Sri Lankan President Maithripala has announced four major appointments mafe by him on July 3rd 2017.
President Sirisena revealed details of the new appointmets to the world at large through his twitter account.
The names of the new Army Commander, Defence Secretary, Secretary to the President and Eastern Province Governor were publicised by the President through tweets.
The new appointmets were –
By
Meera Srinivasan
The Sri Lankan army on Monday returned 54 acres of land in the fishing village of Myliddy in Jaffna peninsula to its original residents, after occupying it for nearly three decades.
Pic: @tnamediaoffice
Consequently, about 200 families living in welfare centres for the war-affected and with friends and relatives returned to where they lived before the country’s civil war displaced them. Fisher folk from the coastal village, who have for long sought access to the Myliddy fishing harbour, also in the military’s high security zone and out of reach, can finally fish there after years of struggle.
By Pradeep Prasanna Samarakoon
Western Province Chief Minister Isura Devapriya yesterday called on Sinhala mothers to produce more children and ensure the protection of Buddhism and the Sinhala race.
By Anura Balasuriya reporting from Trincomalee
The only thing the incumbent government did was to talk, former President Mahinda Rajapaksa said yesterday. It was trying to cover up its failure by blaming others, he added.
Addressing a mammoth Joint Opposition (JO) rally at the Town Hall grounds in Trincomalee, the former President said not a single day passed without the government blaming him for something or other.
JO supporters converged on the Town Hall grounds, braving inclement weather.
Every sector, be it economic, political, or foreign affairs, was in utter chaos. The government is planning to introduce a new Constitution to do away with the unitary status of the country, said Rajapaksa. “All economic resources are being sold to foreigners. The entire national economy will be handed over to foreign powers through pacts such as the ETCA (Economic and Technological Cooperation Agreement.”
The Asgiriya Chapter of the Siyam sect on Saturday vehemently protested against the proposed new Constitution at a meeting the Mahanayake of the Chapter Most Ven. Warakagoda Sri Gnanaratne and other senior monks had with a group of Buddhasasana Task Force representatives at the Asgiriya temple.
The Asgiriya senior monks led by the Mahanayake declared that one of the objectives of the proposed new constitution was to make way for separatism and remove the foremost place given to Buddhism in the existing Constitution.
They said they would not hesitate to take to the streets to show their opposition to the constitution project.
By
Meera Srinivasan
For a long time, Sri Lanka was a leader in the region in two key areas – public health and civic conservancy. But over the last year, the country is facing a major challenge in both, the most visible manifestation being the recent dengue epidemic that has claimed over 200 lives.
One tragedy closely followed another. In April, a massive trash mountain in suburban Colombo collapsed, killing 32 people and crushing over 150 homes. Affected residents are still struggling to recover from the disaster, and civic authorities confronted an obvious problem. With the city’s key waste-yard now out of bounds, they had no place to dump residents’ trash every day. Consequently, municipal collection has been very irregular, with rotting piles of trash left unattended across the capital. Soon after, Sri Lanka faced one of the worst floods and landslips in recent years. At least 200 people died and several thousands were displaced.
The government is attempting to incorporate into the law of Sri Lanka the provisions of the ‘International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearances’, former President Mahinda Rajapaksa says.
“Countries like the United States, Britain, Australia and Canada, never even signed this Convention. Denmark, Finland, Norway, Sweden, Ireland and India signed it ten years ago in 2007, but never ratified it,” Rajapaksa said yesterday.
Many countries had kept away from this Convention altogether for the obvious reason that its provisions had the potential to violate the individual rights of citizens of the States that join it, he said.
Following is the text of former President Rajapaksa’s warning
A Bill has been gazetted to incorporate into the law of Sri Lanka, the provisions of the ‘International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearances’ which was hurriedly signed and ratified by the present government. Clause 8 of this Bill enables foreign countries to seek the extradition of a Sri Lankan who is suspected, accused or convicted of having caused enforced disappearances in Sri Lanka. When such a request is made, the government of Sri Lanka is obliged to inform the foreign country of the measures it intends taking to prosecute or extradite that person. Clause 21 empowers the executive arm of the State to oversee the full implementation of this international convention in Sri Lanka and Clause 23 states that this new law is to override all other written law.
By
Bishop Duleep de Chickera
The initial shock at the response of a high ranking minister to comments made by a citizen on a recent talk show, soon shifted to a realisation of its seriousness.
During the show Lakshan Dias, an attorney at law,presented some dataon violence against some Christians and their places of worship. He named the source that had documented these incidents; many of which were on record at police stations where complaints had been made.
Sensible governance-expected and prevented
One would have expected persons in authority, on hearing these remarks, to have demonstrated indignation and contrition that these incidents had taken place under their watch. Further information should have been sought from the IGP, and if found to be substantial, duly investigated with appropriate action taken, to protect those harassed and deal with the perpetrators. This is what good and sensible governance is all about; doing the right thing now,before too many wrong things pile up tomorrow.
If, on the other hand, the remarks were proven to be unfounded, Mr Dias should have been responded to in accordance with the law.
By Shamindra Ferdinando
The Government Medical Officers’ Association (GMOA) has challenged Health Minister and co-cabinet spokesman Dr. Rajitha Senaratne’s recent declaration that the SAITM (South Asian Institute of technology and Medicine), Malabe, won’t be nationalized under any circumstances.
Responding to Dr Senaratne, newly elected GMOA Secretary Harith Alutge emphasised that remedial measures taken to resolve SAITM crisis should lead to its nationalisation.
While Dr. Senaratne has declared that the government wouldn’t talk with the GMOA in this regard, the GMOA reiterated its unwavering commitment to a five-point joint proposal made by the Deans and teachers of the state medical faculties and the GMOA to resolve the crisis.
Continue reading ‘GMOA, ,Health Minister and the SAITM Crisis: A Brief History’ »
By Shamindra Ferdinando
Anti Corruption Front (ACF) has alleged the Secretariat tasked with examining public complaints and direct them to relevant institutions, including the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption (CIABOC) or the Financial Crimes Investigation Division (FCID) was closed down on June 30.
Rajith Keerthi Tennakoon on behalf of the ACF told The Island that the closure of the outfit manned by professionals should be viewed against the backdrop of 30 complaints it received pertaining to corrupt activities of ministers and secretaries to various ministries of the present government.
A PM’s Office official told The Island that the period of operation of the Secretariat had been periodically extended. Although the term of the Secretariat had lapsed on June 30, the government would take up the matter soon. The official strongly denied claims that the government was making an attempt to suppress investigations. He didn’t rule out the possibility of it being revived.The issue is likely to be discussed at this week’s Cabinet meeting.
The Anti-Corruption Committee Secretariat operates under the direct supervision of the PM’s Office.
By Namini Wijedasa
The Supreme Court has dismissed a Fundamental Rights (FR) application by a mosque president and a principal of a madrassa in Panadura, arguing their right to proceed with building a religious school–which residents and Buddhist monks vehemently demonstrated against–was violated.
President of the Board of Trustees of the Wekada Jumma Mosque, M.J.M. Faril and Principal of Anas Ibnu Malik Hiflul Quran Madrassa, Moulavi M.B.M. Haris had not obtained the Religious Affairs Ministry’s approval to build the proposed educational institution, Justice Anil Gooneratne held, with Justices Sisira J. de Abrew and Vijith K. Malalgoda, P.C. agreeing, while dismissing the petition with costs.
“The material placed before court indicates that the real purpose of the petitioners seems to be to have a mosque, instead of a school,” the judgment held. “This seems to be the starting point for the dispute. The villagers, residents and Buddhist monks vehemently protested against any further construction for a different purpose.”
“Our country has suffered over the years as a result of communal violence,” it continued. “History repeats and, if one were to analyse as to what happened in the 1915 riots, though it was meaningless for the two communities to clash, lessons have not been learnt by a certain section of the community.
The United States had “a detailed coordinated plan” with the Indian and Sri Lanka Governments for its Navy to rescue trapped displaced persons in Puthukudiyiruppu during the final stages of the separatist war, according to Ambassador Robert Blake, then Washington’s envoy in Colombo.
However, the Sri Lankan Government killed the idea for fear that Erik Solheim (Norwegian peace broker) and I would be taken hostage by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), he said last week in Washington DC.
Blake was speaking to the Serendipity Group, a body of US Ambassadors and diplomats who served in Sri Lanka and Sri Lankan Americans. Blake said he did not believe that Solheim and he would be taken hostage.
He said there were also perceptions that it was an effort to rescue LTTE leader Velupillai Prabhakaran. “Every person would have been transferred by US Navy boats to Sri Lankan custody,” he said.
Shrinking space for human rights voices and dissent, and concerns over the terms of engagement between government and civil society
A statement by concerned human rights and democratic rights
activists and organisations
27th June 2017,
Colombo
As individuals and organisations committed to human rights and democratic freedoms, and the rights of freedom of expression and dissent, we are deeply concerned about recent attempts to stiflevoices of human rights activists and silence dissent.
On 17th June,Minister for Justice and Buddha Sasana, WijeyadasaRajapakshe, publicly threatened to remove Mr. Lakshan Dias, Attorney-at-Law, and a well-known human rights activist, from the legal profession, in response to Mr. Dias raising the issues of attacks on Christian places of worship since 2015. The Minister prefaced this by virtually condemninghuman rights NGOs in general. He said, “In our country there are organisationswho claim to be protecting human rights, who are dependent on NGO funds, who are trying to destroy the peace between the peoples of our country and turn this country back into a heap of fire; there are a few individuals like that.”(Translated from Sinhala)
Minister Rajapakshehas since been reported reiterating his comments in an interview to Ceylon Today (22 June 2017), claiming that “NGO funded traitors” are fermenting unrest in the country. He also claimed that the NGOs misled the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Independence of Judges and Lawyers, who, in her latest report, highlighted some serious shortcomings in Sri Lanka’s justice system.
It is as much a matter of great concern as it is revealing, that a senior cabinet minister presiding over the Ministry of Justice in the so-called Yahapalanayagovernment, resorts to vilifying, demonizing and threatening human rights activists and human rights NGOs.While hardly the first such instance, it is especially ironic that his comments come as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has launcheda consultation process with human rights activists and NGOs on its draft report to the UN Human Rights Council as part of its Universal Period Review (UPR).
By
Kishali Pinto Jayawardena
However much they may genuflect to the concept of free speech, Sri Lanka’s politicians are quite unable to shake off a constitutional dislike of that theory in abrasive practice.
Remarkably clever traits of politicians
‘Yahapalanaya’ Ministers appear not to be different to their predecessors in office in that sense, excepting of course the Mahinda Rajapaksa regime (in its second term) which stood in a distinct and crude category of its own. But if one takes those aberrant years out of the equation, the current politicians are certainly as ridiculous in their fury as those of say, the Kumaratunga Government, for instance.
By itself, that is little surprise. Many familiar faces cling like limpets to political office through the years regardless of the change of guard in Colombo. Their ability to skillfully switch sides as soon as they get a whiff of the political winds of fortune changing is nothing short of remarkable. It appears to be the one thing that Sri Lankan politicians are really good at. This is true also of relatively new entrants to the political arena whose skills in learning the tricks of the trade from their disreputable elders are pronounced.
So our politicians strut and pontificate as if they are the final authorities on any given subject under the sun and woe betide anyone who challenges that authority. This disagreeable trait is evidenced across a range of portfolios, ranging from sports to justice.
Last week, this column ventured on a topic rather different to its usual theme, namely the Minister of Sports’ unseemly public outbursts that the paunches of Sri Lanka’s national cricketers were responsible for their poor performances at the game.
By Manekshaw
Illankai Tamil Arasu Katchchi (ITAK) leader and Tamil National Alliance Parliamentarian Mavai S. Senathirajah became the first high profile Internally Displaced Person (IDP) to return last week to his house in Mavittapuram, in the Jaffna peninsula, after a lapse of 27 years.
Pic: facebook.com/mavaikandan
The ITAK, being the foremost Tamil political party founded by late S.J.V. Chelvanayagam seven decades ago, still remains a powerful political outfit winning the confidence of the majority of people in the North and East to fulfil their political aspirations.
As a youth front member of the ITAK, Mavai S. Senathirajah with several other young men, remained staunch supporters of the ITAK engaging in all types of political activities.
Senathirajah was one of the first young Tamil political activists to be arrested and put behind bars when the crackdown began in the early seventies in the North to curtail Tamil extremism.
Mavittapuram is the northern-most region in Valikamam North where the first internal displacements started following the escalation of the armed struggle.
The region is spiritually a very significant place with the holy Keerimalai tank where the Hindus in the North perform rituals for their dead.
By
Meera Srinivasan
Indian High Commissioner to Sri Lanka Taranjit Singh Sandhu handed over as many as 16,000 books to the iconic Jaffna public library on Thursday.
The collection will be kept at the ‘India Corner’ in the library, which Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated during his maiden visit in 2015. “The titles cover topics ranging from culture, literature, philosophy, politics to science,” Chief Librarian Suganthy Sadasivamoorthy told The Hindu on Friday.
by C.A.Chandraprema
Even though police teams are supposedly scouring the country for him, the monk Galagodaatte Gnanasara has not been arrested as this goes to press. He is supposed to appear in courts tomorrow but it seems unlikely that he will. He has evaded two court appearances already and if he was going to make an appearance tomorrow, he may not have evaded courts on the previous two occasions. Rumours are rife that Gnanasara is being protected by a prominent minister, and the name mentioned in this regard is that of Justice Minister Wijedasa Rajapakshe. The reason why speculation swirls around Rajapakshe is probably because he had facilitated meetings between the President and some radical monks including Gnanasara to sort out some issues. However, hiding fugitives and that kind of thing would be out of character for Minister Rajapakshe and it is unlikely that he would get involved in any such thing as the Minister of Justice.
The surprising thing is that nobody has yet suggested the possibility that Gnanasara could be hiding in Gotabhaya Rajapaksa’s house. During the previous government, everything that Gnanasara did was ascribed to Gotabhaya Rajapaksa and that was one of the reasons why the Muslims voted en masse against the Rajapaksa government. Given the propensity of the present powers that be to blame everything on the Rajapaksas, it is surprising indeed that nobody has tried to lay the blame for Gnanasara’s latest antics on the Rajapaksas. Even though the Rajapaksas are not in power, you can always blame the supposed pro-Rajapaksa ‘deep state’ for protecting Gnanasara. Instead they seem to have fixated on a different Rajapakshe. Be that as it may, to have a proper understanding of who is actually behind the Bodu Bala Sena, you have to trace its history.
The BBS first made its appearance on the scene in 2012 with the anti-halal campaign. This a few months after several monks including Gnanasara returned from a trip to Norway where he met Erik Solheim among others. From that time onwards, every step of the way, the Jathika Hela Urumaya made common cause with everything that was done by the BBS. The street action was taken by the monks of the BBS led by Galagodaatte Gnanasara while the JHU held press conferences, defending or encouraging the action taken by the BBS. Whether it was the anti-halal campaign, the anti-cattle slaughter campaign, and even the Aluthgama riots, the JHU was behind the BBS fully. In the wake of the Aluthgama riots, Champika Ranawaka distributed aid to the Sinhala victims of the riots. What ignited the Aluthgama riots was the accusation that a Buddhist monk had been assaulted by Muslims. When President Mahinda Rajapaksa wanted to take action against the BBS, it was Ranawaka who had opposed any such move in cabinet and said that the monks should not be touched and if any monk is arrested he would bring the entire monkhood onto the streets.
By
Hafeel Farisz
Minister of Justice and Buddha Sasana Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe in an interview with the Daily News spoke on the recent controversy involving him and issues pertaining to minorities among others.
Excerpts:
Question: In a recent interview with the BBC, you said that there were “four minor incidents” (sulu siduweem) regarding attacks on Churches.
Answer: Not attacks. I meant incidents some of which were issues among themselves.
Q: But there is documented evidence that it is beyond that. For instance, 100 villagers attacked and destroyed the Kithusewana Church in Karuwalagaswewa on June 9th this year. A Church in Ingiriya was vandalized on May 29, 2016. The Assembly of Christ Church in Veyangoda was attacked on June 26. The Jeewanadiya Church in Moragahahena was attacked and the list goes on and on. There is so much of documented incidents of these types of attacks. How are you saying it is 4?
A: You can’t say it’s documented. There are no two Police services in Sri Lanka. Police are not maintained in Churches. We have only one Police Department in Sri Lanka. I am speaking of the relevant period that is after January 8, 2015. There are only 4 incidents in Police records. There is nothing more than these 4 incidents in Police records and I have shown in to the people.
By
SANJA DE SILVA JAYATILLEKA
This evening at the ICES Colombo we saw a very powerful movie: DEMONS IN PARADISE, directed by Jude Ratnam. I am so very grateful that the director invited us to attend its first screening in Sri Lanka. I hope it gets shown and discussed everywhere.
Dayan Jayatilleka always said that the healing process and reconciliation will start not with accountability hearings a la Geneva, but with the arts.
This movie holds a mirror before us all. It forces one to look squarely at the violence that each of these island’s communities is capable of inflicting, supporting and enabling, not only on other communities but on each other, within one’s own community.
By
Chaturanga Pradeep
Introducing amendments to the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA), does not mean that the Act will be repealed or replaced by a new Act and there will be nor room left for the country’s security to be jeopardized, Justice Minister Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe said.
By
Dhaneshi Yatawara
Following a statement made during a TV talk show highlighting attacks on a religious minority group, human rights lawyer Lakshan Dias faced allegations raised by the Justice Minister on the grounds of creating religious disharmony. Commenting on the situation Attorney-at-Law Dias said that his opinion was based on the facts of a recently published report as well as facts derived from similar court cases that he was appearing for. Dias still stands by his comment. Questioned as to why he was absent from the epicentre of events, he explained that, “When the hegemony is in action stirring up the public opinion it is better to be away from the epicentre….. and observe the situation.” In an exclusive interview with the Daily Mirror Lakshan Dias pointed out that he has to defend himself standing on an unequal ground.
Lakshan Dias
Excerpts:
Question:The comment you made during a recent discussion on a private TV channel show led to an intense public opinion. What did you exactly say during the show? What was the reason to make such a comment about attacks on other religious places?
Well -known lawyer and Human Right Defender Lakshan Dias has flown out of his motherland to an undisclosed destination for reasons of personal safety,it is learnt.
The outspoken lawyer had been receiving threats from different quarters after stating in a TV forum that over a 190 incidents of violence,harassment and intimidation against Christians and christian places of worship have occurred in Sri Lanka for the past two years since January 8th 2015.
Lakshan Dias
It was on Jan 8th 2015 that President Maithripala Sirisena was elected to office. This statement irritated the governing establishment as it shattered the illusion that attacks against Christian churches had ceased after the Rajapaksa regime was booted out and the”Yahapalanaya”(Good governance)Govt under President Sirisena took over.
Though there had been mounting pressure on Mr. Dias for several days the immediate reason that compelled him to suddenly flee the country is attributed to a newspaper interview given by Justice and Buddha Sasana minister Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe said informed sources.
Continue reading ‘Well-known Lawyer Lakshan Dias Flees Sri Lanka After Justice Minister Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe Threatens to Take Action in Two Days’ »
By Maheesha Mudugamuwa
Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe yesterday said the government had not yet decided whether it would go for a brand new constitution or adopt provisions that did not necessitate a referendum.
The PM said so, speaking at the National Conference on Constitutional Reforms at BMICH in Colombo.
The conference was held as a part of outreach efforts in relation to the current constitutional reform process. It was attended by government ministers, academics, NGO representatives, foreign envoys, officials of the Attorney General’s Department and other state institutions. Former Deputy Chief Justice of South Africa Dikgang Moseneke, who is visiting Sri Lanka with a delegation from the Commonwealth Secretariat of the Kingdom also participated.
By
Lakmal Sooriyagoda
Former Minister Piyasena Gamage yesterday sought Supreme Court’s permission to intervene in an appeal filed by Galle district Parliamentarian Geetha Kumarasinghe.
Piyasena Gamage who received the seventh highest number of preferential votes on the UPFA Galle District list further sought an order to dismiss the appeal filed by Geetha Kumarasinghe.
This intervenient petition is to be taken up for support on July 7.
By Shamindra Ferdinando
Wartime Foreign Minister Rohitha Bogollagama yesterday told The Island that President Trump had unceremoniously ended a two-decade long tradition of hosting an iftar meal at the White House during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, while the US repeatedly told Sri Lanka how to proceed with post-war reconciliation process here.
The previous Rajapaksa government brought the war to a successful conclusion in May 2009.
Bogollagama said the new US leader’s decision to do away with the practice initiated by former First Lady Hillary Clinton, who hosted a meal on Eid al-Fitr, in 1996, should be viewed by Sri Lanka against the backdrop of US interventions here.
By
Bandula Jayasekera
Saman Kelegama
(6 April 1959 – 23 June 2017)
A foreign ministry colleague told me, “One could never find any fault with Saman. It is not possible for me to see him dead. I am not going to his house. ” I returned from Kurunegala early last Sunday, wanting to visit his house to pay my last respects to him and I, too, decided to attend his funeral at Kanatte instead. It is true we all go the way of all flesh someday, but it is not possible to come to terms with Saman’s untimely demise, which has shocked all those who knew him.
Continue reading ‘Saman Kelegama was A Patriot Who Worked for the Betterment of Sri Lanka.’ »
By
P.K.Balachandran
The Ilankai Tamil Arasu Katchi (ITAK), which is the principal constituent of the ruling Tamil National Alliance (TNA) in Sri Lanka’s Tamil-majority Northern Province, is demanding a probe into complaints about the working of departments directly under Chief Minister C.V.Wigneswaran.
“There are complaints against departments directly under the Chief Minister. That is why the ITAK has asked for an investigation into complaints against all the five members of the Board of Ministers including the Chief Minister,” said M.A.Sumanthiran, MP and spokesman of the TNA.
The Chief Minister had a probe conducted by a three-man commission into four members of the Board of Ministers.
But the ITAK says the Chief Minister’s way of probing was illegal and constitutional, because probes against any member of the Board of Ministers can be conducted only by a Select Committee of the House (NPC) and not by a body of outsiders. The Inquiry Commission set up the Chief Minister had two retired High Court judges and one retired senior civil servant.
By
Meera Srinivasan
Developments unfolding in Sri Lanka over the last few weeks look ominously similar to those in 2013-14, when a surge in targeted attacks against minority Muslims and Christians went unchecked by the Rajapaksa administration. The Muslim Council of Sri Lanka, an umbrella organisation for civil society groups, has recorded 25 attacks on mosques and Muslim-owned establishments since April, and the National Christian Evangelical Alliance of Sri Lanka has reported over 40 incidents in 2017.
Amid growing concern among civil society and the international community, as well as mounting pressure on the government by Muslim MPs, reassurance came from the highest levels. President Maithripala Sirisena asked the Law and Order Ministry to act against perpetrators without fear or favour, and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe vowed tougher laws to address hate crimes.
By
Andrew Fidel Fernando
Graham Ford has stepped down as Sri Lanka coach, ending his second tenure with the side after 15 months. SLC president Thilanga Sumathipala said the decision had been arrived at mutually, “after careful consideration and deliberation”.
Ford’s relationship with SLC was understood to have been strained due to what he felt were unacceptable intrusions into team matters by the board. Ford had already left the island on leave, which would have ended early next week.
One of his grievances was the expanding powers of Asanka Gurusinha, who in February was appointed “cricket manager” – a position with a broadly defined range of duties, some of which Ford is understood to have felt infringed upon his freedom as a coach. In the time since his appointment, Gurusinha was also made a selector.
By
Ranga Jayasuriya
The yahapalana government won the elections on a promise of democracy and prosperity. Now it seems to assume that its modest achievements in restoring democracy should serve as an excuse for not delivering on the economy. That is a dangerous misgiving which threatens the sustainability of on-going democratic reforms in the long run. That also makes people, especially the Sinhalese majority, feel nostalgic about the authoritarian but orderly past under its predecessor.
Under the current administration, economic growth has hit below five per cent. It is expected to be around 4.5 per cent for 2017. However, that may not, necessarily, be a measure of the government’s economic handling since lower growth numbers are in part a result of the government addressing much needed fiscal reforms, which were overlooked by its predecessor. However, set against this tightening fiscal conditions and a debt trap inherited by the former regime, the indecisiveness and vacillation of the government over mega development projects are mind-boggling. It is the FDI that could fill the gap in the absence of state-led infrastructure development that propelled the growth under the former regime and was abandoned by the current administration due to the looming foreign debt. However, Cabinet papers on major development projects are being amended and re-amended for the umpteenth time. Investors complain about policy inconsistencies. None of the major foreign-funded development projects has moved forward from where the Rajapaksas have left them.
Proposed public-private partnerships and equity swaps of indebted foreign-funded projects (Hambantota Port, Mattala Airport, etc.) have led nowhere. Instead, they have become the most poignant reminder of the crippling policy paralysis within the government.
By Shamindra Ferdinando
National Unity Alliance (NUA) leader Azath Salley has alleged that President Maithripala Sirisena deprived Ravi Karunanayake of the finance portfolio as a result of UNP Chairman Malik Samarawickrema’s intervention.
Salley strongly regretted President Sirisena giving into Development Strategies and International Trade Minister Samarawickrema’s demand.
Salley named Minister Samarawickrema in the wake of Minister Karunanayake blaming black sheep in the party for his removal at the Sirikotha media conference on Sunday.
President Sirisena in consultation with UNP leader Ranil Wickremesinghe assigned Karunanayake foreign affairs portfolio. Mangala Samaraweeera succeeded Karunanayake as Finance Minister.
By
Ahilan Kadirgamar
The recent no-confidence motion in Sri Lanka’s Northern Provincial Council (NPC) in Jaffna, moved by a section of the Council members against Chief Minister C.V. Wigneswaran, has brought the deep divide in Tamil nationalist politics to the fore.
The turbulence lasted a week, after he called on two ministers to resign on corruption charges and two others to go on compulsory leave, until Tamil National Alliance (TNA) leader R. Sampanthan engineered a compromise that let Mr. Wigneswaran continue in power.
By Kapila Fernando
Sri Lankan police violently assaulted university students occupying the health ministry on Wednesday and have now broadened the crackdown, arresting the protest leaders.
The government has also threatened to take action against the Government Medical Officers Association (GMOA) and doctors who launched an “indefinite strike” to protest against the police attack and demand the government take over the South Asian Institute of Technology and Medicine (SAITM), a private medical college.
Thousands of students involved in Wednesday’s demonstration entered the health ministry building in Central Colombo, breaking police barriers and demanding a discussion with Health Minister Rajitha Senaratne. The Inter-University Student Federation (IUSF) leaders said they went into the building because they had been given no appointment to meet with Senaratne.
The demonstration was part of ongoing protests by students and GMOA members to demand that the government take control of SAITM, allocate 6 percent of gross domestic product for education, end school fees and resolve various problems in the health sector.
Sri Lanka’s striking doctors have sent a fellow medical officer to hospital with a broken nose on the same day they refused to treat thousands of other patients in a bid to spite the government.
Doctors discussing the current crisis over private medical education began punching each other both literally and figuratively with one of them ending with a serious nose bleed on Thursday at the Sri Lanka Foundation Institute, Colombo.
By
Gagani Weerakoon
Former President Mahinda Rajapaksa left to Pakistan last Monday afternoon to participate, as the guest speaker, at an event held at the Pakistan National Defence University.
Speaking at an event organized by the Centre for Research and Security Studies (CRSS) and Global Village Space (GVS) Rajapaksa said terrorism is against the spirit of humanity and no country can prosper if people are compelled to live their lives under fear.
Delivering his speech on the topic of the talk which was ‘Sri Lanka’s Struggle for Peace and its Lessons for Pakistan and the Region,’ Rajapaksa said that Pakistan and Sri Lanka’s mutual relationship is sustained by cultural heritage, economies, and common stand on international issues.
“We are grateful for the unconditional and steadfast support we received from Pakistan. It is a matter of deep satisfaction that I was able to raise Sri Lanka’s voice with Pakistan. They have stood by us through thick and thin,” he said. Rajapaksa added there is no distinction between terrorists, mirroring the good versus bad Taliban debate in Pakistan.
By
Krishantha Prasad Cooray
Certain things are immeasurable and beyond definition. Love, for instance. Such things are however often recognizable, either in the joy or sorrow they create. And yet, there are instanes when we don’t see it at all or if we do, we call it something else. There’s love whose dimensions we don’t fathom or even cannot fathom. The love of a father is something like that.
Eric Cooray
Of course there are demonstrative fathers who shower their children with love; but even in such cases it is not easy to understand what exactly a father feels, what goes on in his mind, the quiet pleasures he experiences when his children do well and the great anxieties that torment him all the time.
My father, who will complete yet another year of his exemplary life on earth on the 26th of June, was never demonstrative. In fact he was and still is loathe to express emotion. He never said much and even now appears to have a steady rein on his feelings. And yet, as the years passed, I have come to realize that he tirelessly strived in his own way to take care of his family and to make sure that his sons grew into strong men and responsible citizens.
Continue reading ‘A Note of Tribute to my Father, Eric Cooray, On His 80th Birthday’ »
Government doctors called off their three-day work stoppage Saturday shortly after a consumer protection organization threatened to invoke the wrath of gods on them and socially ostracize the striking medical officers.
The Government Medical Officers Association (GMOA) said they decided to “temporarily suspend” the trade union action after continuing a strike across all state-sector hospitals for three straight days to protest private medical education.
The consumer rights group, the National Movement for Consumer Rights Protection (NMCRP), had said it will from Sunday stage ceremonies in front of the homes of GMOA executive committee members to invoke curses on them for holding hundreds of thousands of patients to ransom.
“We were planning to launch our activities from Sunday, but we are pleased to note that the GMOA has called off the strike shortly after we issued our warning,” NMCPR leader Ranjith Vithanage said.
By
Kishali Pinto Jayawardena
In a country where people seldom challenge the political leadership of the day preferring instead to pay homage to blatant sycophancy, a refreshing contrast emerges from the ‘boy from Rathgama’ (as he identifies himself), one of Sri Lanka’s leading cricketers, Lasith Malinga.
Monkeys and Parrots
As someone entirely and quite unashamedly ignorant about the intricacies of the game per se, what gripped my attention was the manner in which Lasith Malinga took on Sri Lanka’s Minister of Sports, Dayasiri Jayasekera. Though the Minister himself seems not to have distinguished himself in a sporting career as such, he is of course, a favourite player of the game, ‘jump from one party to the next.
Malinga was responding to the Minister’s criticism that the country’s cricketers were too fat after Sri Lanka failed to reach the Champions Trophy semi-finals. In pithy and laughter-inducing Sinhalese, his exact response was “I don’t care about criticism from those who are simply warming chairs…what does a monkey know about a parrot’s nesting hollow? This is like a monkey getting into a parrot’s nest and talking about it.”
By C.A.Chandraprema
The events that people saw unfolding last Wednesday proved beyond a shadow of doubt what this writer said in the last two columns – that the latest spate of anti-Muslim violence unleashed by the Bodu Bala Sena has been orchestrated by elements within the yahapalana government that are trying to win over a section of the Sinhala Buddhist vote which has been gravitating heavily to the Joint Opposition. We pointed out that both Champika Ranawaka and President Maithripala Sirisena had an interest in using the Bodu Bala Sena to split the Sinhala Buddhist vote and that the impunity enjoyed by the BBS in the past several weeks is due to patronage at the highest levels of the government. Last Wednesday Gnansara Thera created legal history by obtaining bail on three occasions in the course of a single day. In one case he was formally arrested and a statement was recorded from him and he was presented before a Magistrate and released on bail all within minutes.
Thus Gnanasara Thera broke the record set earlier by Hirunika Premachandra in the abduction case against her. Some people may be under the impression that all that was because of the broadside fired by the Ven. Mahanayake of the Asgiriya Chapter against the government last Tuesday. Gnansara Thera came out of hiding the very next day. However there was no causal link between the statement made by the Ven Mahanayake Thera and Karaka Sanga Sabha of the Asgiriya Chapter and Gnanasara Thera’s release. His surrender to courts had been under discussion for days. This week’s Ravaya has in fact revealed that the police had through a hurriedly filed motion, amended their B report so that the offence for which he was to be arrested would be made bailable. Earlier it had been the ICCPR Act that had been cited which makes the incitement of ethnic or religious tensions a non-bailable offence. With the amendment of the B-report a different law had been invoked and it had been made possible to grant bail to Gnanasara Thera.
In fact the Bodu Bala Sena said at a press conference held on 16 June that Gnanasara Thera may surrender to courts in due course. Then at the press conference held by the BBS on 20 June, they stated more definitely that he would be present in courts the next day. It would have been inconceivable for the yahapalana government to put him behind bars. As we said last week, Ganansara Thera did spend some time behind bars under this government, but that was an unscheduled event which took place not due to any action taken by this government but due to steps taken by the Homagama Magistrate.
by N. Sathiya Moorthy
All is well that ends well – or, so goes the old adage. For the ruling Tamil National Alliance (TNA) in the Tamil-majority Northern Province, it could well be just that and nothing more. The current truce between TNA leadership of R Sampanthan and Northern Province Chief Minister C. V. Wigneswaran has the potential to blow up all over again as the NPC polls, due by September 2018, approaches.
The question is would the TNA re-nominate Wigneswaran as their ‘lead candidate’ for Elections-2018, or would look around for another? Or, would Wigneswaran go away without a fight, which he declared that he would join at the height of the recent party break-down over his sacking of all four ministers, in the place of two, who alone were found to be guilty of corruption and the rest by a panel of his choosing.
Though many senior party leaders have a strong legal background, as a retired Judge of the Supreme Court, Wigneswaran is possibly the only one in the TNA hierarchy so uniquely placed still to ‘judge’ the right and the wrongs of his ministerial colleagues. Having thus acknowledged the guilt of two of them, it’s anybody’s guess why he should go on to equate the other two on the same plane and ask them to ‘go on leave’.
By
Don Manu
Ah, just when one had wondered whether the absconding monk, that fugitive of justice, had renounced the pleasures of the world and sought refuge in some quiet corner of some dense thicket to meditate upon the wise counsel of the Buddha and seek alone his own path to redemption and not lead others down the garden path to incite racial hatred, Galagodaaththe Gnanasara emerged this Wednesday from his unknown kuti and surrendered to court and thus spared cops the blush of having being clueless as to his whereabouts.
Four police teams had been deployed to find him but for nearly a month his hideaway haven had kept the police baffled. Even a so called high tech definition sweep to round up similar fugitives had failed to reveal the secret den in which the runaway monk had meditated in.
It was indeed the return of the prodigal, the wastrel monk who had become the spendthrift of the Buddha’s doctrine which urges all to show tolerance to all faiths and creeds and to pay respect to another’s belief. Shrouded in saffron, in that designer robe of the mendicant, he had squandered the wealth of the Buddha’s teachings that had been poured to his bowl of alms ever since he was ordained. But he remained unrepentant; and by the smirk on his face when a tolerant court granted immediate bail to a man who had twice evaded warrant for his arrest, he almost seemed to show that it had given him some curious joy to cock a hoop and show his contempt to the majesty of the law and its enforcing arm.
A Task Force, functioning under President Maithripala Sirisena, has queried the Finance Ministry on how approval was granted to establish an ethanol distillery in Batticaloa, contrary to government policy. The Presidential Task Force on Drug Prevention (PTFDP) functions under the purview of President Maithripala Sirisena. The PTFDP has asked the Finance Ministry Secretary to explain how approval was granted to set up a new ethanol distillery in Kalkudah, Batticaloa, in violation of the National Drug Prevention Policy (NDPP).
W.M. Mendis is owned by Arjun Aloysius, the son-in-law of the Central Bank’s former Governor Arjuna Mahendran who is currently being investigated over the bond issue. Last year, the Excise Department gave approval to the company to set up a grain-based extra neutral alcohol (ENA) distillery on instructions from the Department of Fiscal Policy, both of which fall under the Ministry of Finance. The Ministry was then headed by Ravi Karunanayake.
The NDPP states that “No new licences will be issued for tobacco and alcohol production”. Now, PTFDP Director Samantha Kumara Kithalawaarachchi has asked Finance Ministry Secretary R.H.S. Samaratunga to submit a report on how W.M. Mendis & Co received permission to set up an ethanol factory in the East. Dr Kithalawaarachchi has pointed out in his letter that the PTFDP strives to create a country free of drugs and has been able to generate positive changes with the help of Government and NGO agencies.
By Damith Wickremsekara
Individuals or groups trying to provoke religious or ethnic hatred on social media are to be monitored and action taken against them by the Criminal Investigations Department, a senior official said. Law and Order Ministry Secretary Jagath Wijeweera told the Sunday Times the decision was taken following a meeting with the police and other agencies.
He said the CID’s cyber crimes division would also closely monitor blogs, photographs and videos uploaded and take action against those found responsible for provoking hatred.
The measures are part of Government plans to reduce religious and ethnic tension.
By Methmalie Dissanayake
The manner in which the university students who were engaged in a protest march against SAITM on 21 June was the ‘most brutal’ attack carried out by any Government against the student movement in the entire history of this country, Former President Mahinda Rajapaksa said yesterday.
He said in a statement that it was very tragic to see a Government that came to power by giving so many promises to protect free education is now behaving in such a ‘barbaric’ manner.
“Medical students are not concentrating on their studies anymore and medical professionals also have given their final warning to the Government. Instead of finding a permanent solution to this matter the Government is continuously insulting and attacking these students and the professionals,” Rajapaksa added.
BY
DR. DAYAN JAYATILLEKA
The impassioned, strongly worded statement just recently issued by the Asgiriya Chapter meant that the writing is on the wall. But there is more than one thing written on the wall, and there is also something written between the lines.
What the writing on the wall clearly says is that we have reached a point similar to that of 1955 when the Buddhist Commission issued its report. Already the government (effectively) of Prime Minister Wickremesinghe looks like that of Sir John Kotelawela in the famous Mara Yuddha cartoon, except that this leadership clique and its lifestyle isn’t seen as symbolized by the macho Sir John in the cartoon but more by Zou Zou Mohammed!
How do we understand the Asgiriya Chapter’s statement—because the crucial challenge is to comprehend it, whether or not one agrees with it in whole or in part (and I for one, do not). The statement is a throwback to the 1940s and 1950s, and is a nationalist cultural backlash against a perceived erosion of the national by the alien. I am greatly helped by the writings of my late father Mervyn de Silva in understanding it
By Shamindra Ferdinando
Police investigating Wednes-day’s Inter University Students’ Federation (IUSF) ‘raid’ on the health ministry arrested three key student leaders yesterday as the Government Medical Officers’ Association (GMOA) strike against the heavy handed use of the police to oust the protesters, entered its second day.
Among the suspects taken into custody are Ven Thampitiye Sugathananda, Convenor of the Inter-University Bhikku Balamandalaya and IUSF convenor Lahiru Weerasekara.
A squad of policemen from the Colombo Crimes Division (CCD) and the Maradana police arrested Weerasekera and Faisdeen Faizan Mohammed yesterday afternoon as they left the Centre for Society and Religion (CSR), Maradana, after having briefed the media on the latest situation.
Weerasekera and Mohammed were remanded till July 5 after being produced in the Maligakanda Magistrate Dulani S. Weeratunga.
By
Prof. Asoka Ekanayaka
Emeritus Professor A,N,I. Ekanayake has written an open letter to Justice and Buddha sana Minister Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe about the recent comments made by the minister regarding recent incidents of harassment against Christians in Sri Lanka. The full text ofof the letter is as follows –
June 22, 2017
Hon Dr Wijeyadasa Rajapaksha PC
Minister of Justice
Dear Dr Rajapaksha,
Arrogant and Foolish Attempt to Deny the Persecution of Christians in Sri Lanka
I was shocked and outraged to see a video news clip in which you sought to deny the numerous incidents involving the harrassment of Christians in this country in recent times while crudely condemning a reputable lawyer who had brought the relevant facts to light threatening to have him removed from the bar. Your arrogant and emotive reaction reflects a deplorable ignorance about the facts pertaining to Christian persecution in the country if not a deliberate attempt to subvert them on the principle that the shame and embarrassment accompanying the revelation of the truth is more important than the truth itself – which therefore must be covered up.
It is clear that your ill conceived remarks derive from a pronounced Buddhist bias. It shows that you know nothing of Christianity. It would seem that you are quite ignorant about the definition of a ‘Christian’ in a plural society and utterly misinformed about what constitutes the Christian Church. In this the 500th year of the Protestant Reformation ( which you have probably not even heard of ! ) where roughly half the Christians in the world are non Roman Catholic you seem oblivious to the existence of Christian denominations outside the Roman Church. Your equating Christianity with the Roman Church imagining that Cardinal Malcolm Ranjit can be a spokesman for Christians in Sri Lanka is on par with the naivety of a first year law student !
Moreover as a Buddhist politician preoccupied with your own political agenda you are obviously unaware of trends in the Christian Church where Cardinal Malcolm Ranjit has become a controversial figure even within the Roman Catholic denomination , who having betrayed the faith by his religious pluralism and open hostility to evangelical Christians, is consequently deeply distrusted amongst Christians many of whom would not even consider him to be a Christian from a strictly Biblical perspective.
By K. Ratnayake
A factional clash that erupted last week between Sri Lanka’s Northern Provincial Council Chief Minister C.V. Wigneswaran and the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) leadership ended yesterday after a political compromise.
Wigneswaran, a retired supreme court judge, became the Northern Provincial Council (NPC) chief minister after being appointed as the TNA’s leading candidate in the 2013 elections. Although he had not previously been a member of the alliance, he was brought into the organisation by TNA leader R. Sambandan because he was regarded as a reliable figure by the Colombo establishment and the international powers.
Differences within the Tamil elite, however, came to the surface last week when Wigneswaran removed two NPC ministers on corruption charges and sent two others on compulsory leave. The four ministers were members of the Ilankai Tamil Arasu Katchi (ITAK), the dominant party in the TNA.
TNA leaders, including R. Sambandan and M. A. Sumanthiran, opposed the chief minister’s ruling, declaring that placing the two ministers on compulsory leave was an arbitrary decision. ITAK councillors responded by presenting a no-confidence motion against Wigneswaran in the NPC.
Fast bowler Lasith Malinga is being investigated by Sri Lanka’s cricket board after comparing the country’s sports minister to a monkey, the BBC reported.
Sports minister Dayasiri Jayasekara told Sri Lanka’s players they were too fat after they failed to reach the Champions Trophy semi-finals.
Malinga, 33, responded by saying he did not care for criticism “from those who are simply warming chairs”. “What does a monkey know about a parrot’s nesting hollow?” he added.
By
Dr.Prasanna Cooray
Shivers were sent down the spines of the good governance aspirants when President Maithripala Sirisena, in most unwelcome manner, removed Sajeeva Samaranayake, Deputy Chairman National Child Protection Authority (NCPA). It is understood that no reason has been cited for his removal in the letter of expulsion. The NCPA comes under the Ministry of Women and Child Affairs, whose minister is Ms. Chandrani Bandara. (To put the record straight, good governance aspirants, if at all still remain, since the establishment of the yahapalana government two and a half years ago, are few and far between and a disillusioned lot.).
The yahapalana government seems to have a special predilection for sacking good people. It was exactly a year ago they got rid of Prof. Krishantha Weerasuriya, former WHO South Asian advisor of medicinal drug policy, from the CEO post at the newly established National Medicinal Drug Regulatory Authority (NMRA), for dubious reasons only best known to them.
The media reported that an affidavit submitted by Samaranayake to a court in Melbourne had been the bone of contention. This document had been issued in connection with a case of a Sri Lankan woman, who after separating from her husband had migrated to Australia with her two under aged sons. Supposedly, therein, Samaranayake has stated that there is not enough protection for the children in Sri Lanka and the victim support procedures related to children are inefficient.
Samaranayake maintains the position that he as an official of the NCPA should take all decisions and actions in the best interests of children. This goes without saying even for the affidavits issued to foreign courts. This in turn, will also facilitate the foreign court to make its judgment in the best interest of children and ensure their maximum wellbeing. At the same time, Samaranayake as a legal expert has sufficient expertise and experience to express his independent and unbiased opinion.
By
PK Balachandran
The anti-Muslim Sri Lankan Buddhist monk, Galagoda Aththe Gnanasara Thero, General Secretary of the Bodu Bala Sena (BBS), has several serious cases against him relating to hate speech, blasphemy against the Quran, instigation of violence, and contempt of court.
And yet, he has been evading arrest for long periods, and when arrested, has always got out on bail quickly.
The reason – Gnanasara Thero has supporters at the highest political levels and perhaps even in the general population.
He is also operating at a time when governments, both in the South Asian region and elsewhere, tacitly support the majority community against the minorities.
While Hindu majoritarianism is holding sway in India under the Hindu nationalist government of Narendra Modi, the majority Sunni Muslims in Pakistan stage violent attacks against the minority Hindus, Christians and sub-sections of Muslims like the Shias and Ahmadis with impunity.
Neither in India nor Pakistan are perpetrators booked.
Violence and discrimination against minority Christians is widespread in Sri Lanka with the support of state officials and institutions at the local level, a think tank that analysed data over two decades has said.
“The figure suggests that, for the past two decades, on average, an attack has taken place against a Christian person or group every week,” Verité Research, a Colombo-based think tank, said. “This trend has continued despite repeated government changes during this period.”
Verité analysed 972 cases of discrimination and violence compiled by a Christian group, National Christian Evangelical Association of Sri Lanka (NCEASL).
Local officials are also enthusiastically implementing a state circular against places of worship, which had no legal basis.
By DR. DAYAN JAYATILLEKA
The entire discussion or debate about the BBS, Gnanasara Thero and extremism is missing something. The discussion confuses ultra-nationalism, chauvinism, Islamophobia and extremism with the real issue: incitement to violence.
Donald Trump, Vladimir Putin and Gotabhaya Rajapaksa
Whether an ideology is extremist or not is one issue, but it is an issue that is difficult to resolve. What is far easier to resolve, legally and morally, is the issue of whether or not an action or statement constitutes an ‘incitement to violence’ against an individual or a collective.
It is morally slippery to avoid the central issue that is present before our very eyes, namely incitement, and instead to shift attention by merely equating all forms of chauvinism and denouncing them all equally.
It is still worse to brush under the carpet the issue of incitement by stating that the BBS extremism is but a “reaction” to Islamic extremism.
Continue reading ‘Gotabhaya Rajapaksa Is Sri Lanka’s Vladimir Putin and not Sri Lanka’s Donald Trump’ »
By
P.K.Balachandran
Even as the spat between Northern Province Chief Minister C.V.Wigneswaran and the Ilankai Tamil Arasu Katchi (ITAK) leader R.Sampanthan ended in a compromise on Monday, with both sides abandoning brinkmanship, new issues have been raised to muddy the political waters in the Tamil-majority province. writes P.K.Balachandran in Daily Express
On Monday itself, Chief Minister Wigneswaran asked the Chairman of the Northern Provincial Council (NPC), C.V.K.Sivagnanam, to quit that post for his “partisan” role in the bid to present a No Confidence Motion against him.
Sivagnanam had led 15 NPC members to Governor Reginold Cooray to tell him that they intend to move a No Trust Move against Chief Minister Wingeswaran.
by Sanja de Silva Jayatilleka
Making his submission in a long speech at the most recent parliamentary debate on Geneva called by JO leader Dinesh Gunawardene, Minister Mahinda Samarasinghe made a seriously inaccurate interpretation of the Resolution adopted by majority vote at the May 2009 UN Human Rights Council 11thspecial session on Sri Lanka.
The error or misreading was of the Joint Statement of 23rd May 2009 between then Secretary General Ban Ki Moon and President Mahinda Rajapaksa, issued only days after the end of the war.
As Minister Samarasinghe said, the Joint Statement was incorporated into the Resolution at the Human Rights Council at the final stages of drafting. The very fact that a communique together with the UN Secretary General was released at the highest level in Colombo while intense negotiation were ongoing on the draft resolution at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, made it inevitable that Sri Lanka’s negotiating partners within and outside the Non-aligned Movement would insist on its inclusion.
Knowing the significance of such a Joint Statement, Sri Lanka’s Ambassador/Permanent Representative in Geneva at the time Dr. Dayan Jayatilleka and the head of the Peace Secretariat Prof Rajiva Wijesinha independently had misgivings on the wording. The senior Foreign Ministry officials on site in Kandy where it was drafted included Ambassador/Permanent Representative to the UN in New York, H.M.G.S. Palihakkara, Foreign Secretary Dr. Palitha Kohona and Additional Secretary Prasad Kariyawasam. It was said the Joint Statement was co-drafted by Sri Lanka and staff of the Secretary General of the UN.
Northern province chief minister Canagasabapathy Visuvalingam Wigneswaran who earlier demanded that all the armed forces should be withdrawn from the North is now singing a different tune after the majority of Northern provincial councillors have indicated they have no confidence in him as chief minister. Wigneswaran who pompously and pugnaciously who earlier declared “Army Go, go, Air Force Go, go, Navy Go go” has now shamelessly changed his stance.
CV Wigneswaran
Wigneswaran now has threatened to utilise the services of the armed forces and unleash the army against people described by the chief minister as “Karuppu Aadugal” (Black goats or black sheep).
Religious leaders in Jaffna were shocked by Wigneswaran’s announcement that he would unleash the army if necessary when a delegation called on the chief minister to express concern over the tense and volatile situation in Jaffna. Wigneswaran however refused to reduce the tensions. He arrogantly declared “Let them withdraw the no confidence motion against me. Otherwise volatile situation will continue”.
Continue reading ‘Northern Chief Minister Wigneswaran who Once Wanted Army to Quit North Now wants to Unleash Army Against “Black Sheep” in Jaffna’ »
By
Dr.Dayan Jayatilleka
“The humanist’s article of faith embraces a human heritage. All literature is part of that…”
–Mervyn de Silva (1972)
The recent death of Prof. Siri Gunasinghe led to a rich discussion of the question of Sinhala — and Ceylonese/Sri Lankan — culture. Sri Lanka (and earlier Ceylon) has witnessed not only a clash of cultures but clashes within cultures. While there has been a clash between the Westernized and the anti-western elites, within Sinhala culture itself there has been a clash between the moderns and the traditionalists, and within the westernized elite, a clash between the Western-oriented and the national oriented– the mimics and the synthesizers. These protracted cultural, intellectual and ultimately political struggles still unfold. In the writings of Mervyn de Silva whose 18th death anniversary falls tomorrow, June 22, the cultural question is addressed in its complexity with penetrating lucidity, and a resolution — almost a strategic direction — suggested.
By
Yohan Perera and Ajith Siriwardana
While rejecting the allegations made by UN Special Rapporteur on Independence of Judges, Monica Pinto in her report to United Nations Human Rights Council on Sri Lanka’s judicial system, the government today said the report was a violation of the country’s sovereignty.
“We are surprised by the allegations made by her who was in Sri Lanka for only seven days. Her knowledge on the judicial systems of various countries is questionable ” Justice Minister Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe said making a statement in Parliament claiming that he is revealing the official stance of the government on Ms. Pinto’s report.
“This report will tarnish Sri Lanka’s image and violate the country’s sovereignty,” he said.
Justice and Buddhasasana Minister Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe yesterday rejected media reports accusing him of providing refuge to Bodu Bala Sena (BBS) General Secretary Galagodatte Gnanasara Thero.
The Minister, rejecting support of the BBS General Secretary, said: “There is no reason for me to give refuge but I have been accused by the media of harbouring him. I have been also accused of making use of my powers as Minister of Justice to provide him with safe refuge. This is false.
by C.A.Chandraprema
The Bodu Bala Sena press conference held last Friday without the missing Ganansara, was very interesting in many respects. The statement made by Dilanthe Vitanage, its self styled ‘CEO’ was especially important. The most vital part of what he said was that it was Champika Ranawaka and Ven. Athureliye Rathana Thera who had egged Gnanasara towards violence (prachandathwaya). What he said in Sinhala was “Gnanasara hamuduruwo prachandanthwayata yomu kale Champika Ranawakai Athureliye Rathana Hamuduriwoi.” Vitanage was obviously trying to explain away the links that the BBS had and still has with the JHU but in the process, made certain definitive statements which need to be taken note of by all Buddhists. Gnanasara is undoubtedly the biggest disaster to befall the Buddhist community since Mapitigama Buddharakkitha and Talduwe Somarama. As Vitanage said, Champika did indeed use Ganansara as his personal ‘hit man’. For example, Gnanasara was one of the monks who had disrupted meetings of the Anti-War Front led by Kumar Rupesinghe and Dr Rajitha Senaratne in 2005/06.
ly fed up with the LTTE. We recall that when this Anti-War Front tried to hold a meeting somewhere in Polonnaruwa, there had been more people waiting to disrupt the meeting than to participate in it! Yet Gnanasara was sent by Champika on such missions. What that reveals is absolute unscrupulousness and cynicism and a willingness to use anything and anybody to achieve a political purpose. Champika wears the white cloth and banian ‘national suit’ and puts on a demeanour of being a devout Sinhala Buddhist upasaka mahattaya with a manner of speaking to match. At one point, he and several other members of the JHU actually took temporary ordination and they were seen with shaven heads walking single file with eyes cast on the ground as monks are supposed to walk.
Continue reading ‘Bodu Bala Sena and Gnanasara Thero’s Chief Protector in “Yahapalanaya”Govt is Obviously President Maithripala Sirisena Himself.’ »
By
Zahrah Imtiaz
The Illankai Thamil Arasu Katchi (ITAK) has withdrawn the petition of No-Confidence submitted to the Governor, against Chief Minister C. V. Wigneswaran.
Wigneswaran yesterday ceded to the call of the leader of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) and agreed to permit two ministers to continue to work, until the fresh probe is concluded.
The issue which brought the North to a standstill and the TNA almost left in tatters, came to a temporary halt after Wigneswaran agreed to permit Balasubramaniam Deniswaran and Dr. Pathmanathan Sathiyalingam who were to be subjected to a fresh probe, need not go on leave until the inquiry is complete.
“There was no punitive action taken against the two Ministers concerned. They are entitled to draw their salary and use their vehicles etc.
It is in order to give protection to the Witnesses that it was said that they should take leave while the Inquiring Committee sat,”wrote Wigneswaran to Sampanthan yesterday.
Opposition and TNA leader R Sampanthan has written to Northern Province Chief Minister CV Wigneswaran that the no-confidence motion against the latter will be withdrawn. The former has assured the latter that there will be no punitive action against two ministers.
In his letter to the Chief Minister dispatched yesterday Samapanthan said that he had informed the Governor of the Northern Province that the no-confidence motion would be with drawn.
Sampanthan has, in his letter, said the dispute had been sorted out thanks to the mediation of Srila Somasundara Thesika Ganana Sambanda Paramachchariyar Swamy and Jaffna Bishop Justin Bernard Gnanapragasam.
Sri Lanka’s Northern Province Chief Minister C.V.Wigneswaran on Monday backed down from his earlier insistence that the two Ministers against whom he had ordered a fresh probe, have to go on leave till the pendency of the inquiry.
This is expected to pave the way for a compromise with his opponent, R.Sampanthan, the leader of the Ilankai Tamil Arasu Katchi (ITAK) the dominant group in the Northern Provincial Council (NPC).
Wigneswaran gave in because Sampanthan had said that he will advise the Ministers not to interfere with the investigations.
Wigneswaran’s revised stance followed a meeting he had with prominent religious leaders of the Northern Province such as Srila Sri Somasundra Thesika Gnana Sambanda Paramachchariyar Swamy Peedathipathy of the Hindu Nallai Aatheenam and Rev. Justin Bernard Gnanapragasam, Catholic Bishop of Jaffna on Monday.
Chief Minister CV Wigneswaran & TNA Leader R. Sampanthan
Meera Srinivasan
Chief Minister of Sri Lanka’s Northern Province C.V. Wigneswaran will continue in the post following an understanding with Tamil National Alliance leader R. Sampanthan, days after a large bloc of governing council members withdrew support.
On Monday, the Chief Minister agreed to reverse his controversial directive to two provincial ministers that Mr. Sampanthan had earlier objected to.
Following negotiations, Mr. Sampanthan told the Northern Province Governor that the Council members would withdraw their motion of no-confidence. “All’s well that ends well,” the TNA veteran said in a letter addressed to the CM. Mr. Sampanthan also called for an early meeting with the CM “to further discuss all issues”.
The spat between the Chief Minister of Sri Lanka’s Tamil majority Northern Province, C.V.Wigneswaran, and the senior-most leader of the Ilankai Tamil Arasu Katchi (ITAK) and the Tamil National Alliance (TNA), R.Sampanthan, continued on Sunday, with Sampanthan refusing to accept Wigneswaran’s latest condition for restoring normalcy.
Wigneswaran had asked Sampanthan to give a guarantee that the two Ministers, P.Sathiyalingam and T.Kurukularaja, will not interfere in the inquiry ordered against them. Sampanthan replied that he will advice them not to interfere in any independent legal inquiry, but added that he cannot give any guarantee in this regard.
On Wigneswaran’s insinuation that Sampanthan’s party, ITAK, is acting independently of him, Sampanthan said that he is not the current President or the General Secretary of the ITAK.
Sampanthan also said that Wigneswaran cannot ignore a senior leader like Mavai Senathirajah (President of the ITAK) who had fought for the Tamils and suffered in the process. Sampanthan reminded Wigneswaran that when he was made Chief Minister in 2013, he had said that he would need the wise counsel of Senathirajah.
Leader of the opposition and Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Leader Rajavarothayam sampanthan has urged his revolting Chief minister of the Northern Province, Canagasabapathy Visuvalingam Wigneswaran to abide by the advice and political guidance of Ilankai Thamil Arasuk Katchi (ITAK)’s c president Mr. Somasundaram Senathirajah known popularly as “Mavai”Senathirajah in matters concerning the current crisis prevailing in the Northern provincial council if and when necessary. Mr.Sampanthan in a letter sent as reply to Mr. Wigneswaran’s earlier missive has reminded the chief minister of his declaration in front of all leaders of the TNA constituent parties that he would require Mr. Senathirajah’s ” political advice and guidance in the administration of the Northern Provincial Council”. Mr. Sampanthan has asked Wigneswaran to pose the question to himself as to whether the chief minister had fulfilled the pledge he made in 2013 about adhering to Mr. Senathirajah’s advice. Sampanthan also points out the sacrifices made by Senathirajah and observes that a leader of his worth cannot be sidelined.
CV Wigneswaran “Mavai” Senathirajah & R. Sampanthan
The letters sent by Mr. sampanthan to Mr. Wigneswaran have been released to the media by the TNA Media office. Mr. Wigneswaran has not responded to requests by the media that he release copies of his leters to the media
The text of Mr. Sampanthan’s reply to Mr. Wigneswaran is as follows –
18.06.2017
Justice C.V. Wigneswaran
Chief Minister – Northern Province
My Dear Wignes,
Thank you for your letter dated 17.06.2017.
I shall only deal with the issue before us, whether any punitive action is justified at present against the two Ministers who have not been found guilty by the Board of Inquiry appointed by you. It is this punitive action taken by you against the said two Ministers, despite their not having been found guilty by the board of inquiry, which is the cause of the present crisis.
Continue reading ‘TNA Leader Sampanthan Advises CV Wigneswaran to Seek the Guidance and Political Advice of ITAK President “Mavai” Senathirajah to resolve NPC Crisis’ »
By
Lakmal Sooriyagoda
The Chief Justice has nominated a fuller bench comprising five judges of the Supreme Court to hear an appeal filed by Galle district parliamentarian Geetha Kumarasinghe.
A five-judge-Bench headed by Chief Justice Priyasath Dep will hear this appeal in due course.
By
Shamindra Ferdinando
Police headquarters yesterday announced the arrest of 14 persons, including some members of Bodu Bala Sena (BBS) in connection with ongoing investigations into communal violence.
Addressing the media at the Information Department, police spokesman DIG Priyantha Jayakody said that eleven Sinhalese, two Muslims and a Tamil had been arrested so far by investigators. He said that among the arrested Sinhalese were BBS members.
By Cyril Wimalasurendre
The General Secretary of the National Bhikkhu Front (NBF) told the eleventh convention of the Front in Kandy on Saturday (17) that many who died in the recent floods and landslides in Ratnapura and Southern Sri Lanka had their fingers cut to remove gold rings.
Venerable Wakamulle Uditha Thera, Secretary General NBF lamented that some greedy elements did not even spare a dead body.
Controversial Northern province chief minister Canagasabapathy Visuvalingam Wigneswaran who has lost the confidence of at least 22 out of 38 Northern provincial councillors is in a fighting mood and is planning to defy the Tamil National Alliance(TNA) and Ilankai Thamil Arasuk Katchi (ITAK)leadership said informed Jaffna sources yesterday.
Jaffna – June 16, 2017
TNA leader Rajavarothayam Sampanthan and ITAK president Somasundaram Senathirajah have both requested Wigneswaran to resolve the current political crisis in the Northern provincial council by letting Transport minister Dr. P.Sathiyalingam and Transport minister B.Deneeswaran to continue as provincial ministers and if necessary to take action only against Agriculture minister P. Aingaranesan and Education minister T. Gurukularajah.
A three member commission of inquiry was appointed by Wigneswaran to probe the corruption and abuse of power charges against the four provincial ministers and issue an “advisory” report for him to take action against thouse found”guilty”if necessary.
The inquiry commission comprising two retired high court judges and a former Government Agent issued a report finding Aingaranesan and Gurukularajah of being “guilty” in some of the charges and Sathiyalingam and Deneeswaran “not Guilty” of any charge levelled.
Continue reading ‘Wigneswaran in Fighting Mood Planning to Defy TNA- ITAK Leadership by Appointing Four New Provincial Ministers From EPRLF, TELO and PLOTE.’ »
By Sulochana Ramiah Mohan
Northern Province Chief Minister C.V. Wigneswaran yesterday accused ‘Colombo’ of a plot to oust him from office as the Chief Minister of the Northern Province.
Standing on a podium set at the entrance of his residence in Jaffna yesterday, the former Supreme Court Judge told a sea of supporters congregated there that when Regional Development Minister Field Marshal Sarath Fonseka visited Jaffna two weeks ago he had said that ‘very soon Wigneswaran will be ripped off his post’.
He noted: “Between us there isn’t any issue and I was wondering why he made that statement, but it provided a clue that the plot was hatched in Colombo,” he added.
On seeing the overwhelming support he has been receiving since the ‘no confidence’ motion was brought against him, the Chief Minister asserted that he ‘was on the right path’.
“I knew there was a plot to oust me. I am not worried about the persons behind it but I know how it was planned to corner me,” the Chief Minister said.
By
Kelum Bandara
Tamil National Alliance (TNA) leader R. Sampanthan said yesterday Northern Provincial Council (NPC) Chief Minister C.V. Wigneswaran had created an unnecessary crisis by opting to take action against two provincial ministers not found guilty of any allegation.
He said this in reference to the no-confidence motion submitted against the CM by the members of the Ilankai Tamil Arachu Katchi (ITAK).
Mr. Sampanthan told Daily Mirror that the CM had appointed a committee comprising two retired judges and one senior civil servant to look into corruption allegations against the NPC ministers.
by Tisaranee Gunasekara
“…the inexplicable actually happens.”
Tadeusz Borowski (This Way for the Gas, Ladies and Gentleman)
When Philip Pullman’s provocatively titled book, The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ, came out, it was greeted by the British public not with death-threats, lawsuits or mob-violence, but words. In his own response to the book, Dr. Rowan Williams, the then Archbishop of Canterbury, neither screamed ‘heresy’ nor demanded a book-banning. His was a reasoned critique; praise and blame and, in conclusion, a reiteration of the literary superiority and the practical relevance of the New Testament.
It was not always so in England, in Europe and within Christianity. Once, and not so long ago, Mr. Pullman’s book would have been banned, and he would have faced incarceration, if not worse. The Christian West paid a heavy price for religious intolerance, in blood and devastation, in lost opportunities and retarded progress. The nadir of politicised Christianity and the theocratic experiment came with the Thirty Year War. Fought mainly along Catholic vs. Protestant lines, it claimed around nine million lives and turned Central Europe, its main battleground, into a wasteland, with survivors condemned to a life of destitution and barbarity, not excluding cannibalism.
When Christian Occident was mired in religiously-motivated bloodletting, Hindu, Buddhist and Islam Orient were places of relative tolerance. Asia, Africa or the Middle East never underwent the equivalent of a Thirty Years War or Roman/Spanish Inquisition. It was the East rather than the West which became a breeding ground for enlightened rulers whose political visions were far in advance of their times, from Ashoka to Akbar. The East did persecute the religious-other, but not universally or continuously as did Europe, and not with such unrelenting brutality. There were beheadings and incarcerations, but no systematic auto-da-fes or witch hunts. Perhaps the most potent symbol of that difference was the final Eastern outpost in the West, the city of Granada. Islamic Granada in Catholic Spain was a metropolis of mosques, synagogues and churches, gardens and libraries, Europe’s sole oasis of religious pluralism. In his lyrical drama Almansor, Heinrich Heine expressed in three short lines the transformation of Granada from a haven of tolerance into a hell of fanaticism, after it fell to Spain:
“I hear the poor old woman as she weeps –
She liked to eat roast goose on Friday, therefore
Now she herself is roasted, for God’s glory.”
by Radhika Coomaraswamy
Padmini Coomaraswamy (Pathma Sinnamma), known to many as the wife of former Sri Lankan Cricket Captain Sathy Coomaraswamy gently passed away a few weeks ago. She was the only elder Coomaraswamy left in a country that has lived with so much hatred and bitterness. I sometimes want to shake a fist at destiny for depriving those who lived through the worst of times the right to enjoy the fruits of the future.
For the Coomaraswamy, Pathmanathan and Suntheraligam clan who once dominated the streets of Nallur, Jaffna and who now live in all parts of the world, she was the only remaining connection to Nallur; the Nallur that blossomed with Subash ice cream, every colour of glass bangles and temple celebrations that were an occasion for the family to get together to revive our bonds of love and honour.
In August 1983 I went to Jaffna with Pathma Sinnamma and my cousin. I had a strong mother, grandmother and powerful aunts and they overwhelmed Pathma Sinnamma who was always, quiet, peaceful and comfortable in herself like the Goddess Parvati. But that August, because of the July riots, most of the family did not come to Nallur so I had the joy of having Pathma Sinnamma all to myself. Behind the mask of Parvati, there was this extremely knowledgeable lady who was full of fun. Anjalendran, my cousin, and I reminisced recently about the times she would remove the Parvati mask to giggle and laugh at one of my cousin’s outrageous stories verging on slander and to wink and ask for second helpings of dessert that the doctor had strictly forbidden.
In the 1980s Pathma Sinnamma gave me a book of “Home Remedies”. In it were all the organic ways to clean and beautify the home, deal with the common cold and other medical ailments and how to take care of the garden. It has become a Bible for me and is kept near my bed as a major reference book. If there were a finishing school for wives and daughters she would have been its Principal.
Continue reading ‘A Tribute to Padmini Coomaraswamy My “Pathma Sinnamma”’ »
Thousands of police backed by Information Technology carried out a major search operation across the country yesterday (Saturday) and arrested over 650 wanted persons, but the high profile fugitive Bodu Bala Sena (BBS) leader, Galagodaatte Gnanasara, was not among them.
Police said in a statement that they completed the four-hour operation at 3.00 a.m. on Saturday and executed warrants for the arrest of 595 people wanted by courts while another 70 evading police summons were also rounded up.
However, Ven. Gnanasara, who is wanted for questioning in connection with several allegations of hate crimes as well as a warrant issued by a Colombo magistrate, was not netted during the search that involved 11,558 police, including 55 women constables.
Tamil National Alliance(TNA) and opposition leader Rajavarothayam sampanthan has written to Northern Province chied minister Canagasabapathy Visuvalingam Wigneswaran urging him not to take any action against the two Provincial ministers who were exonerated of charges by the board of inquiry appointed by Wigneswaran to probe allegations of corruption against the NPC board of ministers.
The text of the letter is as follows –
16.06.2017
Hon. Justice CV Wigneswaran,
Chief Minister Northern Province
My Dear Wignes,
Thank you for your letter of 14.06.2017 with copy of speech made by you.
I wish to state the following. The board of inquiry appointed by you conducted investigations in respect of four ministers. The inquiry had been concluded and their report submitted to you. Two have been found guilty and two others have not been found guilty.
You stated in the Provincial Council that you would act on the basis of the report of the board of inquiry.
You have called for the resignations of the two ministers found guilty. No one has complained about that decision.
The complaint is about the action taken by you against the other two ministers in regard to whom there is no finding of guilt by the board of inquiry. This action is being seen as a violation of the principles of natural justice and unwarranted.
By S. Ratnajeevan H. Hoole
Last night (June 15th) as I went to Jaffna Town to pick up some dinner at the Indian shop Amul, the shopkeeper was concerned whether they should open today in response to the Tamil Makkal Peravai (TMP, Tamil People’s Great Front) call for the closure of all shops in support of the embattled Chief Minister C.V. Wigneswaran (CVW)s.
Daily wage earners were in silent meditation about survival if everything was closed. My baker wondered if his loaves would have buyers today. Valampuri, had already announced in a special Rs. 10 bulletin that shops would close today.
This morning I had to go to the hospital. Many shops, but far fewer than in usual boycotts, had closed. Patients, after years under the LTTE were quiet about their real feelings but their resentment came through as they grumbled about having to use trishaws. A lady who had waited long for her Echo Cardiograph could not miss that because of the trishaw charge.
Jeyasekaram, Chairman Jaffna Chamber of Commerce, commented that normally shopkeepers asked them if they should comply with a boycott request but this time they had not been consulted. The Jaffna bus stand had only one bus. Many shops were doing business as usual with one door open. Said a shopkeeper, “When the TMP usually has a sexual predator from the university who has been detained by the police as their chief speaker, we do not support them but shut our doors in an abundance of caution.”
Continue reading ‘Crisis of Chief Minister C. V. Wigneswaran’s Own Making’ »
The Ilankai Tamil Arasu Katchi (ITAK), which is the largest constituent of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA), is confident of passing the proposed No Confidence Motion against the Northern Province Chief Minister C.V.Wigneswaran.
Jaffna District MP M.A.Sumanthiran told newsin.asia on Friday, that the ITAK has the numbers with 15 having signed the memorandum submitted to the Governor and another seven pledging support.
With 22 of the 38 members of the Northern Provincial Council (NPC) supporting the motion, it will be passed. To get through the motion needs only 20 votes.
The Chief Minister’s side has 15 members as per the petition that it gave to the Governor Reginold Cooray on Thursday
The Governor has asked the Chief Minister to prove his majority on the floor of the House within seven days.
Two of the ousted Ministers in Sri Lanka’s Northern Province have reportedly refused to accept Chief Minister C.V.Wigneswaran’s fresh condition to defuse the political crisis gripping the Tamil-majority province.
In his discussion with the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Supremo, R.Sampanthan, Chief Minister Wigneswaran had said that he will allow P.Sathiyalingam and B.Deniswaran to continue to function as Ministers while an inquiry into charges against them is on, provided they give “in writing” an undertaking that they will not interfere with the inquiry. It appears that Sampanthan was agreeable to this condition and had said that the plan to table a No Confidence Motion against Wigneswaran will be given up.
But the two ministers said that they will not give any such thing in writing. They had also categorically refused to work with Wigneswaran.
Tamil National Alliance(TNA) and opposition leader R.Sampanthan is currently engaged in negotiations with Northern province chief minister C.V. Wigneswaran to bring about a “Settlement” Between warring factions of the TNA.
TNA Jaffna district MP. Sivagnanam Sreetharan and Mannar Dist MP Charles Nimalarajan have exerted pressure on Sampanthan to talk to Wigneswaran and arrive at an undertanding and truce instead of going ahead with moves to oust Wigneswaran as chief minister. Both MP”s have the backing of influential pro-LTTE elements in the Tamil Diaspora and have been urged by those sections to prevent the “Diaspora Darling” Wigneswaran from being removed as chief minister.
Pro-LTTE Diaspora elements are also strongly supporting a motley group of organizations, parties & individuals to mount a coordinated campaign to resist the removal of Wigneswaran.
Poster campaigns, processions and demonstrations are being held with the help of Diaspora funds. The “Alternative outfit”headed by Wigneswaran known as the Tamil Peoples Council has called for a “Hartal” to protest against the move by 21 members of the Northern provincial council in submitting letters and affidavits to Northern Governor Reginald Cooray stating that they have lost confidence in Wigneswaran and urging his removal
While the Ilanklai Thamil Arasuk Katchi(ITAK)members of the Northern provincial council with the exception of Ms. Ananthy Sasitharan are opposed to Wigneswaran continuing as chief minister , the other constituent parties of the TNA namely the PLOTE, EPRLF and TELO are supportive of Wigneswaran in this matter.
Continue reading ‘Sampanthan Engages in Talks With Wigneswaran to Reach a Settlement to Prevent Potential Break- up of Tamil National Alliance’ »
The political conflict in Sri Lanka’s Tamil majority Northern Province, which escalated dangerously on Thursday, appeared to be heading for a workable compromise as the day wore on. But efforts to arrive at a compromise ran into trouble in the evening when the Jaffna unit of the Ilankai Tamil Arasu Katchi (ITAK) insisted that it would not budge an inch from its stand that Chief Minister C.V.Wigneswaran should quit.
Sources said that the matter is now left to the Chief Minister and the head of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) and ITAK stalwart, R.Sampanthan. They are expected to talk it over on Friday.
Continue reading ‘TNA Leader Sampanthan Tries to Safeguard Wigneswaran but Northern ITAK Councillors Determined to Oust Wigneswaran’ »
By
Meera Srinivasan
High drama ensued in Sri Lanka’s Northern Province on Thursday after a large bloc of members of the Provincial Council wrote to the Governor, expressing “no confidence” in Chief Minister C.V. Wigneswaran.
CV Wigneswaran
Their move comes in the wake of the Chief Minister’s call to two provincial ministers to resign and to two others to go on compulsory leave, based on a report on corruption charges facing them. A committee appointed by Mr. Wigneswaran had found two of the accused ministers guilty, while the enquiry found insufficient evidence against the two others, whom the Chief Minister nevertheless asked to go on leave.
“I cautioned him against taking action on Ministers who were not found guilty, it is unfortunate that he took the decision without consulting the leader of our party,” said R. Sampanthan, leader of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA).
By
Shehan Chamika Silva
Colombo Fort Magistrate Lanka Jayaratne today issued arrest warrant against Ven. Galagoda Aththe Gnanasara Thera for not appearing before court over two of his on going cases at the Fort Magistrate’s Court.
When the two inquiries into the allegations of defaming Quran and assaulting on a Jathika Bala Sena media conference in 2014 were taken into consideration, the Thera was not present in court yesterday at the Fort Magistrate’s Court.
By
Ayesha Zuhair
Exactly three years have lapsed since the Aluthgama riots – a seismic event in the history of Sri Lanka’s troubled ethnic relations. June 15 and 16, 2014 saw mobs in a well-organised manner, unleash collective violence on Muslim-owned businesses and homes in Aluthgama, Beruwala, Dharga Town, Welipenna and Matugama in the district of Kalutara, located along the island’s south-western coastal belt. The rioting resulted in the loss of four lives, injuries to 80 and caused extensive damage to property.
Apart from the tangible losses, the violence of June 2014 brought into full focus the very real and devastating consequences of a coordinated programme by divisive forces to drive hatred, fear and suspicion into the minds of the Sinhala-Buddhist population. A result of the anti-Muslim sentiment cultivated in the post-war period, the rioting and looting in Aluthgama and its neighbouring towns marked one of Sri Lanka’s darkest moments, severely impairing relations between the country’s Buddhist and Muslim communities on the one hand, and among the minorities and an indifferent then government on the other.
Based entirely on propaganda, this virulent anti-Muslim campaign conjured a narrative in which the Muslim minority was falsely portrayed as representing economic, cultural, demographic and political threats to the Sinhala-Buddhist majority. By levelling unsubstantiated allegations of growing ‘radicalisation’, it sought to demonise the vastly peaceful and well-integrated Sri Lanka Muslims.
Aluthgama was the culmination of a hate campaign which began on September 10, 2011 with the demolition of a Muslim shrine in Anuradhapura, believed to have been around 400 years old. As the monk-led mob attacked the religious site, police personnel stood by watching idly. Eerily enough, the visuals of the incident exposed the crux of the issue: the unwillingness of law enforcement agencies to enforce the law, and arguably even their complicity in the crimes, as violence targeting the country’s Muslim and Christian minorities escalated sharply over the suceeding months.
Northern Province Governor Reginald Cooray is expected to “officially” inform Northern chief minister C. V. Wigneswaran that he has lost the confidence of the majority of Northern province councillors in general and those elected from the majority of Councillors elected from the Tamil National Alliance(TNA) in particular.
Governor Cooray
The Governor has officially requested the Northern chief minister C.V.Wigneswaran to come and see him in person and be appraised of the current situation where a number of Northern Provincial councillors are opposed to Wigneswaran continuing as Northern chief minister.
22 Northern councillors have submitted affidavits and/or letters to the Governor saying they have no confidence in CV Wigneswaran as chief minister and asking the Governor to remove him.
The TNA obtained 30 of the 38 NPC seats at the 2013 Provincial poll.
Continue reading ‘Northern Governor Cooray to Inform Chief Minister that 22 of 38 Councillors oppose him;NPC Chairman CVK Sivagnanam Likely to Replace CV Wigneswaran as CM’ »
In a surprisingly swift move, 21 of the 30 members of the Northern Provincial Council (NPC) on Wednesday petitioned provincial Governor Reginold Cooray for permission to move a No-Confidence Motion against Chief Minister C.V.Wigneswaran.
In all probability, the Governor will accede to the request and the motion may be moved on Thursday, an MP from the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) said.
Contenders for the Chief Ministership are the Chairman of the NPC, C.V.K.Sivagnanam, and Health Minister Dr.P.Sathiyalingam.
by
D.B.S.Jeyaraj
Aiyathurai Nadesan
Jaffna District MP, Mathiaparanam Abraham Sumanthiran waxed eloquent during the course of the adjournment debate in Parliament on June 6th 2017. M. A. Sumanthiran who is also the official spokesperson of the Tamil National Alliance(TNA) and its premier constituent, the Ilankai Thamil Arasuk Katchi (ITAK) emphasised that they stood “for a country that is not divided, a country in which all the peoples will be proud of their equal status to live without discrimination or fear”. Speaking further Sumanthiran lamented the fact that there was much discrimination along ethnic lines in many spheres in the country. He pointed out that there was discrimination even in the matter of taking action to ensure justice for journalists victimised in the past.
The TNA Parliamentarian who is also a lawyer touched upon the issue of attacks on journalists in this regard and stressed that there was discrimination in addressing such matters too.
Mathiaparanam Abraham Sumanthiran MP
“Even in taking action, there is blatant discrimination. We commend you for taking action in the case of Prageeth Eknaligoda; in the case of Lasantha Wickramatunga, but there was a course of Tamil journalists who were killed. Why has the Government not moved one finger in respect of one of those assassinations? Why? Are Tamil journalists any less citizens of this country than Sinhala journalists? Is that your view? You do not have to answer that. It is blatantly obvious what your view is, when you do not do what you are supposed to do; when you do not do the right thing for certain sections of the community, but rush to do other things”.
Continue reading ‘Unsolved Murder in Broad Daylight of Batticaloa Journalist Aiyathurai Nadesan’ »
In a dramatic and politically significant twist a no confidence motion is being mooted against Northern province chief minister Canagasabapathy Visuvalingam Wigneswaran by several Northern province councillors belonging to the Tamil National Alliance(TNA). At least 21 signatures have been obtained so far in this regard it is learnt. The TNA has 30 of the 38 seats in the Northern provincial council. Efforts are on to enlist more signatures within the next 24 hours.
Once the list of signatures is finalised a document will be submitted along with affidavits to Northern province governor Reginald Cooray urging him to dismiss the chief minister from office as he has lost the support of a majority of Northern Province councillors. Simultaneously a special sitting of the Northern provincial council is to be convened where the no confidence motion will be debated and put to the vote. Already there are 21 votes in support of the no confidence motion out of the 38 member Northern council. Even if more signatures are not obtained the current number of 21 is enough to unseat Wigneswaran as chief minister.
Though Wigneswaran himself contested under the Ilankai Thamil Arasu Kstchi (ITAK)symbol of house on behalf of the Tamil National Alliance, a number of TNA Northern councillors have lost confidence in the former Supreme court judge due to Wigneswaran’s controversial unilateral conduct in recent times.
Continue reading ‘21 Northern Councillors Want Chief Minister Removed as Wigneswaran Tries to Oust all 4 Provincial Ministers and Take Over All Their Functions’ »
Northern Province Chief Minister C.V.Wigneswaran is likely to be removed from office soon by the Ilankai Thamil Arasuk Katchi(ITAK) which fielded him as the chief ministerial candidate of the political formation known as the Tamil National Alliance(TNA) in September 2013.
It is learnt that the ITAK is seriously contemplating the removal of Wigneswaran as chief minister in the context of the current corruption scandal that has rocked the Northern province
The “Kaalaikkathir” newspaper published in Jaffna reported yesterday that ITAK president Somasuntharam Senathirajah alias “Mavai” Senathirajah had directly warned Wigneswaran that several Northern provincial councillors belonging to the ITAK have demanded that Wigneswaran be removed from office and cautioned the chief minister that the party may have to give serious consideration to the possibility if Wigneswaran persisted with his anti-ITAK activity despite being elected to office from that party.
By
Lakmal Sooriyagoda
Bodu Bala Sena (BBS) General Secretary Ven. Galagoda Atte Gnanasara Thera filed a Fundamental Rights petition at the Supreme Court today, seeking an Interim Order preventing Police from arresting him over several allegations.
Filing a Fundamental Rights petition through a counsel, Gnanasara Thera sought an Interim Order preventing the Organized Crimes Prevention Division from arresting him until the investigations against him concluded and obtained advice from the Attorney General in this regard.
Gnanasara thera cited the OIC of Organized Crimes Prevention Division and three others as the respondents.
By Roosindu Peris
Former President Mahinda Rajapaksa said that the government should stop acting in a way that would cause racial conflict in the country.
He added that certain politicians in the government have been acting in a way which has caused racial tension within the people.
MP Wimal Weerawansa further conveyed his opinion on people of power causing racial tension within the country.
Courtesy:Adaderana.lk
Issuing a chilling warning about the power the Bodu Bala Sena (BBS) holds to mobilise the Buddhist community to resort to extremes if needed, the organisation’s spokesperson Dilanthe Vithanageaccused the Police of lying about the BBS connection to a youth who was recently arrested.
“We strongly deny that the youth arrested by the Police is a member of the BBS. If a person is a member of any organisation, they should have a membership card, a membership identity card and fill up a form. We don’t have such membership in our organisation,” Vithanage said.
Vithanage insisted that BBS does not have any membership, adding that none of the organisers in the BBS who hold responsible positions within the organisation were consulted to verify if the arrested youth was a member.
Leader of the joint opposition group in Parliament and Colombo District MP Mr. Dinesh Gunawardena has submitted an adjournment motion in Parliament calling for the repudiation of the “biased report of the office of the United Nations Commissioner for Human Rights on Sri Lanka of 10 February 2017” and the repudiation of the “United Nations Human Rights Council’s biased resolution of 23 March 2017 on Sri Lanka”. Mr Gunawardena in his resolution has also emphasised that “positive action be taken to defend the war heroes and the independence, sovereignty, territorial integrity, unitary state, and the constitution of this country and the safety of its people”.
Dinesh Gunawardena who is also the leader of the Mahajana Eksath Peramuna(MEP) has pinpointed several alleged flaws in the UNHRC report and resolution and observed that the Govt has bound itself by endorsing the UN resolution. As such Mr. Gunawardena has called for the repudiation of both the UNHRC Report and UNHRC resolution.
The full text of the resolution is as follows –
Police in Sri Lanka have arrested a key figure from an extremist Buddhist organisation blamed for a series of hate crimes against Muslims that has drawn international censure.
The 32-year-old man from the radical Bodu Bala Sena (BBS), or Buddhist Force, is the first suspect to be arrested in connection with arson attacks against Muslims that have stoked religious tensions.
Police spokesman Priyantha Jayakody said investigations were continuing into 16 “major incidents” of arson since April that hit Muslim homes, businesses, mosques and a cemetery.
“We are taking a tough stand against such crimes,” he told reporters.
Police were criticised for failing to bring the radical Buddhist group to heel by capturing its fugitive ringleader Galagodaatte Gnanasara, as the minority Muslim community endured attacks with stones and petrol bombs.
By
Meera Srinivasan
The Sri Lankan government will soon release a list of persons who surrendered to the Armed forces in final phase of the country’s civil war, President Maithripala Sirisena assured families of disappeared persons in Jaffna on Monday.
His promise comes 112 days after hundreds of relatives of missing persons, said to be forcefully disappeared, began a protest in Kilinochchi in the Tamil-majority Northern Province. On May 30, the 100th day of the agitation, families blocked a key highway connecting the island’s south to the north to draw attention to the government’s perceived inaction on their numerous complaints.
They had also sought a meeting with President Sirisena.
On Monday, the President, along with and a team of senior ministers and bureaucrats, met eight representatives of the protesting families at the Governor’s secretariat and held discussions for 40 minutes, those present at the meeting told The Hindu.
By S.S. Selvanayagam
Senior Counsel brought to the notice of the Supreme Court that Former Eastern Province Chief Minister Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan alias Pillaiyan is being kept in remand custody for more than one and a half years and that his client has little or no access to relevant documentation.
Counsel also brought to the notice of the Court that the State has filed Objection minus important documents and pleaded that he be given further time to file Counter Objection.
The Bench comprising Justices Sisira J. De Abrew, Upaly Abeyrathne and Anil Gooneratne fixed the matter for 26 October.
The Court, on 24 January last year, granted leave to proceed with the fundamental rights petition filed by Former Eastern Province Chief Minister Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan alias Pillaiyan.
Parliamentarian and former president Mahinda Rajapaksa in a statement yesterday cautioned the Government not to create unrealistic expectations following Sri Lanka regaining the GSP Plus concessions from the European Union.
Following is the full text of his statement.
“The European Union restored GSP+ to Sri Lanka on 19 May 2017. The EU has three GSP schemes. The GSP scheme for the least developed countries with a per capita income below USD 1,025 provides zero duty access to the EU market. The ‘general GSP’ scheme for lower-middle income countries with a per capita income between USD 1,025 and USD 4,035 allows access to the EU market on payment of a concessionary import duty. These two EU-GSP schemes have undoubtedly helped many developing countries to build export industries. The EU’s GSP+ scheme allows lower-middle income countries which would normally be charged a concessionary import duty, to enjoy zero duty access to the EU market – but at a heavy price. Applicants for GSP+ must ratify 27 international conventions and place themselves under the political supervision of the EU.
As a result, only nine countries including Sri Lanka have joined the GSP+ scheme.
By S.S.Selvanayagam
Bodu Bala Sena (BBS) General Secretary Galagoda Aththe Gnanasara Thero was not present at the Court of Appeal yesterday (12), being represented instead by a senior criminal lawyer who told the Court that his client had stayed away as he faced a threat to his life.
The Contempt of Court matter against him came up before a bench comprising justices L.T.B. Dehideniya and S. Devika De L. Tennakoon.
President’s Counsel Tirantha Walalaliyadde PC, with Shashika Mithuna Arachchi, appeared for Gnanasara Thero and informed Court06 that there were instances where people had been shot within the Court premises and his client was not safe.
In response Justice Dehideniya demanded his presence in Court.
Continue reading ‘Gnanasara Thero Unable to Appear in Court due to Threat to Life, says Counsel’ »
Parties in the Tamil National Alliance including EPRLF, TELO and PLOTE have demanded the dismissal of four Ministers in the Northern Provincial Council (NPC) who were charged with mass scale corruption.
A special committee appointed by the Northern Province Chief Minister C.V.Wigneswaran has recommended to remove Agriculture Minister Ponnuthurai Ayngaranesan and Education Minister Thambyrajah Gurukularajah
EPRLF, PLOTE and TELO parties in the alliance have expressed in one voice the importance of removing these provincial ministers who were accused of corruption.
By
Lakmal Sooriyagoda
Bodu Bala Sena (BBS) General Secretary Ven. Galagoda Atte Gnanasara Thera was absent in Court today for the hearing of the alleged offensive behaviour inside the Homagama Magistrate’s Court case, citing that he has received death threats.
The Court of Appeal observed that Court will have to issue warrant against the accused if he failed to appear in Court on next inquiry date.
President’s Counsel Tirantha Walaliyadda with Counsel Sasika Mithunaarachchi appearing on behalf of Gnanasara Thera told Court that their client was not appearing in Courts since he has gotten death threats.
However, at a previous occasion, counsel who appeared on behalf of Gnanasara Thera tendered a medical certificate to Court informing that Gnanasara Thera was being treated at a hospital for an illness
Bodu Bala Sena General Secretary Ven. Galagoda Aththe Gnanasara Thero was pnce again absent from court when the case concerning his alleged contempt of court charge was taken up by the court of appeal on Monday June 12th 2017.
The court of appeal was informed by the Senior Lawyer representing Gnanasara Thero that his client is unable to present himself in Court as the Bhikku was facing threats to his life.
The Contempt of Court matter against Gnanasara Thero came up before the Appeal court Bench comprising Justices L.T.B.Dehideniya and S. Devika De L. Tennakoon.
By Neville de Silva in London
London-born Ranil Jayawardena whose father is of Sri Lankan origin, was re-elected from the Conservative Party to the British parliament from the North East Hampshire constituency with a healthy majority of almost 28,000 votes. Jayawardena who first won this seat at the 2015 general election got 65.6 per cent of the votes cast garnering 37,754 votes, up from the 35,573 votes he received in 2015.
Thangam Debonnaire MP
Pic via: twitter.com
/ThangamMP
His majority this time was slightly diminished but way ahead of his closest rival. Jayawardena who was previously a local councillor serving as deputy leader of the Borough of Basingstoke and Deane before he took to national politics served on the Commons’ Home Affairs Committee after he entered parliament in 2015.
The Labour Party’s Thangam Debbonaire whose father is a Sri Lankan Tamil retained the Bristol West constituency winning almost 2/3rd of the vote in a constituency that saw a huge turn out of 77 per cent. She gained 47,213 votes over her Conservative Party rival who obtained 9,877 votes.
An updated draft of a new Constitution has incorporated several new features but a cloud of uncertainty hangs over how soon political parties would be able to reach any consensus.
Main among them are the two principal partners in the Government – the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) and the United National Party (UNP). Each seems to be waiting for the other to make its position known. The draft, in the form of an interim report, was originally formulated in November last year and updated only in May this year by the Steering Committee of the Constitutional Assembly.
The very first discussion on the provisions of this draft last month ended abruptly after heated exchanges. It was over the existing provision in the Constitution that “The Republic of Sri Lanka is a unitary state.” The “Joint Opposition” (led by Dinesh Gunawardena) insisted that this provision be retained. So did the Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU) headed by Minister Patali Champika Ranawaka. They also sought another amendment in addition. That was to include the following provision: “Any amendment or repeal and replacement of the Constitution shall only be made by Parliament and the People, in the manner provided for in the Constitution.”
However, four other parties — the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (led by Minister Rauff Hakeem), Tamil Progressive Alliance (a grouping of plantation sector political parties headed by Minister Mano Ganesan), the All Ceylon Makkal Katchi (led by Minister Rishad Bathiuddin) and the Eelam People’ Democratic Party (led by Douglas Devananda) — are proposing an amendment. They want the provision changed to “Sri Lanka shall be known as ‘United Republic of Sri Lanka.’ In Sinhala that would be “Sri Lanka Eksath Janarajaya” and in Tamil “Aikkaya Elankai Kudiyarasu.” The word ‘unitary’, some of these party members say, would run counter to new provisions on devolution.
President Maithripala Sirisena has taken away some of the functions of Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and assigned them to Tilak Marapona, the new minister of Development Assignment.
The cash-rich Employees Trust Fund (ETF) which was under the Prime Minister was also taken away and given to Marapona who will now be responsible, among other things, for the implementation of the ETF Act of 1980.
Marapona will have to assist the prime minister in monitoring and evaluation of national policies. Prime Minister’s responsibility of coordinating with other ministries on implementation of policies now becomes a function of Marapona’s ministry.
By
Asanthi Warunasuriya
A spate of incidents in the recent past targeting Muslims has spread fear among residents in Aluthgama of a repeat of the June 2014 riots.
Speaking to The Sunday Leader, Justice Minister Wijayadasa Rajapakshe assured there would never be another communal riot in this country again.
However, residents of Dharga town in Aluthgama told The Sunday Leader they live in fear. While, there were some who expressed satisfaction at the security being provided by the current regime, others said they live in fear that at any moment another riot could flare up. This fear in them is a result of the riots that stirred the area around three years ago.
Speaking to Police Spokesman DIG Priyantha Jayakody regarding the fear that has engulfed people regarding an impending riot, he said he is of the view that there is no need for such fear as even the IGP had issued notice last Sunday to all station OIC’s, SSP’s and officers of all police stations to address even the most trivial racial incidents and bring those responsible for creating such incidents to book and resolve these issues without letting them get out of hand.
By
Anuranghi Singh
The duties, functions, departments and statutory institutions that fall under the newly assigned ministries were gazetted in an Extraordinary Gazette last Friday, affirming earlier reports but there were a few surprises as well.
Ravi Karunanayake has been entrusted with National Lotteries Board and Development Lotteries Board while Minister of Mass Media and Finance, Mangala Samaraweera has been entrusted with the duties and functions of providing information and publicity material to Sri Lankan Missions abroad. This function of the publicity division of the foreign ministry will now come under a director general.
By
Kishali Pinto Jayawardene
The profound disgust felt by citizens of this country towards elected representatives on both sides of the political divide is without a doubt. This week’s adjournment debate in Parliament on the deaths and misery caused by recent catastrophic floods in the country reinforces that disgust.
Reducing Sri Lankans to beggars
What surfaced predominantly were cheap political shots aimed at each other with some national suit clad worthies evidently glorying in the discomfiture of their fellows. Conspicuously lacking was the identification of the disaster as a grievous tragedy over and above party political lines.
No emphasis was laid on the prioritizing of a professional disaster prevention policy along with a mechanism to prevent as much as possible, the awful fury of natural calamities instead of wailing to the heavens and distributing relief after disaster strikes. Reducing once self sufficient members of thriving village communities to the level of beggars waiting for handouts is not something to boast about. That much is clear.
Meanwhile empty promises to appoint yet another parliamentary committee (proposed by the so-called Joint Opposition apparently) or to hold an international conference to bring together donors for flood relief by the Government only arouses more infuriation. Is this all that can be suggested?
A Northern Provincial Council (NPC) minister yesterday stepped down from his portfolio until allegations of corruption, abuse of power and misuse of funds were fully probed. Education, Sports and Cultural Affairs Minister T. Gurukularaja conveyed his decision to the President of his party- the Illankai Thamil Arasu Katchchi (ITAK)- Mavai Senathraja yesterday.
He said the allegations were baseless and, until the allegations were probed, he was stepping down. The move came after a three-member committee appointed by Chief Minister C.V. Wigneswaran submitted a report last week on allegations against Mr Gurukularaja and the Provincial Agriculture Minister P. Ingaranesan.
After the report was handed over to the CM, a majority of the members in the Council, both, from the ruling party and the opposition, demanded that the two ministers be removed with immediate effect. The CM informed the Council that both ministers had been given time till yesterday to submit their explanations. However, both of them ignored the directive.
The Plastic rice rumour that spread like wild fire in Sri Lanka has started spreading in India too. Moreover there are allegations of plastic sugar too.
The Southern Indian states of Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Telengana have been prone to such allegations of plastic rice and plastic sugar. Furthermore there are rumours about plastic eggs and adulterayed milk too. Over 30 people have been arrested for spreading rumours.
However Indian media reports have oitlined five methods to identify plastic rice or other plastic food items.
Thirty -one year old Ranil Jayawardena of Sri Lankan origin was re-elected as Conservative Member of Parliament for the North East Hampshire Constituency in the current elections to the UK House of Commons.
Jayawardena who polled 37,754(66%) votes obtained a majority of 27,772 over his nearest contender Barry Jones from the Labour party who obtained 9982(17%)votes.
By
P.K.Balachandran
A cheerless domestic situation, both political and economic, has put the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) led by President Maithripala Sirisena at crossroads. Its members are wondering whether they should stick to Sirisena or respond to the call of former Sri Lankan President and former party chief, Mahinda Rajapaksa, to rally round him and face the next parliamentary elections due in 2020.
There are three more years to go for the next parliamentary elections, which is a long time in politics. But given the inertia in the economy, the political confusion at the top governmental level, and the uneasy alliance between the SLFP (Sirisena) and the United National Party (UNP) led by Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, younger SLFP leaders and party cadres are worried about their electoral prospects.
The top leadership of the SLFP (Sirisena) and UNP are aware of this. That is why the Sirisena-Wickremesinghe government is not holding local body elections which are long overdue, and is wary about facing the Provincial Council elections due in the first half of 2018.
