by the Israeli military’s indiscriminate operations in and around Gaza that have led to thousands of deaths, including large numbers of innocent children, women and men. The power of the Israeli state is now focused on exacting revenge from a population that is largely as helpless as it is blameless.

The destructive might of one of the world’s most potent military arsenals is being unleashed upon children, women and men who have no part in the Hamas assault; they, instead, for the most part, have been at the heart of decades of discrimination and suffering.

Continue reading ‘The world was diminished by the brutal attacks on Israel; the world stands diminished again by Israel’s disproportionate and equally brutal response.’ »

By

D.B.S.Jeyaraj

It was in October 1990 that the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) forcibly expelled the Tamil speaking Muslim people from the Northern Province in an atrocious act amounting to ethnic cleansing. Within a few days the Muslims were chased out of their homeland where they had lived for many, many centuries. The thirty-third anniversary of this cruel, inhuman episode in the history of Tamil –Muslim relations in Sri Lanka is being widely remembered at present.

The mass expulsion of Muslims from the North in 1990 was a human catastrophe. Uprooting a people from their habitat at gun point and driving them away after depriving them of their cash and jewellery was despicable and unpardonable.

I have often written about this tragedy in the past. I shall be drawing on some of my earlier writings in a bid to revive memories of this mass expulsion by relating in brief the tale of this terrible tragedy. I also want to trace the sequence of events that led to this sordid exercise in which the Tamil speaking Muslims were chased out by their gun toting linguistic brethren.

“Black October 1990”

“Black October” 1990 began in the Jaffna peninsula with the expulsion of Muslims of Chavakachcheri on October 15th and ended with the Muslims of Jaffna town on Oct 30th. The mass eviction of Muslims on the Northern mainland began a few days before it commenced in Jaffna town and concluded a few days after the peninsula was “cleansed” of Muslims.

The bulk of Northern Muslims were then living in the Mannar district .They were sent out. Apart from Jaffna and Mannar, the Muslims of Mullaitheevu and Kilinochchi districts were also sent out. The Muslims in Vavuniya were luckier as most of their villages were in the Government controlled areas. More than 50,000 Muslims were expelled from the northern mainland by the LTTE. Together with those of the peninsula the Muslims driven out from the Northern Province numbered around 75,000 in 1990.

Continue reading ‘“Black October”: The Mass Expulson of Northern Muslims by the LTTE 33 Years ago’ »

By

D.B.S. Jeyaraj

(This is the second part of the article “How I was Arrested by the CID and Detained on the 4th Floor” published last week)

As stated last week, the CID director DIG Bennet Perera showed me the letter written by Defence Secretary Gen.Sepala Attygalle instructing the Police to question me for information regarding the murder of four Rupavahini employees in Jaffna. I immediately told the DIG that I did not know anything about the Rupavahini killings beyond what had been already reported in newspapers. I also said the matter had not been discussed with the then LTTE deputy leader “Mahathaya” when I was interviewing him.

DIG Bennet Perera responded by saying that I would have to make a detailed statement about related matters such as my trip to Jaffna and interview with Mahathaya. I replied that
I was a professional Journalist who had absolutely nothing to hide from the law enforcement authorities.I said that I could make a full statement about my Jaffna visit without divulging my sources. I suggested that I be allowed to go home and return the following day to make a statement with either the Island editor or a senior journalist in attendance.My suggestion was turned down.

I was then told that I had to stay overnight at police headquarters and that my statement would be recorded the following morning. I said that Gen Attygalle’s letter had not instructed the police to detain me. The CID director’s reply was that they the CID were the best judges of deciding as to how information was going to be elicited from me. I was also told that I was going to be detained temporarily under the emergency regulations.

At that point I got agitated a little and asked the DIG for a lawyer or my editor to be present at my interrogation. The reply was that I was not going to be interrogated but would merely be asked to clarify matters. I again asked for a lawyer but was refused. DIG Bennet Perera said the recording of the statement was not going to take much time and I would be free to go in the morning.

I insisted then that I should be given a telephone call as I wanted to inform the Island editor. The DIG said that the editor had been informed and that I need not be given a call.

I then asked DIG Perera as to why the CID had resorted to the elaborate ruse of pretending to be JVP when they could have been straightforward and introduced themselves as Policemen. The reply was that in a previous experience with a well-known journalist whom the CID had to question, they had had a bad experience. The journalist in question had pretended to be his cousin and had eluded them for a number of days. That was why the CID first posed as the JVP with me and confirmed my identity , I was told.

Subsequently when I was being questioned by the CID I was repeatedly asked the question whether I had JVP links and what I thought of a LTTE -JVP political alliance. So I suspect that the “JVP pretence” ruse had more to it than what had been said.

Two Amusing Things

I was taken from the DIG’s office to the infamous fourth floor and formally detained. I had to hand over all my possessions to a policeman who dutifully recorded everything. Two amusing things happened.

I had in my pocket a brooch with a Sikh emblem. This was pinned by Sikh soldiers on their turbans. Mahaththaya had distributed some of these taken from dead Sikh soldiers to some of the Journalists in Jaffna. I also got one. I had brought it to office to show a friend at the Island. Now this was in my pocket and I was worried that the cops may identify it . When the policeman asked me what the brooch was I deadpanned “tie pin” and so it was recorded as a tiepin. The Policeman did not bother to think as to why I had a tiepin in my pocket while not wearing a tie.

The other amusing thing was that I had some Vitamin B complex capsules in my pocket. When the cop saw it he became excited. “What are these? cyanide capsules? he asked me in Sinhala. I realised that being a Tamil he was viewing me as a Tiger and suspected that I was carrying such capsules. I told him that It was vitamin B but he did not seem convinced and asked whether he could throw them into the waste paper basket. I agreed and so the “Vitamin – Cyanide” capsules were dumped.

I was then taken to a room. It was a routine office room. The telephone extension there was disconnected. Later I was given a rice parcel to eat and asked to sleep in the same room. A police constable in civils was guarding me and would accompany me to the toilet.

The room that I was placed in had charts of the names of alleged Tamil “terrorists “ and the movements to which they belonged. They were pasted on the walls. There were several errors in those. I pointed them out to my “guardian” policeman who got upset and said “Don’t say these things.Mind your own business”. There was also a very large roadmap plastered on the wall. When I tried to do some map reading the policeman became uncomfortable and said “Don’t do this. Just go and sit”. I complied.

I started conversing with the policeman. It was quite pleasant. The fact that I could speak Sinhala reasonably well helped to communicate. My credentials as a journalist attached to the English sister of the Popular Sinhala “Divaina” newspaper also helped. Another factor was that my family was then residing in Kurunegala and therefore I was not considered as being from Jaffna.

Panoramic Harbour View

There was no bed to sleep on. I sat for a long time by the window which overlooked the harbour. It was a panoramic view with a myriad of lights. One had to pay a cover charge to get the same view at the harbour view room at the then Taprobane Hotel and here I was getting it free. Finally I took a cushion from one of the chairs, placed it on a table, climbed on it and went to sleep.

I did not sleep well at all mainly because of anxiety. I was deeply troubled by the thought that no one may possibly know about my plight. I did not believe that the Police had informed the Editor Gamini Weerakoon. Since they were refusing me a telephone call I feared the worst. While I was tossing and tuning on the table the policeman guarding me was dozing comfortably in his chair.

At dawn the police constable told me that the waterflow in the bathroom pipes was heavy in the morning. I could bathe but I had no towel, soap or change of clothing. Still I wanted a bath. There was no bathing bucket. Improvising, I washed the toilet bucket well and then filled it and began pouring the water on my body. After bathing there was no towel to dry myself and I got into my dirty crumpled clothes again in a wet state. I could not shave myself too.

I found that my detention room by night was actually an office room by day and that civilian police personnel worked there. I was given a string-hopper parcel and plain tea for breakfast. I tucked in. Thereafter I kept on requesting for a telephone call. Also no one seemed interested in recording my statement. My repeated requests that I meet with senior police officers to record my statement were also ignored. I was merely asked to sit at the desk by the window and gaze. My request for a newspaper was also not heeded.

I was beginning to get more and more worried that I was going to be held indefinitely without any statement being recorded or the outside world knowing. So I decided to do something and rectify the situation. Rasiah Partheeban alias Thileepan of LTTE “fast unto death “fame was my inspiration. I decided to go on a hunger strike.

Refusal to Eat Lunch

At noon I was given a rice parcel for lunch. Instead of eating as was expected I refused to eat it. When the police constable guarding me queried as to why I was not eating, my reply was that my statement was not being recorded and that I was not being given a telephone call to inform my editor and as such I was not in a mood to eat. To emphasise my troubled state of mind I folded my arms and placed my face downwards on the desk. A little later some more constables came and asked me to eat saying that the recording of the statement would commence as soon as I finished eating. I politely refused saying I wanted a telephone cal firstl.

Then one of the police inspectors who arrested me came and wanted me to eat but I said I wanted a telephone call first. After some time I was taken to another room where everything was in place for the recording of my statement. I was told that I was delaying matters unnecessarily by refusing to eat. “Recording your statement is going to take some time so you had better eat because you are going to be here tonight also” I was told.

At that point I stressed that I must be allowed to speak to the Island editor. Again I was told that he had been informed but I insisted that I should be able to speak to him directly and confirm it. Despite the pressure I continued to maintain that I would not be in a position to eat and make a statement or answer questions until and unless I was allowed to speak to the Editor directly.

I was not abrasive when I asserted my position but very mild-mannered and polite. This helped to minimise the irritation that the Police officers were feeling at my attitude. After a great deal of talk, I was asked to go back to my original room of incarceration.

I continued to remain at my desk with my face buried in my folded arms. I was woken up time and again by some civilian female personnel who gently admonished me for refusing to eat and entreated me to do so. I was touched by their behaviour but declined politely to do so.

Two Minute Telephone Call

After a long lull I was taken to the CID director’s Office where the top man blew his top at me. “What is this? Are you trying to do a Thileepan here and put us all in jeopardy?” Bennet Perera rasped. Once again I explained my position politely. Finally DIG Perera yielded and instructed his subordinates to get the Island Editor online “Only two minutes” he barked and kept on listening to the conversation on the extension.

I think Island Editor Gamini Weerakone’s gruff voice never sounded sweeter to me as on that fateful day. He confirmed that that he had indeed been informed by the CID and that he had informed my family and close friends of the position. He also told me that “HIndu” associate editor N.Ram too had been informed through Dr.Neelan Tiruchelvam. The Island police beat reporter Jehan Haniff will be in touch with the 4th floor guys constantly on your matter he said. Asking me not to worry “Gamma” began telling me of certain politicians and Lawyers who were interceding on my behalf when the phone was yanked out of my hand. My time was over.

I went back to the Interrogation room refreshed in spirit. My lunch parcel had turned cold but I was given a bun, plantain and tea and my brief imitation of Thileepan was over.

The recording of my statement commenced on Tuesday (Oct 27) afternoon. Before questioning began there was a minor hitch when the Police officers said that the questioning had to be conducted in Sinhala and that the statement would be recorded in Sinhala too. I said I was not very competent in Sinhala and that I would prefer English .They said that was not possible. So I then demanded that it should be recorded in Tamil as according to my constitutional rights. The reply was that they were short of personnel proficient in the Tamil language and that I may have to wait indefinitely.

Recording Statement in English

I said that was all right and again expressed the view that it would be mutually beneficial if the statement was recorded in English. The officers went out and returned presumably after consulting higher-ups and beamed. “It is English then” they said. The recording of my statement began. What happened thereafter will be related in the third part of this article next week.

D.B.S.Jeyaraj can be reached at dbsjeyaraj@yahoo.com

This is the “DBS Jeyaraj Column” appearing in the “Daily Mirror”of 21 October 2023.It can be accessed here –

https://www.dailymirror.lk/opinion/How-I-Went-on-a-Hunger-Strike-in-CID-Custody-on-the-4th-Floor/172-269638

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Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Spokesman and MP M.A. Sumanthiran writing to IGP C.D. Wickramaratne yesterday questioned the police’s inaction against the recent controversial comments inciting “racial hatred and violence” made by the Chief Incumbent of the Magalaramaya Vihara, Batticaloa – Ampitiye Sumana Thera.

In a recent video shot this week the Thera’s behaviour became highly agitated after he made an accusation that a contractor had engaged in the demolition of a burial ground exclusively designated for the Sinhalese community in the area. This alleged action he said involved in the destruction of numerous burial plots, including that of the Thera’s own mother. The Bhikku was observed employing racially derogatory language while raising questions about the ethnicity and religion of the individual responsible for the action.

The MP in his letter noted that the Bhikku had threatened to cut Tamils living in Sri Lanka’s South “to pieces” following the incident.

Continue reading ‘Batticaloa Magalaramaya Vihara Chief Incumbent Ampitiye Sumana Thera Threatens to cut Tamils Living in South to Pieces;MA Sumanthiran MP writes to IGP CD Wickramaratne Questioning Police Inaction over Monk’s Statement Violating the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) Act’ »

Sri Lanka’s human rights activist Ambika Satkunanathan has been appointed to the Board of Trustees of UN Voluntary Fund for Victims of Torture by the UN Secretary General António Guterres.

Satkunanathan has worked over twenty years with persons and communities impacted by human rights violations, especially in the conflict-affected North and East, and assisted them with accessing remedies. She served as a Commissioner at the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka (2015-2020), leading the nation’s first comprehensive prison study.

Prior to that for eight years she was a Legal Advisor to the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights.

Continue reading ‘UN Secretary General António Guterres. Appoints Former Sri Lankan Human Rights Commissioner Ambika Satkunanathan to the Board of Trustees of UN Voluntary Fund for Victims of Torture .’ »

By
Buddhika Samaraweera

In the wake of recent controversies pertaining to lands in the Batticaloa District, Eastern Provincial Governor Senthil Thondaman said that the Government has dealt with the people who have forcibly acquired State lands in the district in accordance with the relevant legal provisions and not on the basis of their nationality or religion.

Claiming that there are attempts to evict people from the Divulpothana village in the Batticaloa District, Chief Incumbent of the Mangalarama Temple in Batticaloa, Ven. Ampitiye Sumanarathana Thera had recently called on the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka (HRCSL) to intervene in the matter. Further, he constantly accuses the Government of preparing to evict Sinhalese who are engaged in cultivation activities in certain areas of the Batticaloa District.

Speaking to The Daily Morning on the matter yesterday (26), Thondaman said that action would always be taken against people who have encroached on State land according to the relevant legal provisions. “The country has legal provisions on how to deal with people who acquire land illegally. Most of the land in the Batticaloa District belongs to the Mahaweli Authority, so they always take action in case of land encroachment according to the relevant legal provisions.”

Continue reading ‘“Not only the Sinhalese, but also Tamils and Muslims who have acquired land illegally have been evicted from some lands in the East. This monk Ampitiye Sumanarathana Thera is living in an illusory world. He should first understand that the law of the land is being enforced”- Eastern Governor Senthil Thondaman’ »

By
Buddhika Samaraweera

While it is up to the Defence Ministry to decide whether to implement the Parliament’s Sectoral Oversight Committee (SOC) on National Security’s recommendation to inform United States (US) Ambassador to Sri Lanka Julie Chung to refrain from making remarks regarding the internal affairs of Sri Lanka, the said SOC stated that their message has, however, reached the relevant parties.

The said SOC had recently recommended the particular ministry to inform Ambassador Chung to refrain from commenting on Sri Lanka’s internal affairs.

Continue reading ‘US Ambassador Julie Chung “has intervened in Sri Lanka’s internal affairs too much. It should come to an end.” says Rear Admiral (Ret.) Dr. Sarath Weerasekera’ »

By

Ranga Jayasuriya

If you keep yourself up to date with local news, you are also likely to be bombarded with an overdose of negativity, which might make an inquisitive tourist ponder whether he or she is in a different country.

That dichotomy may partly be due to the differential exposure to the local life, but that is also because, as I have written here previously, Sri Lankans have done a better job than anyone else to run their country down before the world and at home- and they relish at it.

If you dig deeper into this discourse, you meet a motley group of activists who have self-anointed themselves as heirs to Aragayala, the people’s struggle that ousted Gotabaya Rajapaksa.

The Aragalaya was an unpartisan mass struggle. The folks who now claim to be the heir to the Aragalaya are partisan accessories of the disgruntled political fringe

They are not the heir to, but the imposters of Aragayala. Their Aragalaya-coated groups are fronts to the Peratugamis and JVP. Most other civil society groups of the same flavour can have their entire contingent travelling in one or two three-wheeler taxis.

But, they enjoy a disproportionate media space, not befitting to their sparsely attended protests, for most television stations in this country are driven not so much by news but agendas.

Continue reading ‘During the “Aragalaya” the JVP and Peratugamis, had far-reaching objectives. Their objective was not just the ouster of Gotabaya but the regime capture by exploiting the political vacuum.’ »

The Judiciary of the Nineteenth Judicial District of the Commonwealth of Virginia on 20 October hosted a special ceremony to mark the investiture of the Divani Raveena Nadaraja who is of Sri Lankan origin.

Judge Divani Nadaraja’s journey to this prestigious position has been marked by a wealth of experience and dedication to the pursuit of justice.

Judge Divani Nadaraja officially joined the Fairfax County of Virginia’s Juvenile and Domestic Relations District Court bench on 1 May bringing with her a remarkable background.

Continue reading ‘Divani Nadaraj of Sri Lankan Tamil Origin appointed judge in Nineteenth Judicial District of the Commonwealth of Virginia.USA.’ »

(Text of Press Release Issued by the Presidents Media Division on 23 October 2023)

The three Cabinet ministers took their oaths at the Presidential Secretariat this morning (23), in the presence of President Ranil Wickremesinghe.

Mr. Keheliya Rambukwella now serves as the Minister of Environment, Mr. Mahinda Amaraweera as the Minister of Plantation Industries and Dr. Ramesh Pathirana as the Minister of Health.

Continue reading ‘Keheliya Rambukwella, Mahinda Amaraweera and Dr.Ramesh Pathirana Sworn in by President Wickremesinghe as Cabinnet Ministers in Charge of Environment, Plantation Industries and Health Respectively; State Finance Minister Ranjit Siyambalapitiya Appointed as State Minister of Plantation Enterprise Reform also’ »

Apparently ending speculation, President Ranil Wickremesinghe on Saturday confirmed that the elections cycle will begin from next year.

Speaking at the UNP’s convention, the President outlined the timeline for upcoming elections in line with the constitutional provisions, detailing that the presidential election is slated for the following year, followed by parliamentary elections.

Furthermore, local Government elections are expected to transpire in the first half of 2025.

“Next year, I will conduct the presidential election as mandated by the Constitution. Subsequently, parliamentary elections will be held, and perhaps Provincial Council elections in early 2025,” he told the UNP convention and stressed the party should begin preparations now.

His confirmation may put an end to speculation that Wickremesinghe along with Rajapakse-backed Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) were exploring multiple options not to conduct or postpone elections scheduled from next year.

Continue reading ‘“Next year, I will conduct the presidential election as mandated by the Constitution. Subsequently, parliamentary elections will be held, and perhaps Provincial Council elections in early 2025,” -President Ranil Wickremesinghe at UNP Special Convention’ »

By

Tisaranee Gunasekara

“Do not use our death and our pain to bring the death and pain of other people and other families…” Israeli peace activist Noy Katsman (eulogy for his brother Hayim Katsman murdered by Hamas on October 7)

Jewish Currents is a US-based leftwing Jewish magazine. Soon after October 7 Hamas attack, its editor, Arielle Angel, a vocal proponent of Palestinian liberation, penned a letter to the readers. “I watched the bulldozer destroying Gaza fence again and again, and cried tears of hope,” she wrote. “I watched Palestinian teenagers seemingly out joyriding in a place half a mile away that they’d never been…But these images were quickly joined by others – the image of a woman’s body mostly naked and bent unnaturally at the back of a truck; rooms full of families lying in piles, the walls splattered in blood. I wanted desperately to keep these images separate – to hold close the liberatory metaphor and banish the violent reality. By the time I began to accept these were the pictures of same reality, I was distraught…”….

The October 7 attack itself was historical – Palestinians breaching Israel’s supposedly impregnable defences, a written-in-fire reminder to Arab leaders of the immediacy of the Palestinian question. But that operation could have been carried out without murdering civilians, including women and children.

Had Hamas attacked only military targets, the focus would have been on the Netanyahu’s government’s failure to defend Israel, and on the axiomatic link between Middle East peace and a just solution to the Palestinian question. But with the murders and the rapes, Israeli government was able to pivot attention away from its own egregious failures to Hamas brutalities. (Incidentally, most victims of the Hamas attack were left-wing Israelis supportive of Palestinian rights.)

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was reportedly warned of a likely Hamas operation by Egypt’s intelligence chief Abbas Kamel. He opted to ignore the warning and prioritise illegal Jewish settlement in the West Bank, to appease his ultra-orthodox allies. Had Hamas attacked without targeting civilians, Mr. Netanyahu would now be fighting for his political life rather than trying to snuffle out all Palestinian lives in Gaza. Hamas provided the beleaguered Israeli prime minister with a political lifeline, and an invaluable excuse to the Israeli hard right to ethnically cleanse Palestinian lands of Palestinian people.

Eqbal Ahamad, the renowned Pakistani academic and resistance activist (he was once a member of the Algerian FLN) explained that armed struggle “was supremely unsuitable to the Palestinian condition.”Instead, Palestinians should identify and expose the primary contraction in Israel, “that it was founded as a symbol of the suffering of humanity…at the expense of another people innocent of guilt.”This contraction cannot be brought out by armed struggle. “In fact, you suppress this contradiction by armed struggle. The Israeli Zionist organizations portray the Jews as victims of Arab violence…” (On Empire).

Continue reading ‘When religion marries politics, death and destruction are the offspring they bear, a universal truth we in Sri Lanka too should remember.’ »

By

Kishali Pinto-Jayawardene

Sri Lanka’s political establishment continues to be in unusually excited tumult following this month’s Supreme Court decision in the Nazeer Ahamed case, upholding the opposition Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC)’s expulsion of a dissident member of parliament for voting against the party whip in Parliament.

Amusing repercussions of the Court ruling

He has now forfeited both a ministerial portfolio with which he was ‘rewarded’ after crossing over, and his parliamentary seat, to the little regret (one would presume) of his constituency given this luckless worthy’s less than stellar performance. Regardless of his fate, the wider impact of the ruling on the spectrum of ‘crossover’ MPs has led to somewhat amusing repercussions.

These include members who have ‘crossed over’ from the party on which they were elected and who now either sit with the Government (with some holding Cabinet portfolios) or profess to be ‘independents’ in the House. Many of them have resorted to running hither and thither, pleading with their erstwhile party command to refrain from taking disciplinary action against them. On the other hand, political parties hitherto reticent in dealing with dissident MPs, have taken the upper hand.

All of this would be laughable if not for the serious consequences that these convulsions result in for the unfortunate electorate as a whole. The affected MPs may console themselves by the thought that a single swallow does not make a season. Or to put it more aptly in a local setting, the cry of a single ‘koha’ will not bring about the ‘Avurudu’ season. In other words, this ruling of a three-judge Bench of the Court earlier in October is but one of a plethora of decisions which are diverse in their views.

Continue reading ‘Supreme Court Ruling in Nazeer Ahamed Case; the cry of a single ‘koha’ will not bring about the ‘Avurudu’ season.’ »

By

D.B.S.Jeyaraj

Thirty-six years ago in October 1987, I was arrested by the Sri Lankan Police and detained at the Crminal Investigation Department(CID) Office on the fourth floor of the Police secretariat in Fort, Colombo. I was then working as a journalist for “The Island” in Colombo. I was also the Sri Lanka Correspondent of the Indian English daily “The Hindu” and newsmagazine “Frontline”. The United National Party (UNP) Government headed by President Junius Richard (JR) Jayewardene was in power then.

President Jayewardene and the then Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi had signed an agreement on 29 July 1987. This historic agreement referred to as the Indo-Lanka Accord temporarily ended the conflict between the Sri Lankan armed forces and the Tamil militant organizations including the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam(LTTE). An Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF) was stationed in the Northern and Eastern provinces of the Island

Fighting broke out between the IPKF and LTTE on 10 October 1987. I was in Jaffna at that time and witnessed first hand the eruption of war. I returned to Colombo on 21 October and wrote articles and news stories in detail about what was happening in Jaffna for the “Sunday Island” of 25 October 1987. An exclusive interview with the then LTTE deputy -leader Gopalaswamy Mahendrarajah alias “Mahathaya” was also published. My writings about prevailing realities in Jaffna contradicted the “official version” then being trotted out by the powers that be about the war against the LTTE.

I was arrested by the Police on Monday 26 October and detained at the then CID Headquarters on the 4th floor of the Police Secretariat in Colombo 1. Recently a post-graduate student, interviewed me about the circumstances of my arrest and detention for her PhD thesis on media suppression in Sri Lanka. I had written about my arrest related matters in detail , 26 years ago for “The Island”newspaper and had to wander down memory lane again. It is against this backdrop that I re-visit my arrest and detention in Oct 1987 with the aid of earlier writings in this article. It is a first-person account of my experiences.

Continue reading ‘How I was Arrested by the CID and Detained on the 4th Floor.’ »

(Text of Speech made on the current Israel – Palestine conflict by Jaffna District Parliamentarian M.A.Sumanthiran on 20th October 2023 in Parliament )

Thank you deputy speaker for the time allocated to speak on this very important issue that is shocking the conscience of the world. Let me at the outset express my solidarity with the people who are suffering as a result of violence, destruction, and wanton killing that’s taking place even as we debate this.

We have seen footages, we are hearing news of humanitarian crises of enormous proportion. And therefore even as a small country in the world, we cannot remain mute. We have to necessarily raise our voice on behalf of the suffering people. The crises in Palestine and Israel is a political crisis, is a complicated one, we all know that. I’m not going to discuss the rights and wrongs the claims and counterclaims of both sides to that political conflict. This is not the time to discuss that. Now is the time to condemn the violence to appeal to all sides that are indulging in violence that are Prosecuting the war to immediately bring a halt to that, and end the human suffering.

We speak – I speak today, also as a representative of the people who have suffered as a result of long, protracted violence. Now, when people suffer through violence, it is almost immaterial as to who is responsible for that. Well, it is important to identify the perpetrators, but the point that I’m making is, it it is important, it is urgent, first to bring that suffering to an end; to bring that fighting to an end; to call for a ceasefire. I’m saying this because how can we live in – as we claim – in a civilised world and look upon and wait when nations seek to settle their differences, through violence.

That may have happened centuries ago, but in today’s world, does that even have a place? Is it not possible to resolve, however complex the issue is, by means of dialogue; through intermediaries; through mediations, without resorting to violence; without resorting to killing each other. The answer seems obvious. But what we see in the world, it is not so obvious. Constantly there are fightings going on in many places in the world. This is happening in Ukraine and now in the Middle East.

I cannot but say at this moment, how strikingly similar the events that are unfolding now in the Middle East are to what we experienced for three decades more than 15 years ago.

Continue reading ‘“I speak as a representative of the (Tamil ) people who have suffered protracted violencThe events that are unfolding now in the Middle East are strikingly similar to what we experienced for three decades more than 15 years ago.”- MA Sumanthiran MP’ »

By

Yohan Perera

In accordance with the Constitution, the Presidential election is scheduled for next year, followed by the parliamentary election, President Ranil Wickremesinghe assured today despite reports that there will be Constitutional reforms instead.

“Both the Presidential election and the general elections will be held next year while the Provincial Council election will be held in early 2025,” the President said while addressing the UNP Convention in Colombo.

Continue reading ‘“Both the Presidential and Parliamentary Elections will be held in 2024 While Provincial Council Elections will be held in Early 2025” States President Ranil Wickremesinghe in his Address at the UNP Convention in Colombo’ »

By

Gideon Levy

This bloodbath must be stopped immediately; it isn’t leading anywhere good. Massacres can be answered with massacres, but even a terrible massacre like the one perpetrated in southern Israel cannot justify whatever follows it, with no limits.

A terrible massacre might even be able to justify another terrible massacre if it has a goal other than punishment and vengeance, and if that goal is both legitimate and achievable. But that isn’t the case for the war in the Gaza Strip, which has no clear, realistic purpose and certainly has no answer to the question of what happens on the day after.
–

But even if it had a clear purpose, even then there would have to be limits to the devastation. The bloodbath now taking place in Gaza, which has only just begun, shows that there are no limits. And in the face of this, it’s impossible to remain silent. This cannot be justified.

It is impossible to be silent in the face of the terrible images from Al-Ahli Hospital in Gaza City – dozens of bodies lined up one after the other, many of them children with lacerated bodies and missing limbs – just as it’s impossible to be silent when faced with the pictures of death and destruction that occurred here. Hundreds of desperate Palestinians were killed Monday after trying to find shelter in the open air near the hospital, in the false belief that they would be safe there even during this cursed war.

Continue reading ‘What happened October 7 shook Israel beyond recognition. But even in the heat of our anger and frustration, we must not lose whatever remains of our conscience and moral compass. We must not let all of Israel become Hamas.’ »

Sri Lanka has received conditional nod from the staff of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) following the completion of the first review of the $ 3 billion Extended Fund Facility (EFF) program.

IMF said the staff-level agreement is subject to the approval by its management and the Executive Board in the period ahead, contingent on: (i) the implementation by the authorities of all prior actions; (ii) the completion of financing assurances reviews, which will include confirming whether adequate progress has been made with debt restructuring to give confidence that the restructuring will be concluded in a timely manner and in line with the program’s debt targets.

Upon approval by the IMF Executive Board, Sri Lanka would have access to SDR 254 million (about $ 330 million), bringing the total IMF financial support disbursed under the arrangement to SDR 508 million (about $ 660 million).

Continue reading ‘International Monetary Fund Staff Level Agreement Green Lights , $ 330 Million Second Tranche of Extended Fund Facility to Sri Lanka Subject to Approval by IMF Executive Board.’ »

(Text of Press Release Issued by President’s Media division on 20th October 2023)

President Xi Jinping of the People’s Republic of China stated that China is committed to assisting Sri Lanka in achieving economic stability without any political agenda. He expressed his desire to collaborate closely with President Ranil Wickremesinghe.

Furthermore, President Xi Jinping acknowledged that Sri Lanka’s speech at the United Nations General Assembly, delivered by President Ranil Wickremesinghe, reflected the country’s strategic independence and its neutral stance.

Bilateral discussions between President Ranil Wickremesinghe, who is on an official visit to China and Chinese President Xi Jinping took place at the Great Hall of the People. President Xi Jinping warmly welcomed President Ranil Wickremesinghe and after a friendly exchange, the two leaders engaged in bilateral talks.

Continue reading ‘President Xi Jinping states China is committed without any political agenda to assist Sri Lanka in achieving economic stability; Acknowledges President Ranil Wickremesinghe’s Speech at UN, reflected Sri Lanka’s strategic independence and its neutral stance.’ »

State Minister Diana Gamage has been admitted to the Sri Jayewardenepura Hospital following her claims about being assaulted by a male parliamentarian representing the main opposition.

She also filed a complaint with Welikada Police prior to getting hospitalized.

Earlier today, during the parliamentary session, Damage accused Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) MP Sujith Sanjaya Perera of assaulting her outside the Chamber and called for a comprehensive investigation into the matter.

This prompted the temporary adjournment of the session by Deputy Speaker Ajith Rajapakse, at the request of PM Dinesh Gunawardena.

Continue reading ‘State Minister Diana Gamage Hospitalized Following Alleged Assault by SJB MP Sujith Samaya Perera in Parliament. Was Allegedly Involved in Argument with SJB MP Rohana Bandara who says “We, men, also need to defend ourselves when we are insulted and attacked.”’ »

By Yohan Perera

No one should contest the next presidential election for the sake of the nation, UNP Chairman and Member of Parliament Vajira Abeywardana said yesterday.

“It is better if no one comes forward to contest the Presidential election next year as it would help the nation to stabilize,” MP Abeywardana told a media briefing.

Continue reading ‘If No One Comes Forward to Contest the Next Presidential Election, the Incumbent President Can Continue in Office and Bring about Economic Stability says UNP Chairman Vajira Abeywardana MP’ »

By

Jamila Husain

President Ranil Wickremesinghe is likely to make drastic changes in the higher up of the gov-ernment including in the cabinet and the defence ranks following the budget in November, the Daily Mirror learns.

The move comes at a time when the government is feeling the heat over the inability of some ministers to perform in their portfolios and a call for change in some high defence ranks.

Amidst the tussle to appoint a new Inspector General of Police, (IGP), the Daily Mirror learns that DIG Deshabandu Tennekoon is likely to get the seat once his name is recommended to the Constitutional Council after the three week extension of C.D. Wickramaratne ends later this month.

Continue reading ‘President Wickremesinghe Likely to Make Drastic Changes in Composition og Government and Upper Echelons of Defence Sector after November Budget’ »

By

Yohan Perera and Ajith Siriwardana

There are no moves to scrap the Executive Presidency as it is a difficult task, Minister of Justice Wijedasa Rajapaksha told Parliament today.

“Scrapping the Executive Presidency is a complicated and difficult process. There is no way we can do it through the present Parliament. It is also an exercise in which the people of this country have to be engaged in,” the Minister said.

Continue reading ‘No Moves on to Abolish the Executive Presidency says Wijedasa Rajapakshe;“Scrapping the Executive Presidency is a complicated and difficult process. There is no way we can do it through the present Parliament, Justice Minister says.’ »

The United National Party (UNP) will effect major changes to its constitution at its special convention scheduled for October 21 similar to the reforms introduced way back in 1978, party’s chairman MP Wajira Abeywardena said.

He said that the Special Convention will be conducted at the Sugathadasa Indoor Stadium in Colombo, at 2p.m.

He said it is needed to initiate significant changes in the Party Constitution, to accommodate necessary political change.

Continue reading ‘The United National Party (UNP) will effect major changes to its constitution at the special convention scheduled for October 21 states partychairman Wajira Abeywardena MP’ »

By

Kishali Pinto -Jayawardene

Not so long ago, on the cusp of some general election or the other, there was a pithily phrased segment in one of Sri Lanka’s electronic media channels titled ‘Kawde Pannin Ne?’ (in other words, ‘who will jump next?’)

Heady inducements of ‘cross overs’

That was a ‘must watch’ commentary on behind-the-scenes happenings in the run-up to the elections with wild speculations by news anchors as to who had been paid how much to ‘jump’ from one party to the other. That is all well and good if the ‘jumping’ concerned had been limited to the pre-hustings period. But what had gone stunningly wrong in Sri Lanka’s cesspit of politics was that the circus of ‘jumping over’ continued even after election to Parliament.

This pattern had manifested itself in recent decades not with one or two parliamentarians ‘crossing the floor’ on a question of conscience as was the case in Sri Lanka’s legislative assemblies of old but with considerably less noble motivations in mind. Those included outright monetary payments, the amount of which varied depending on the political clout that the individual concerned was assessed to have. Other heady inducements related to ‘power, position and Ministerial portfolios.’

Now, a somewhat amusingly breathless suspense has gripped Sri Lanka’s parliamentarians who have been expelled from the political parties on whose tickets they were elected, ‘crossed over’ but have nevertheless retained their seats. The fact that thereafter, they act in every which way contrary to the popular mandate are truly remarkable acrobatic feats.

This unexpected result has come in the wake of a recent decision by the Supreme Court holding that one such expulsion was valid (Nazeer Ahamed v SLMC and others, 6th October 2023).

Continue reading ‘Supreme Court ruling on Nazeer Ahamed v SLMC and others, case redresses a tilt evidenced since the year 2000 in favour of an expelled political party member and to the clear disadvantage of the political party concerned.’ »

Shamsul Bari and Ruhi Naz

(Dr Shamsul Bari and Ruhi Naz are chairman and assistant director (RTI), respectively, at Research Initiatives, Bangladesh ).

The importance of people’s right to information (RTI) for good governance and sustainable development is often loudly proclaimed but quietly ignored by people and governments alike.

It is heartening, therefore, that a recent International Monetary Fund (IMF) report prescribed a greater role for the RTI law to prevent a recurrence of the kind of financial and political crisis faced by Sri Lanka early last year – and to assure the country’s steady recovery.

The report emerged from the Sri Lankan government’s request to the IMF earlier this year to undertake a Governance Diagnostic Assessment (GDA) of its efforts, following the crisis, to stabilise the country and its economy. These included a combination of steps to restore fiscal and debt sustainability, improve governance, and reduce corruption risks.

The findings and recommendations of the GDA provide an excellent assessment of Sri Lanka’s governance system and a comprehensive prescription of corrective measures to overcome continuing impediments. For RTI enthusiasts, the most welcome aspect of the recommendations is their emphasis on a more transparent and accountable governance, and the role RTI can play in ensuring that.

Continue reading ‘How the Right to Information(RTI) Law Helped Sri Lanka Manage its Crisis and Enabled Citizens to Probe their Government More Thoroughly’ »

By

D.B.S. Jeyaraj

Mohammed Mihilar Mohammed Hanzeer alias Azad Maulana was the main whistleblower featured in the Channel 4 documentary on Sri Lanka that was aired on 5 September 2023. . Azad Maulana made some startling revelations against former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, State Intelligence Service head Maj-Gen Suresh Salley and Rural Road Development State Minister Shivanesathurai Santhirakanthan known widely as Pillaiyan in that film. Gotabaya, Suresh and Pillaiyan have denied the allegations..

There were two main aspects in the disclosures made by Azad Maulana. One was the allegation that top Sri Lankan intelligence officials were involved with those responsible for the horrible Easter Sunday terror bombings of Churches and Tourist Hotels on 21 April 2019. Maulana alleged that the bombings were done as part of a plot to help Gotabaya become President by creating feelings of insecurity among the people.

The other important aspect of Azad Maulana’s statements in the TV documentary was the allegation about a killer squad reportedly formed by Gotabaya Rajapaksa when he was the Defence Secretary under his brother Mahinda Rajapaksa. It was alleged that many members of the Thamil Makkal Viduthalaip Puligal(TMVP) led by Pillayaan were part of this squad known as “Tripoly Platoon” and that this squad was responsible for many extra-judicial killings, enforced disappearances and other human rights violations.

Gotabaya Rajapaksa who became the President of Sri Lanka in November 2019 and quit office in July 2022 broke his conspicuous silence by issuing a statement of denial after the documentary was aired. However Gotabaya made no reference to the allegation about “Tripoly Platoon” in the statement. The statement issued by the Defence Ministry refuting the Channel 4 “revelations” also had no reference to this.

Continue reading ‘Life and Death of EPRLF Razeek the Relentless Tiger Hunter.’ »

By Indika Sakalasooriya

China has taken the front seat in Sri Lanka’s external debt restructuring process making a calculated move akin to a chessboard strategy, catching everyone off-guard, by entering a preliminary debt deal with the Sri Lanka authorities.

Despite being Sri Lanka’s largest bilateral lender, China remained in shadows as Sri Lanka initiated negotiations with its creditors to restructure its debt, following a default on its foreign loans in April 2022.

Even when Japan, France and India announced a common platform for talks among Sri Lanka’s creditors to address the country’s debt restructuring programme, China only joined the official creditor committee as an observer.

However, this week, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson announced that Export-Import Bank of China had entered into a preliminary debt treatment agreement with Sri Lanka.

Sri Lanka’s Finance Ministry confirmed this in a statement yesterday, calling it a “landmark agreement” that will help Sri Lanka to arrive at a deal with all its foreign creditors and clear the path for the approval of the first review of the International Monetary (IMF) Fund programme.

Continue reading ‘China Exim Bank enters preliminary debt deal with Sri Lanka authorities Surprising Other Creditors and IMF;Finance Ministry hopes deal will facilitate approval by IMF Executive Board and the disbursement of the next tranche of IMF financing’ »