By

Upul Joseph Fernando

Southern extremists are now attempting to gain undue political advantage of the recent visit by the Norwegian Foreign Minister who was on a brief visit to Colombo. These extremists used anti-Norway slogans in 2004 and 2005 elections to gain victory. Norway was invited to mediate in the Sri Lankan peace process in 2000 by the Chandrika Kumaratunga administration.

However, in 2002 she extended her support to the anti-Norway moves to topple Ranil Wickremesinghe’s Government. Mahinda Rajapaksa who was the Opposition Leader in 2002 had close and cordial relations with Norway. But after winning the 2005 presidential election, Mahinda turned his back to Norway. Later in the same year he tried to befriend Norway to get round Velupillai Prabhakaran. Former Norwegian Foreign Minister Erik Solheim disclosed this fact at the launch of Mark Slater’s book on the Norway’s peace affairs. Solhiem disclosed that Mahinda was ready to give self-rule to Prabhakaran without holding an election to rule the North and the East.

Continue reading ‘If Not For Norway Mediation LTTE Would Have Captured Jaffna and Declared a Separate State’ »

Sri Lanka’s demoralised cricket team faces an investigation into alleged “scandalous behaviour” during its dismal tour of New Zealand, including drinking parties and squabbling, the sports minister said on Tuesday.

Dayasiri Jayasekera said he had been handed photos of national players attending all night parties just before crucial matches against hosts New Zealand, who achieved a virtual clean sweep in the just-ended tour.

“There was scandalous behaviour,” the minister told AFP. “They have not only attended drinking parties till three and four in the morning, but there was a lot of tension and friction among members.”

Continue reading ‘“Scandalous Behaviour”of Sri Lankan Cricket Team in New Zealand Including Late Night Drinking Parties and Squabbling To be Probed by Sports Minister’ »

By

C.A.Chandraprema

Summing up President Maithripala Sirisena’s first year in power, Minister Arjuna Ranatunga said at a Ports Authority function that he (Sirisena) formed a government and has had no peace thereafter; and that he has not seen another leader as beset by problems as President Maithripala Sirisena. Minister S.B.Dissanayake speaking at the SLFP’s first press conference for the New Year described the past one year as a period during which no decisions could be made or a proper programme of work implemented – a government in a ‘gandabba’ state. He further stated that the UNP and SLFP are two different parties with different ideologies and that they can’t run a government together for long and that if they do stay together for a long time, extremist forces will emerge as political alternatives. That was the assessment of the first year of yahapalanaya by ministers of the government.

Minister S.B.Dissanayake’s misgivings about the SLFP-UNP marriage of convenience were confirmed by an incident at the 49th Anniversary celebrations of the Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation held last Thursday under the patronage of President Maithripala Sirisena. The SLFP trade union had with the concurrence of the chairman and director general of the SLBC put up a banner welcoming MS in his capacity as the president of the country and the president of the SLFP. The UNP unions had objected saying that it was the UNP that had voted for Maithripala Sirisena and that the SLFP had voted against him and therefore they had no right to put up banners welcoming him. The UNP unions had forced the SLBC chairman and director general to order the banner to be removed. The SLFP unions had refused to take down the banner but then the chairman under pressure from the UNP union ordered the security guards to take it down. Resentment within the UNP at the SLFP getting a free ride on their shoulders is boiling to the surface.

The government is in a state of paralysis. The cabinet reshuffle that was due early this year was put off for fear that it may give the opposition a boost if the affected ministers raise objections to changes in their portfolios. Earlier the local government elections were put off. The government is postponing, prevaricating canceling and sidestepping as a way of getting over the problems that crop up. If the government is in the doldrums, so is the opposition. After an election, the people usually become politically apathetic and that could be seen in relation to the anniversary celebrations of the yahapalana government. Even though the government asked the people to hoist the national flag to celebrate the first anniversary of the so called ‘rainbow revolution’, not a single national flag was to be seen anywhere. JVP leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake was to comment that it appeared as if even the national flags that were on sale in shops had been taken off display!

Continue reading ‘Is President Sirisena Planning to Kick Out Ranil as Prime Minister and Form His Own SLFP Govt with help of 20 UNF MP’s?’ »

By Krishantha Prasad Cooray

Victory never falls from the sky. In politics victories are produced when the conditions for meaningful and effective struggle mature and more importantly those who struggle are empowered by single minded determination, unity of purpose, coherence, coordination and synergy in action, and visionary leadership. It is said and not without cause that victory begets a thousand fathers and that defeat is always a foundling. Indeed victory is not only fathered severally it is interpreted severally as well. The result of the Presidential Election held on the 8thof January 2015 is no exception.

It can be argued that corruption, wastage, abuse of state power, political patronage, absence of law and order and all the other factors that had seen discontent rise after the defeat of the LTTE in May 2009 were not attributes specific to the Mahinda Rajapaksa regime. However, a lot that was forgiven, ignored or even considered inevitable due to the war were expected to be rectified in the post-war scenario. This did not happen. Instead it was perceived that not only was there an absolute disinterest in reining in corruption and wastage, these things were encouraged and worse, indulged in, by the then incumbent. Arrogance and cronyism pervaded all spheres.

The fact that the executive presidency was useful in executing the military offensive against the LTTE dulled the objections, but the treatment of Sarath Fonseka after his failed bid to oust Rajapaksa, the removal of Chief Justice Shiranee Bandaranayake, the 18th Amendment and a myriad of other moves clearly showed that it had outlived its usefulness.

It was clear that the entire system needed to be overhauled. In political terms this had to begin with constitutional reform. For that, Mahinda Rajapaksa had to be defeated since it was apparent by this time that no reform was possible unless this was done. He was standing in the way of the re-democratization that the country sorely needed. He had to be removed.

Continue reading ‘Ranil Wickremesinghe was Leader of the Political Struggle Which Brought About the Peoples Victory of Jan 8 2015’ »

By

Upul Joseph Fernando

When the then Opposition Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe lost the Local Government elections in 2014, he proceeded to America to study at a university and also to deliver lectures. Before he left to United States Ranil told a media conference in Colombo that he was going over there to learn tactics to topple governments. He studied at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology for one month and returned. Without wasting time, he started a dialogue to unite with Sajith Premadasa. At the Uva Provincial Council elections the duo came on stage. The UNP lost the election by a slender margin. When Mahinda called an early presidential election, Maithri emerged to contest Mahinda.

Now Mahinda is getting ready to fly to China for two weeks. Earlier he said the trip would last one month. The reason behind his tour is yet to be disclosed or revealed. Some say he is embarking upon a holiday to China. It is not clear whether Mahinda is heading to China to seek assistance to topple the Maithri-Ranil Government.

Continue reading ‘Is Mahinda Rajapaksa Seeking Assistance From China to Topple the Maithri-Ranil Govt?’ »

By

Harsha Gunasena

I have been a columnist for the Sinhala monthly publication Samabima. In early 2013, I along with the fellow columnists, were criticised by a Buddhist monk that we were writing against the Sinhala extremism but not against Tamil or Muslim extremism. I have responded to the criticism by stating that we were against all forms of extremism irrespective of whether those were Sinhala, Tamil or Muslim. However, at that time the dominant ideology was Sinhala extremism and as a result, all the other communities were marginalised. We were against that situation which was the need of the hour and it did not mean that we were in favour of Tamil or Muslim extremism.

The time has come to write about Northern politics. When C.V. Wigneswaran’s name was nominated as the chief ministerial candidate by Sampanthan, according to columnist D.B.S. Jeyaraj, none of the party leaders of TNA was in favour. Instead, they proposed the name of Senathirajah, a fellow ITAK member of Sampanthan. Finally Sampanthan was able to get the approval of other party leaders. Jeyaraj himself was not in favour of Wigneswaran, based on the tone of his articles written at that time. After winning the election, Wigneswaran came to Colombo along with Sampanthan to take oaths in front of President Rajapaksa although it was not mandatory. In an article written to this paper, I praised Wigneswaran and Sampanthan for this political gesture.

Continue reading ‘How Indian Ex-Finance Minister Chidambaram Advised Chief Minister Wigneswaran to Work with Govt for Permanent Solution’ »

By P.K.Balachandran

Former Sri Lankan Attorney General and constitutional expert, Shiva Pasupathy, has “rejected outright” Northern Province Chief Minister C.V.Wigneswaran’s invitation to join the Tamil Makkal Peravai (TMP) as his personal representative on the sub-committee on constitutional reform, sources close to Pasupathy told Express on Monday.

Australia-based Pasupathy, who had gone to Jaffna on a private visit last week, was contacted by Wigneswaran over the phone and requested to be his representative on the sub-committee. But Pasupathy told him bluntly that he did not think that forming a separate outfit like the TMP was “appropriate” at a time when serious attempts were being made to find a solution to the Tamil question within Lanka and Tamil unity was the need of the hour. Wigneswaran doggedly persisted, but Pasupathy was unyielding. Finally, Wigneswaran hung up in a huff, sources said.

Continue reading ‘Former Attorney – General Shiva Pasupathy Rejects Invitation by Ex –Judge Wigneswaran to Join Tamil Makkal Paeravai Sub –committee as his Nominee’ »

By

Upul Joseph Fernando

Recently Mahinda Rajapaksa had called an astrologer to Abhayaramaya Temple and inquired about the horoscope of Maithripala Sirisena. Mahinda is of the view that a bright time would dawn on him by April 2016 to form a government.

He has related his future dream to all his friends and members in the joint Opposition. So, all of them are eagerly waiting till Mahinda forms a government in April. Maithri had got wind of Mahinda’s dream about the future. In response Maithri told in public that Mahinda’s camp was planning to form governments by reading his horoscope to be sure about his death.

Continue reading ‘Mahinda Rajapaksa Consults Astrologer at Abhayarama About Forming his own Govt iAfter 2016 April New Year’ »

By

Dr.Dayan Jayatilleka

Three speeches last week revealed our future. Each concerned an aspect of this island’s fate.Together they show the whole. The Prime Minister announced that the country will have a new political system next year. That change has to be understood within a geopolitical and geo-strategic context signalled in two speeches, by an Indian Minister and a senior US official.

“India’s Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari informed Lokh Sabha yesterday that India will construct a bridge and tunnel linking Rameswaram in India with Sri Lanka…The project was also discussed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi with his counterpart during the latter’s recent visit, Gadkari said”.
(The Hindu, Dec 17, 2015)

Senior US official Thomas Shannon revealed in his Kadirgamar Institute lecture, the factor animating Washington’s Lanka policy: “To put it simply, stability and prosperity of the entire world is dependent on the stability of these vital energy and trade routes. And Sri Lanka is at the centre of this.”

The 2016 Constitution must be located at this intersection of Indo-US perspectives. It envisages the most drastic disruption of the Sri Lankan State formation arguably since 1833. The rupture would change the very type of State, implanting a new political matrix. We are being constitutionally reshaped to be integrated as a ‘chip’ into the Indo-US grand strategic matrix.

Continue reading ‘West Wants Sri Lankan Regime To Midwife a “Tamil Kurdistan “ To Serve As Permanent Proxy.’ »

BY Gagani Weerakoon

The internal clashes in Maithri-Ranil Yahapalana Government has reached a point where it has put the fate of Finance Minister Ravi Karunanayake hangs in the balance with several senior Cabinet colleagues openly criticizing him. In addition, it proved that every effort taken by Karunanayake to pacify his party colleagues have backfired adding salt to the wounded relationship between him and Premier Wickremesinghe.

This column last week reported the clash between Ministers Kabir Hashim and Ravi Karunanayake leading to a Cabinet reshuffle.

This political saga started unfolding after the new government was elected following the 17 August general election.

Clash deepens

Following elections, a committee led by Wickremesinghe was appointed to decide on the boards of directors and heads of institutions. Thus Wickremesinghe issued a directive to all directors and chairmen to resign from their respective posts paving the way for nominees of the committee to be appointed.

However, there were no changes suggested for institutions headed by reputed people like Hemaka Amarasuriya, but suggested new members to the board of directors in each institution.

Even though others took this order seriously, it seemed those who were appointed by Finance Minister Ravi Karunanayake were deaf and blind to the order despite several reminders from the top. These institutions included the People’s Bank, Litro Gas Company, Hotel Hilton, Sri Lanka Insurance Corporation and Hotel Taprobane.

Continue reading ‘Fate of Ravi Karunanayake as Finance Minister Hangs in the Balance as Relationship with Ranil Wickremesinghe Sours’ »

By Krishantha Prasad Cooray

One year ago, around the time of Christmas, there was tension in the country. The people were about to vote in a Presidential Election which would decide the destiny of the country, one way or the other. Today, one year later, we are celebrating Christmas and enjoying the festive season without any of these tensions.

A few weeks from now, we will see President Maithripala Sirisena complete one year in office. The anniversary will no doubt prompt many to step back and assess; promises made will be re-visited. The achievements will be listed. The tasks not attended to or those over which there was palpable stumbling will be noted. These analyses will be coloured by political loyalties. The more detached commentators will consider the contexts and their changing nature. Priorities as well as available resources will be factored in. In any event it is a necessary exercise for both the analyser and the analysed.

Continue reading ‘The Ranil Wickremesinghe factor in 2016 and beyond’ »

By P K Balachandran

The Chief Minister of Sri Lanka’s Tamil-majority Northern Province has formed a new “non-political” organization which observers see as the first step towards splitting the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) which he represents in the Northern Provincial Council (NPC).

The outfit, christened Tamil Makkal Peravai or Tamil Peoples’ Assembly (TPA), was formed after a four-hour meeting at the Jaffna Public Library on Saturday.

Estimates of the number of people who attended vary from 15 to 30. But the significant thing is that only one TNA member of the NPC, and not a single TNA MP attended.

It was a closed door meeting into which the media were not allowed. After the meeting, Wigneswaran refused to brief the media, but individual attendees spoke to the press.

Continue reading ‘TNA Chief Minister Wigneswaran Forms New Organization in First Step Towards Splitting TNA’ »

By

Ranga Jayasuriya

The Government Medical Officers Association (GMOA) threw a tantrum when the government proposed to abolish duty free duty vehicle permits granted to certain categories of public servants. After the threat of a strike by the doctors, the government backtracked. Since there is hardly any link between doctors’ duty free car permits and patients’ welfare, the GMOA’s trade union action was one purely driven by pecuniary interests of its members.

On the other hand, professionals in the government sector, including doctors, are paid abysmally low salaries (though, doctors on their part have opportunity to make money through private practice, a luxury most other professionals don’t have ).

Like we, the journalists (who are equally underpaid) say, bylines cannot buy groceries, professional esteem alone won’t help in an increasingly materialistic world.

However, the same GMOA has been up in arms against private medical universities, with their self serving logic being that the provision of medical education, or for that matter any other university level education, should be the monopoly of the state.

Continue reading ‘Monopolistic Cabal Has Taken Entire Country Hostage Under Guise of Protecting Free Education or Free Health Care’ »

A new political front has been launched in Jaffna on Saturday December 19th 2015 with Northern Province chief minister Canagasabapathy Visvalingam Wigneswaran at the helm. The new front known as “Thamil Makkal Paeravai” in wamil and “Tamil Peoples Council” in English is viewed as a political alternative to the Tamil National Alliance(TNA) which is regarded as the premier political configuration of the Tamils of Sri Lanka.

Suresh Premachandran, Gajendrakumar Ponnambalam and CV Wigneswaran

Around 25 to 30 persons including the Chief minister CV Wigneswaran who was elected to office on the House symbol of Ilankai Thamil Arasu Katchi (ITAK), Ex –parliamentarians Kandiah Premachandran(Suresh) of the EPRLF, Gajendrakumar Ponnambalam of ACTC, Senior ITAK vice –president Prof. S. Sittambalam, Northern province councillor Sivanesan alias Bavaan of PLOTE,Dr. Poopalan Lakshman of the Jaffna Hospital,Batticaloa civil society secretary T. Vasantharajah and N.Vijayasuntharam Editor of “Valampuri”newspaper published in Jaffna were present at the inaugural meeting of the Tamil Peoples Council (TPC).Among others who participated in the meeting were religious leaders, professionals, academics ,NGO personnel and political civil society activists.

Continue reading ‘Tamil Peoples Council (TPC) Launched in Jaffna as Political Alternative to Tamil National Alliance (TNA) with Northern Chief Minister Wigneswaran at the Helm’ »

By

Rasika Jayakody

‘Captain Tissa’, a chauffeur of former President Mahinda Rajapaksa, was not an unknown figure to the upper rungs of the previous government because of the strong link he had with the former first family.
When ‘Captain Tissa’ constructed a house near Medawelikada Road, Rajagiriya, some years ago, the former President, along with some ministers of his government, visited his place to attend a family function. It demonstrated that ‘Captain Tissa’ had a position of authority under the previous government due to his close association with certain top echelons of that regime.

According to sources in the former President’s camp, ‘Captain Tissa’ hails from a remote village in Laggala, Matalé. His father had worked as a driver attached to the Ministry of Irrigation. ‘Captain Tissa’ had first worked as a driver under Monty Gopallawa, former MP for the Laggala electorate. Gopallawa had a close relationship with former President Rajapaksa who later hired Tissa to work under him.

It is still not entirely clear as to how the driver joined the Army and won his officer cap. It is widely believed that ‘Tissa’ joined the Army as a trooper and was elevated to the rank of Captain after Rajapaksa became the President. There were rumours that Tissa the trooper left the Army at one point and was re-instated with officer ranking after the former President came to power.

Whatever his military origins, ‘Captain Tissa’ became a long-standing member of the security detail of the former President. During the last few years of the Rajapaksa rule, he was often seen with Parliamentarian Namal Rajapaksa and Lieutenant Yoshitha Rajapaksa, two sons of the former President. Even after the former President and his family fell out of power in January, this year, ‘Captain Tissa’ chose to remain with the Rajapaksas.

‘Captain Tissa’ linked?

Continue reading ‘Rajapaksa Henchman “Capt Tissa” Allegedly Linked to Murders of Ruggerite Thajudeen,IUSF Student Activists and Assault on JSC secretary Thilakaratne’ »

By

Kishali Pinto Jayawardene

Close to one year since the change in political leadership in Sri Lanka, glaring peculiarities of bad law-making decisions have begun to cling to this Government much like an unpleasantly persistent odor.

Almost without exception, each and every draft law presented to the House displays a manifest lack of clear-headedness. Such laxity may be excused in respect of a singular instance or two. But when this becomes a matter of general habit, it is exceedingly worrying even with all the good will displayed towards an administration inheriting a decade of Rajapaksa misrule as an unenviable legacy.

Interjection of bad laws into the mix

And when confusion is evidenced in relatively uncomplicated matters, more complex processes of accountability attract greater doubts. Even as the Minister of Foreign Affairs talks winningly of special judicial mechanisms ensuring justice for war-time abuses, the dissatisfaction of the Northern polity increases day by day. The Witness Protection law remains largely confined to theory. Policy makers have expressed little willingness to amend its more obvious flaws, such as the lack of independence of its Protection Division. In the alternative, it is a mystery as to how one can talk of effective truth and reconciliation processes?

Beset on all sides, the fear is that before long, this Government will be caught pincer-like between the rumbling discontent in the North and the seemingly dormant but simmering Rajapaksa-tide in the South, with much of the ‘peoples’ power’ movement being diluted through the co-option of its members into government ranks.

The interjection of bad laws into this unhappy mix, conceived of without public consultation by a few misguided spirits makes matters even worse. I must stress that this concern is not confined to the Government’s proposed hate speech amendments to the Penal Code and the Criminal Procedure Code, though that example is bad enough. Tabled in the House by the Government with grandiose ceremony this week, the amendments were hastily postponed immediately thereafter with far less grace. The spectacle of a government presenting and postponing Bills with the disconcerting rapidity of a boomerang is not a pleasant sight.

Attracting unlikely partners in dissent

The storm of protests provoked by the Bills included incongruous partners, each on the extreme far end of Sri Lanka’s religious and ethnic divide. The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) and the radical Bodu Bala Sena (BBS) protested unsurprisingly from directly divergent perspectives. The TNA expressed strong concern that the proposed amendments replicated feared provisions of the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) under which journalists, politicians and dissenters had been summarily jailed through a subversion of the judicial and legal process. The fact that the Bills would have permitted arrests without a warrant in respect of new offences buttressed these concerns.

On its own part, the BBS objected to the proposed laws evidently fearing their impact on inflammatory statements inciting religious and racial hatred which it excels in. The point, of course, is that sufficient legal provision, including the Penal Code and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights Act (ICCPR Act, 2007) exists to quell such incitement. The BBS was allowed to dance unrestrained under the Rajapaksa Presidency not due to the lack of law but according to a political decision of that Presidency to use hate mongers for political gain. In any event, the ICCPR Act has been virtually unused since its enactment in regard to its other provisions as well.

In the midst of the melee, constructive interventions took place through an exceptionally well timed statement by the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka (HRCSL) as well as a letter signed by members of the public, drawing attention to the ill wisdom of these amendments.

Greater coherence needed in government

The fact that the parliamentary debate on the Bills was postponed could perhaps be taken positively in that it is responding to public scrutiny. But a larger and far more obstinate question looms large. Why is greater care not taken before such laws are presented to the House in the first place? Indeed, it is a mystery as why the Government insists on cluttering up Sri Lanka’s statue book even as prevalent law is treated as if it is non-existent to all intents and purposes.

Undeniably there must be greater coherence in government as well as in law-making. The draft Right to Information (RTI) law, approved by the Cabinet this month, is perhaps one exception to what is fast becoming a general rule of ‘yahapalanaya’ (good governance) law-making disarray. But those associated with the drafting process will be aware of the difficulties that emerged when it was sought to bring the draft into consonance with modern RTI standards in the region and across the world.

Even so, the drafters of the 19th Amendment, now a part of the Constitution, included a retrograde constitutional provision on RTI which significantly contradicted the RTI Bill, also being drafted in parallel processes at the time. Ironically even though government lawmakers congratulated themselves in enacting a constitutional RTI, the simple fact was that this detracted from the strength of the separate RTI law. Denials to information in the constitutional RTI provision were archaic, overbroad and vague, as pointed out editorially in this newspaper and these column spaces.

If this constitutional provision is not amended, a conflict may well emerge in the interpretation of dual RTI regimes. Lacunae in other respects in the 19th Amendment have been dissected at length. At that point, the excuse was that an uncertain interim government was in power. But the sympathetic leeway which one gives a honeymoon coalition is fast yielding to a far harsher assessment that does not bode well for the future.

These should not be choices before us

Where former president Mahinda Rajapaksa was concerned, one did not expect such niceties. The Bills presented during that time were pushed through with the force of a sledgehammer, directly or indirectly aggrandizing his stranglehold on power. Then we had abuse of power. Now we appear to have what some may uncharitably label as incoherence in power.

It may be debated by those inclined towards the nonsensical that incoherence in government is better than abuse of government.

Certainly however, these should not be the choices put before us by a Presidency and a Government elected to office on vastly different expectations.

Courtesy:Sunday Times

Police yesterday thwarted an attempt by Parliamentarian Vadivel Suresh to carry two cans of kerosene into Parliament, allegedly to carry out his threat to set himself on fire in protest against the Government’s failure to address the plantations sector wage dispute.

Continue reading ‘Protest Attempt by UNP Badulla Disrict MP Vadivel Suresh to Set Himself on Fire in Parliament Prevented by Police’ »

By Taylor Dibbert

There was another high-level U.S. visit to Sri Lanka this week. State Department Counselor Thomas Shannon visited the island nation from December 14-16.

The highlight of his trip seems to have been the formal announcement that the first “U.S.-Sri Lanka Partnership Dialogue” will be held in Washington this February.

The dialogue will focus on four broad areas: governance, development cooperation, and people-to-people ties; both economic and security cooperation; and global and regional affairs.

Shannon’s remarks after his meeting with Sri Lanka’s Foreign Minister, Mangala Samaraweera, were very optimistic. Here’s part of what he said:

Continue reading ‘As Outgoing President, Barack Obama May Visit Myanmar and Sri Lanka Next Year as “Pair of US Foreign Policy Success Stories”.’ »

By P.K.Balachandran

The Chairman of Sri Lanka’s Tamil-dominated Northern Provincial Council (NPC) C.V.K.Sivagnanam, says that he is determined to overcome obstacles to sending relief to flood-ravaged Tamil Nadu.

While Indian diplomats told Sivagnanam that India has a policy of not accepting foreign aid for disaster management, a section of the Jaffna Tamil media, allegedly instigated by his rivals, either ridiculed his plans or said that it is not the NPC’s business to send relief to Tamil Nadu. And the response of the NPC itself to his plea for contributions has been lukewarm.

In the first week of December, Sivagnanam had called an informal meeting of the NPC to discuss ways in which the Council could aid relief efforts in Tamil Nadu. An informal meeting was called presumably because Chief Minister C.V.Wigneswaran dropped the idea of sending relief on behalf of the Northern Province after the Indian Consul General in Jaffna, A.Natarajan, told him about India’s inability to accept external aid.

Out of the 38 members of the NPC, 17 attended and 21, including Chief Minister Wigneswarn, stayed away from the meeting called by Sivagnanam.

Continue reading ‘21 NPC Councillors Including Wigneswaran Not “Co-operating” with Chairman Sivagnanam’s Efforts to Send Flood Relief for Tamil Nadu’ »

By C. A. Chandraprema

Speaking during the committee stage debate on the budgetary allocation for the Ministry of Mass Media and Parliamentary Affairs, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said that a compensation plan would be implemented for 44 media persons who were killed due to political reasons under the former regime. He said that President Maithripala Sirisena had also supported the move to pay compensation to these murdered journalists. When he speaks of 44 media personnel having been killed during the previous administration, he is referring to the list put out by media NGOs such as the Media Movement for Democracy (MMD).

The list put out by the MMD of journalists killed since 2004 is by and large acknowledged by other media NGOs such as the Free Media Movement (FMM) which has a more comprehensive list of murdered ‘media persons’ going back to the early 1980s. The list of 44 killings that the prime minister speaks of dates from early 2004, not from late 2005 when the Rajapaksas assumed power. So there is some overlap with the latter part of President Chandrika Kumaratunga’s rule. That may not be any cause for concern for the PM because that too falls into the period of the ‘previous regime’ as far as he is concerned. The list of 44 murdered journalists (as well as others associated with media institutions) compiled by the media NGOs is as follows:

Continue reading ‘Points to Ponder Over Paying Compensation to Slain Media Persons’ »

By
Yohan Perera

The Northern Provincial Council (NPC) had become a meaningless institution as it had not used a single cent out of the funds allocated for it by the Central Government, Opposition MP Douglas Devananda told Parliament today.

Mr. Devananda who is an MP representing the Northern District of Jaffna said the funds allocated for the provincial council even in 2013 and 2014 had not been utilized.

Continue reading ‘Northern Provincial Council has Failed to Utilize Funds Allocated by Govt Alleges EPDP Leader Douglas Devananda’ »

By

Sandun A Jayasekera

Cabinet Spokesman and Minister Rajitha Senaratne today admitted that his daughter-in-law was studying at SAITM and added that not only her but that many of his relatives were studying there.

He said the Health Ministry permitted to facilitate clinical training for students at the Malabe private Medical College following a court order on a payment of Rs. 50,000 per student and there was no personal or political consideration involved in that decision.

The Inter-University Students’ Federation (IUSF) yesterday said that Minister Senaratne’s daughter-in-law (MP Chathura Senaratne’s wife), was following a course at the SAITM and that that was why Dr. Senaratne was striving to protect SAITM.

Continue reading ‘Health Minister Rajitha Senaratne Admits that his Daughter – in – Law and Many Other Relatives are Studying at SAITM’ »

By

Don Manu

Justice Minister Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe must ask himself a few simple questions:

Has he as a member of parliament availed himself of any generous hospitality in the past extended to him and his family by the controversial Avant Garde chairman, the arms dealer Senadhipathi whom he has been defending so vigorously in public in recent times as being innocent and devoid of any wrong doing?

And whether, even if he, Wijeyadasa, has not accepted the benefit of any sponsored stay in the United States or elsewhere, his past actions now revealed have irrevocably created in the public mind the indelible impression that he appears to have been influenced and his judgement coloured even by a shade as a result?

And whether, even if he is innocent of all the innuendos levelled against him, his close friendship with the controversial Avant Garde boss – now photographically established beyond reasonable doubt -has made his position as the nation’s Minister of Justice no longer tenable?

Continue reading ‘Justice Minister Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe Must Reveal Truth About His Links with Avant Garde Chairman Senadhipathi.’ »

By P.K.Balachandran

The Chief Minister of Sri Lanka’s Tamil-majority Northern Province on Tuesday expressed opposition to the Lankan government’s plan to introduce “Grama Rajya” as the unit of devolution of power.

Presenting the Northern Provincial Council’s budget for 2016, Wigneswaran said that as per a circular sent by the Central Government, under the proposed “Grama Rajya” scheme of devolution, the Center’s village and provincial level development programs will be implemented by committees which come directly under it.

This is tantamount to sidelining the Provincial Administration and the Provincial Council, Wigneswaran pointed out.

Although the Maithripala Sirisena-Ranil Wickremesinghe government has a pleasant visage as compared to the regime it replaced, it is continuing the discredited policy of chipping away even the limited powers devolved to the provinces under the 13 th.Amendment of the constitution, Wigneswaran said.

Continue reading ‘Northern Chief Minister Wigneswaran Opposes Sri Lankan Govt Proposal of “Grama Rajya” Scheme of Devolution’ »

OPTIMISM was in abundance in Sri Lanka following the surprise results of a presidential election at the beginning of the year. After the long civil war, after a decade of government by the self-aggrandising Rajapaksa family, opposition candidate Maithripala Sirisena swept to power at the head of a coalition of Sri Lanka’s two main parties, with promises of freedom and prosperity for all and an end to corruption and nepotism.

It may have been the case that our new broom President had been a Minister under Rajapaksa. It could also have been true that Sirisena was only selected as candidate because veteran opposition leader Ranil Wickremesinghe did not have the stomach for a campaign he knew he would lose, and instead struck a deal, backed by former President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga, for his party’s support in return for the promise of the Premiership. And perhaps there might have been help from abroad to facilitate this curious deal which is worrying for national sovereignty when foreign judges are set to investigate alleged war crimes.

Alas, with promise of change, we have had also to live with certain continuity. What better candidate could there have been for Chairman of Sri Lanka Telecom than our new leader’s brother? Sirisena is indeed a strong advocate of family values. His charming daughter has been using public resources for her personal campaigns while Sirisena’s deeply unqualified, loutish son accompanied the President to New York in September and sat in with Daddy on sessions of the UN General Assembly.

Continue reading ‘Change and Continuity in Sri Lanka:There May be Different Snouts but the Trough Has not Changed -Private Eye’ »

By

Upul Joseph Fernando

When President Maithripala Sirisena was in New York to attend the United Nations General Assembly sessions, United States Secretary of State, John Kerry, visited him. When Kerry sought his leave after a lengthy discussion, Maithri asked him a pertinent question: “How are you going to balance China and India?” asked Maithri. The Sri Lankan Leader stressed that Chinese support was needed to strengthen his economy. Kerry advised to balance India and get assistance from China adding that America was not opposed to Colombo getting Chinese aid.

Now the Maithri Government has given the green light to proceed with the once controversial Colombo Port City Project funded by China. When the project was suspended, China viewed it as a slap on her face. China lamented that it was her President who laid the foundation stone for the project and no project started in that manner by the Chinese President had been halted or cancelled.

Though India has not raised objections to the resumption of the Chinese funded Colombo Port City Project, the fears over the project are not allayed. India is aware that the policies of the Maithri Government are not harmful as those of the Rajapaksa Government.However, it yet has fears as to what a future Sri Lankan Government in the next two to three decades would do regarding the Chinese Port City Project if those governments decide to amend the project posing a security danger to Indian interests in the region.

Continue reading ‘China Adopts Carrot and Stick Aproach Towards Sri Lanka to Ensure Resumption Controversial Colombo Port City Project’ »

Race Course Police in Coimbatore have registered a case against actor Simbu and music director Anirudh on Saturday based on a complaint filed by the All India Democratic Women’s Association (AIDWA) with the Commissioner of Police seeking action against them for composing a song which denigrates women.

Comments criticising Simbu and Anirudh were also posted online.

AIDWA members also tore up pictures of the duo on the premises of the Commissioner’s office.

“We were shocked to hear the song,” the association’s district secretary A. Radhika said.

Continue reading ‘Police Register Case Against Tamil Actor Simbu and Music Composer Anirudh For Obscene Song Denigrating Women’ »

(Text of a Press Statement Issued by the Tamil National Alliance on Proposed Penal Code Amendment regarding Hate Speech)

The Tamil National Alliance is deeply concerned about the proposed Penal Code (Amendment) Bill placed on the Order Paper of Parliament on 11 December 2015. The said Bill was placed on the Order Paper by the Minister of Justice.

The Bill seeks to introduce a new provision (Section 291C) to the Penal Code, No. 11 of 1887. A further Bill seeking to amend the Criminal Procedure Code Act, No. 15 of 1979 was also placed on the Order Paper.

We observe that the proposed Section 291C is nearly identical to Section 2(1)(h) of the Prevention of Terrorism (Temporary Provisions) Act, No. 48 of 1979 (PTA). The previous government used this very provision to target persons from the Tamil and Muslim communities and to deprive them of their freedom of speech and expression guaranteed under Article 14(1)(a) of the Constitution.

Continue reading ‘TNA Wants Govt to Withdraw Penal Code Amendment Bill as it is Inconsistent with Article 14 of Constitution’ »

By

Taylor Dibbert

Just days ago, a Tamil political prisoner being held in Jaffna Prison commenced a hunger strike. Similar hunger strikes have taken place this year, although this behavior doesn’t appear to have changed the government’s calculus in a significant way.

This issue has been a source of ongoing debate and tension. The Sri Lankan government has shown, with great reluctance, that it’s willing to grant bail to some prisoners. On November 11 The Wall Street Journal, reported that “the country’s attorney general gave approvals to allow bail for 63 prisoners.”

However, it’s important to keep in mind that these prisoners have been asking to be released and given some semblance of genuine freedom. They’ve not been requesting that they be released on bail, which ensures that they’ll have to appear in court at a later time. (Who knows what might happen then?)

Continue reading ‘Abdication of Presidential Leadership by Sirisena On Release of Sri Lanka’s Tamil Political Prisoners’ »

The collective of trade unions has called off the strike planned to commence today following discussions with the Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe yesterday.

The co-convener of a collective of Government, semi-Government and private sector trade unions, Saman Ratnapriya said they are in favor of several changes made to the budget proposals as noted in the Prime Minister’ statement and decided not to participate in the strike opposing the 2016 Budget proposals.

Continue reading ‘Collective of Trade Unions Calls off Strike after Last Minute Discussions with Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe’ »

By Ashwin Hemmathagama

Facing down perhaps the biggest challenge to Budget 2016 Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe yesterday offered an olive branch of sorts to trade unions that included a salary increase and concessions on industry related charges.

Wickremesinghe delivering a special statement to parliament that included a slew of promises after discussions with trade unions over the weekend informed that his Government would take steps to include the Rs.10,000 increment of public employees to their basic salary in three stages with the first starting in January with Rs.2,500.

Several amendments to the Budget proposals were also announced that centred on tax relief with more promised in the future. These BUP_DFT_DFT-1-02included reduction of the vehicle emission tax to Rs.1,500 as an interim measure and to reduce the revenue license fee increase to 15% from the initial 25% which was announced in the Budget speech.

Wickremesinghe also reiterated his previous pledge in parliament to keep the Employees Provident Fund (EPF) and Employees Trust Fund (ETF) as separate entities under the Central Bank.

Continue reading ‘Prime Minister Wickremesinghe in Special Parliament Statement Offers “Olive Branch” To Trade Unions in Bid to Avert General Strike’ »

BY Mirudhula Thambiah

Chunnakam water crisis has turned into a never ending dispute which has dragged on for over a year. Northern Provincial Council (NPC) expert committee Final Report, independent medical experts pointed out is impugned. Early this year when the Chunnakam water issue aggravated further, due to continuous protests by the people of the area, the NPC appointed a nine-member committee from the Universities of Jaffna, Colombo and Peradeniya, that examined water samples from different wells in Valikamam North; though it was only the well water in Chunnakam that was highly contaminated.

Conflicting reports

However, the interim report of the expert panel stated that there were chemical properties and there are certain levels of metallic substances proven in the water. Although, the interim report was publicized people were unclear on the exact outcome of the report as it seemed too complex for the villagers of Valikamam North.

Yet, the expert panel, formed by the NPC has currently warned that the ground water in the Jaffna Peninsula was found to be contaminated only with septic germ and nitrate contents of alarming levels endangering the ground water; however, there was hardly any poisonous chemical or heavy metallic substances found in the water.

The expert panel which was formed on the directive of the NPC, early this year, on finding some oil substances in wells in Chunnakam and Tellipalai areas, to submit a report on the state of the present ground water in the peninsula; had handed over the findings to the Northern Chief Minister C. V. Wigneswaran and Minister of Environment P.Aynkaranesan at the Jaffna Public Library Auditorium on Monday (7).

Continue reading ‘“Northern Provincial Council Bribed by Those who Contaminated Water in Jaffna – Dr. Murali Vallipuranathan.’ »

The marriage of the UNP-SLFP coalition government seems to be on the rocks with internal clashes that were kept under the carpets so far, reaching a threatening level of going out of control. The government seems to have started counting its days with relationship between government hierarchies and its Finance Minister getting sour and the greatest international pillar of support India frowning at a defence deal between Sri Lanka and India’s arch rival Pakistan.

On top of everything Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe announced in Parliament on Friday (11) that Local Government elections would be held before Sinhala-Hindu New Year next year, which in other words may lead to the end of this love marriage, as the two parties will have to choose different paths to campaign for the impending election.

An invisible hand in action

After the new government was elected following the 17 August General Election, a Cabinet reshuffle was suggested with several key changes in certain Cabinet portfolios that were in the 100-day government.
Several new ministries were introduced and institutions under some key ministries were separated and put under new ministries.

It was learnt that President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe were engaged in serious lengthy discussions when deciding who’s getting what and top in the list had been the Ministry of Finance.

As President Sirisena was concerned about giving the portfolio to the same minister, Prime Minister Wickremesinghe had convinced the President not to change the person who held the office of Finance Minister in the 100-day programme.

Instead, Premier Wickremesinghe had promised to bring reforms and put key institutions under a different ministry. Thus, he introduced the Ministry of Public Enterprise Development under Minister Kabir Hashim and put 19 institutions including Srilankan Airlines and Mihin Lanka and all State banks which were under the purview of the Ministry of Finance earlier, under the new ministry.

Following elections, a committee led by Wickremesinghe was appointed to decide on the boards of directors and heads of institutions. Thus Wickremesinghe issued a directive to all directors and chairmen to resign from their respective posts paving the way for nominees of the committee to be appointed.

However, there were no changes suggested for institutions headed by reputed people like Hemaka Amarasuriya but new members were suggested to be appointed to the board of directors in each institution.
Even though others took this order seriously, it seemed those who were appointed by Finance Minister Ravi Karunanayake were deaf and blind to the order despite several reminders from the top. These institutions included the People’s Bank, Litro Gas Company, Hotel Hilton, Sri Lanka Insurance Corporation and Hotel Taprobane.

As the Chairmen and Boards of Directors in these institutions which were under the Finance Ministry during 100-day programme remained in their positions firmly without any hesitance, everyone began to pay attention to the matter. These constant underground investigations by government hierarchies and interested parties were able to finally find a clue.

It seems that these officials had received strong legal advice telling them there is no reason to be afraid as the law is such that any change of positions should come bearing the signature of the Treasury Secretary.

Despite mounting pressure for those holding office to resign, Treasury Secretary Dr. R. H. S. Samaratunga remained silent as he was pressurized by Minister Karunanayake not to take any action.

As this unspoken clash between Premier Wickremesinghe and the Finance Minister intensified, focus was diverted on finding as to who was behind the legal advice issued to Chairmen and Boards of Directors.
Unconfirmed sources suggested that it is Nihal Sri Ameresekere, a well-known Sri Lankan professional consultant, public interest litigant and anti-corruption activist, who was behind this legal advice.

He, during the previous Mahinda Rajapaksa regime openly challenged financial regulations adopted by then Treasury Secretary Dr. P.B. Jayasundara and it was rumoured in political circles that Ameresekere’s legal opinion was sought by Minister Karunanayake.

In an attempt to resolve the matter, Wickremesinghe’s close confidante Minister Malik Samarawickreme held negotiations with People’s Bank Chairman Hemasiri Fernando to resign from his post and also appointed him as the Chairman of the ITN. However, the deal seemed to have backfired as Fernando after receiving the legal advice is holding the post as the Chairman of both ITN and the People’s Bank.

As this tug-of-war continued, Prime Minister Wickremesinghe, who was at the receiving end of grouses of Minister Hashim, summoned the Board of Directors of Hotel Developers (Lanka) PLC which owns The Colombo Hilton led by Chairperson Sagarika Delgoda, who for some time, was the Sri Lankan permanent representative for the German aided Friedrich Naumann Foundation.

The meeting was far from being cordial and the officials engaged in heated arguments with Premier Wickremesinghe provoking him to walk out of the meeting. Angry Prime Minister Wickremesinghe demanded a report within a week on the progress of what was discussed.

With this, Wickremesinghe who had reached the limits of patience submitted a Cabinet paper proposing powers of appointing chairpersons and boards of directors to the Minister and the Secretary of the Ministry of Public Enterprise Development.

President Sirisena, referred the Cabinet paper to the Attorney General as there are legal provisions that the matter should be placed before the Parliament before making any changes.

The process may take longer than expected and as it could worsen the situation, both ministries are trying to reach a consensus. Secretary to the Ministry of Public Enterprise Development Ravindra Hewavitarana met the Treasury Secretary to discuss how they could settle the matter at their level by appointing new members.

The Treasury Secretary had in return informed Hewavitarana to send the list of nominees and that he would give his decision after studying the list. However, the matter is still stagnating.

Meanwhile, in a dramatic turn of events Ameresekere has been asked to appear before the FCID regarding an alleged Rs 100 million scandal less than a month before the Presidential Election.

Ravi’s fate uncertain

It is in this midst that the Budget 2016 presented by Minister Ravi Karunanayake is being heavily criticized by his Cabinet colleagues and government MPs.

The SLFP ministers have informed that it is extremely difficult to defend the budget which has now being termed as one of the worst budgets presented. The budget proposals have already being amended in chunks and there seems to be no proper way of gaining revenue and the proposed measures of income had to be changed amidst strong protests.

This new development comes in the midst of UPFA MPs, representing the Joint Opposition, attempting to move a No-Faith Motion against Karunanayake.

SLFP Ministers who are protesting had also pressurized the President and the Prime Minister to change Finance Minister Karunanayake.

On the other hand, it is speculated that nearly 10 SLFP MPs have expressed their willingness to join the government and are having negotiations with both UPFA Maithri faction and the UNP separately.

It is speculated that both President Sirisena and Prime Minister Wickremesinghe will use this opportunity to remove Karunanayake from the Finance Ministry portfolio using a Cabinet reshuffle as the best option to solve the matter.

India’s final warning

With speculations rife, that two governments will enter into a deal to procure 10 combat aircraft from Pakistan during Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sherrif’s impending visit to Sri Lanka, diplomatic sources revealed New Delhi is planning to send a special envoy to Sri Lanka early next year.

We in this column last week revealed that the Sri Lankan Government is facing mounting pressure from its powerful neighbour India over a defence deal Sri Lanka is to enter with Pakistan.

According to highly placed sources in the diplomatic circles, India has expressed its strong opposition to a deal SL Government entered with the Pakistan Air Force to purchase 10 JF-17 combat aircraft.

JF-17 is a lightweight, single-engine, multi-role combat aircraft developed jointly by the Pakistan Aeronautical Complex (PAC) and the Chengdu Aircraft Corporation (CAC) of China. The JF-17 can be used for aerial reconnaissance, ground attack and aircraft interception. Its designation “JF-17” by Pakistan is short for “Joint Fighter-17”

The JF-17 was primarily developed to meet the PAF’s requirement for an affordable, modern, multi-role combat aircraft as a replacement for its large fleet of Dassault Mirage III/5 fighters, Nanchang A-5 bombers, and Chengdu F-7 interceptors, with a cost of US$500 million, divided equally between China and Pakistan. The aircraft was also intended to have export potential as a cost-effective and competitive alternative to more expensive Western fighters. The development of this aircraft was headed by Yang Wei (aircraft designer), who is considered China’s “ace designer”.

The deal was entered into apparently by former Air Force Commander Jayalath Weerakkody when he was serving as the Sri Lankan High Commissioner in Pakistan.

The Indian High Commissioner Y.K. Sinha who met Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera had expressed India’s strong protest over the deal.

He had said that if Sri Lanka was to go ahead with the deal even he cannot imagine the impact of repercussions and India’s reaction.

Earlier, Indian National Security Adviser Ajit Doval had personally expressed India’s concerns on the deal to President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe.

Doval who telephoned both President Sirisena and Prime Minister Wickremesinghe had told them outright that New Delhi is against the deal.

He warned that Sri Lanka will have to face serious repercussions if Sri Lanka was to seal the deal with Pakistan.

It is in this context that India is planning to send its special envoy to Colombo. India had appointed special envoys to Sri Lanka on crucial issues previously as well. Following the end of humanitarian operations in May 2009, then Manmohan Singh appointed India’s 4th National Security Adviser Shivshankar Menon as the special envoy to Sri Lanka. He was tasked to negotiate and assess the post-war situation and resettlement efforts in the North in addition to having discussions with Sri Lanka’s special envoy former Minister Basil Rajapaksa on possibilities of finding a lasting political situation and report to New Delhi.

MR to seize the opportunity

As once cordial relations between Maithri- Ranil Government and Modi Government seems to turn sour, former President Mahinda Rajapaksa who was criticized for his over friendly China foreign policy is apparently trying to seize the opportunity to revive his Indian relations.

The Rajapaksa camp was seen busy attempting to make their rapport with the Indian High Commission here in Colombo and according to unconfirmed sources two senior members of the Rajapaksa family met with Indian High Commissioner in Sri Lanka recently in an attempt to renew the long lost friendship.

Rajapaksa who is known for shrewd strategies in turning soured relationships between two parties to his benefit may maximize this opportunity to rectify his anti-Indian policies adopted while in power with the coalition government tipped to go ahead with combat aircraft deal with Pakistan and Colombo Port City Project with China.

Marriage to end

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe informed Parliament on Friday that Local Government elections would be held before the Sinhala and Tamil New Year in 2016.

The Premier made this revelation while responding to questions raised by Chief Opposition Whip MP Anura Kumara Dissanayake and MEP Leader MP Dinesh Gunawardena who were adamant about the need to hold Local Government elections.

However, Prime Minister Wickremesinghe pointed out that several issues concerning the recently amended legislation on Local Government elections, such as matters pertaining to delimitation and the establishment of wards, needed to be resolved before calling for polls.

Political experts view this move as the probable end to the SLFP-UNP marriage as the two parties will be competing with each other at the elections. Interested parties worry that this move will put an end to all that promised by President Sirisena to go for major political reforms to establish good governance and a just society.

The Local Government elections will be extremely decisive as it will ruin the already fragile consensus the two parties maintain with great difficulty as several Cabinet ministers are not sharing a friendly relationship.

It is feared that the government will not last until reforms to the Executive Presidential System and the Electoral System are introduced.

Ministers in near fisticuffs

The division in the Cabinet of Ministers came to the limelight with the creation of two camps regarding the Avant Garde issue.

Last week’s Cabinet meeting saw these conflicts reaching to another level when Minister of Health Dr. Rajitha Senaratne and Minister of Justice were in near fisticuffs.

The incident occurred when a group of ministers were watching a news item about Field Marshal Sarath Fonseka making remarks about Rajapkshe being photographed with Avant Garde Chairman Nissanka Senadhipathi during a visit to Disneyland in the USA in 2006 with their families.

When a group of ministers were watching this news item prior to the Cabinet meeting Dr. Senaratne walked in. Ministers who were watching the news called Senaratne saying there is a news item regarding a ‘friend of his (Senaratne’s)’

Without having any idea about his ill-timed arrival Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe too walked into the room and it was Dr. Senaratne who said “ah minister there goes your foreign trip with Senadhipathi.”

Rajapakshe who was not affected by the sarcastic remarks of Senaratne started defending Avant Garde once again.

He said no matter others trying to make mountains out of mole hill, Senadhipathi was engaged in a legal business and there was no fraud involved.

This made Dr. Senaratne lose his cool and he blasted Rajapakshe while going red with anger.

“How dare you tell me that it was legal? This man is a b****y fraud and you do not try to teach me…”
Angry Seneratne was approaching Rajapakshe when others realized the situation could lead to another fracas. It was Senaratne’s Kalutara colleague Mahinda Samarasinghe who managed to divert former’s attention by congratulating Senaratne for an award he received recently.

“Oh Minister… we heard about you receiving an award. My heartiest wishes,” Samarasinghe said while managing to put his arm around Senaratne and slowly escorting him out of the room.

Courtesy:Ceylon Today

By

Ranga Jayasuriya

No matter his excesses, ex-President Mahinda Rajapaksa will be remembered as the political leader who defeated terrorism that blighted this country for three decades. His predecessors failed in doing that for many reasons: All of them were constrained by geo-political reasons, but, the earlier leaders — especially J.R. Jayewardene, whose efforts to fight back terrorism were stifled by an insular India in the 80s — were hamstrung by geo-political constraints more than their successors.

R. Premadasa was hindered by short-sighted domestic opposition that forced him to expel the Indian Peace Keeping Force when it was waging a decisive war against the Tamil Tigers.

His Defence Minister, Ranjan Wijeratne, who could have done the job, was bumped off by the terrorists.

Chandrika Kumaratunga was let down by her own generals, who may be gentlemen in the high society cocktail circuits, but were not a patch on the man who finally gave military leadership, with a ruthless efficiency to defeat the LTTE. That was Sarath Fonseka.

From J.R to MR, every political leader talked peace with terrorists, who used periodic ceasefires to regroup, rearm and attack with a greater monstrosity at the collapse of each failed peace effort.

MR inherited an accumulated rot, a terrorist group that appeared invincible, a political leadership that cowed in and an economy held hostage by runaway terrorism. He, somehow, finished off that threat. How he did that may be controversial, but the magnitude of the threat and the monstrosity of terrorists we were pitted against called for the decisive action, failing which we would have been condemned to live in the shadow of terrorism for many decades to come.

He will be remembered for that singular feat, something that no other leader could accomplish.

Continue reading ‘Why Not Rename a Rajapaksa Edifice as the Muttiah Muralitharan International Cricket Stadium ?’ »

By

P.K.Balachandran

Super Power United States as well as Regional Power India are none too happy with the political conduct of C.V.Wigneswaran, the Chief Minister of Sri Lanka’s Tamil-majority Northern Province.

US and Indian envoys have directly conveyed to him their concern that his unhelpful and radical posturing could jeopardize the Lankan government’s bid to find an amicable solution to the long-standing Tamil question.

Last Thursday, Indian High Commissioner Y.K.Sinha met Wigneswaran and urged him not to split the moderate Tamil National Alliance (TNA) but instead cooperate with the leaders of the TNA such as R.Sampanthan, M.A.Sumanthiran and Mavai Senathirajah in engaging the Lankan government to find a solution to the Tamil problem when there is light at the end of the tunnel.

Wigneswaran told Sinha said that differences within the TNA could be solved through talks, but it was apparent that the gap was wide, if not unbridgeable.

Continue reading ‘Super Power USA and Regional Power India Unhappy Over Political Conduct of Northern Chief Minister Wigneswaran’ »

By

C.A.Chandraprema

Yesterday, the government held last minute talks with the trade unions with a view to heading off strike action on Monday. The GMOA apparently had not been invited for this meeting. The only way for this meeting to succeed would be for the PM to cave into all the demands of the unions. That hardly seems likely because if the government caves in, there will be no budget.

The coming week will be an acid test for the government. If they manage to survive the standoff with the unions, they’ll be able to implement their budget proposals; if not we would have reached a new highpoint in the unfolding crisis. No throwing of red herrings across the trail like the Thajudeen case, Avant Garde case or the Medamulana memorial seems to be working. For the first time since 1980 we seem to be facing a situation of a general strike even though the term is not being used. The next week will be the final week before the vote on the third reading of the budget is to be taken on Friday. So Monday to Friday next week will be a week of strikes and demonstrations.

It cannot but be noticed that the most visible leaders in the strike action planned for next week are the same union leaders who played a prominent role in the yahapalana campaign not so long ago. Having thus played a visible role in bringing the present government into power, if the members of their unions lose even the perks and privileges and welfare measures they enjoyed under the previous regime, that will end the careers of these individuals as union leaders. That is part of the reason for the froth and fury that we see today on the union front.

Another reason of course is that these cuts were genuinely unexpected by those who voted for yahapalanaya. Election rhetoric led them to believe that once the yahapalana government comes into power, the waste and corruption of the Rajapaksa government will end and state employees and the general public will get even more privileges – not less – with all the money ‘saved’ by not having to maintain the Rajapaksa family.

Continue reading ‘Govt Can Implement Budget Proposals Only If It Survives “Greek Week”Stand-off With Trade Unions.’ »

By P.K.Balachandran

The Chief Minister of Sri Lanka’s Tamil-dominated Northern Province, C.V.Wigneswaran, has assured India that the differences in the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) will be ironed out and that unity will be maintained to enable the Tamils to secure their rights in Sri Lanka.

This assurance was given to the Indian High Commissioner in Lanka, Y.K.Sinha, when he had a two-hour meeting Chief Minister Wigneswaran in Jaffna on December 10.

Sinha was on a three-day tour of the Northern Province which ended on Saturday.

Briefing the media on his talks with the High Commissioner, Wigneswaran said that the envoy expressed concern over internal dissensions in the TNA and said that such dissensions could be used by the majority community to deny the Tamils their rights at a time when chances of finding a political solution to the Tamil question are brightening.

Sinha urged the Chief Minister to get along with the TNA leadership comprising R.Sampanthan, M.A.Sumanthiran and Mavai Senathirajah.

Continue reading ‘Indian Envoy YK Sinha “Advises” Chief Minister Wigneswaran to get along with TNA Leadership Comprising Sampanthan,Senathirajah and Sumanthiran’ »

By Udaya P. Gammanpila

“When Chandrika returned to the party after working against it, the party embraced her with both hands and elected her as the leader. Only I am subject to all sorts of harassments. If I had an aristocratic background, I would not have faced any of these harassments”. This was told by President Maithripala Sirisena in the presence of several SLFP Parliamentarians. It is true that he was flatly rejected by the UPFA supporters as evidenced by the recent parliamentary election results. However, is it because absence of an aristocratic background? Or something else?

Identification of true reasons for this rejection is crucial for President Sirisena’s political future. On the other hand, I am duty bound to correct him as a representative of the UPFA, as the party supporters have no opportunity to convey President Sirisena why they reject him. The UPFA supporters rejected President Sirisena in 2015, embraced Chandrika in 1994 and rejected again in 2015 for the very same reason, their contribution to electoral victories or defeats.

Continue reading ‘UPFA Loyalists Reject President Sirisena Due to his Betrayal of the Party’ »

By

Kishali Pinto Jayawardene

Euphoria in regard to the Cabinet decision this week that Sri Lanka will sign the International Convention on Enforced Disappearances must be tempered by several factors. First, a sober appraisal makes it evident that though we have ratified a bewildering array of such treaties, a huge gap exists between international commitments and practical realities.

Gap between theory and reality

Unfortunately this is so even when we have enacted domestic legislation giving effect to international obligations. A case in point is the enabling law in regard to the United Nations Convention Against Torture (UNCAT). An excellent law in theory, the 1994 CAT Act has become a miserable failure in practical terms. In the first decade after its enactment, the High Court handed down just three convictions of state officers. The convictions record since then has continued to be unimpressive.

Even those few convictions were laboured and confined to the most egregious violations. Judges have strained to let alleged torture perpetrators off the hook. Prosecutors have refrained from indicting Officers in Charge of Police Stations (OICs) who are culpably inactive when torture is committed under their watch. Some High Court judges have reprimanded the Department of the Attorney General for this failure.

Continue reading ‘Euphoria About Signing International Conventions and Practical realities of Committed Implementation’ »

by Tisaranee Gunasekara

“The black cells will dry up and die Or sing with joy and have their way.”
Jorge Luis Borges (Cancer Cells)

Last week Beijing went into shutdown mode. Children were housebound, factories and worksites closed and cars disallowed on roads. The reason for this three day state of emergency was not a terrorist threat but extreme air pollution. A foul smelling and tasting smog enveloped the city rendering the very act of breathing life-threatening. The Beijing Times very appropriately called it ‘Airpocalypse’. China was infamous for a growth model which completely ignored environmental concerns. The payback time has arrived.

According to a new scientific study, if climate change continues at the current pace the Gulf region will ‘suffer heat waves beyond human endurance’ after 2070. The temperature hikes in the region might even interfere with some Hajj rituals, warns Prof. Elfatih Eltahir of MIT: “One of the rituals of Hajj…involves worshipping at the site outside Mecca from sunrise to sunset. In these kinds of conditions it would be very hard to have outside rituals.”

At the 2010 Copenhagen Climate Summit, Chinese obstruction played a major role in preventing a global carbon mitigation treaty. China did not want any deal which would impede its rampaging economic growth. Today its fabled economy is in crisis and over 70% of its population exposed to pollution levels above national regulatory norms

Oil rich nations in the Gulf region, led by Saudi Arabia, have long opposed climate deals which would affect their petro-dollars. Activists are accusing Riyadh of sabotaging a Paris Climate deal which seeks to set a long term temperature goal of 1.5C. The Arab Group was the only bloc which opposed this limit and many environmentalists see Saudi bullying as the primary reason.

Continue reading ‘Is the Sirisena-Wickremesinghe administration becoming afflicted with topsy-turvy vision as well?’ »

Pandemonium reigned in Parliament as some Opposition MPs lashed out at UNP Colombo District MP Mujibur Rahuman, who brought up the death of national rugby player Wasim Thajudeen and alleged that some of those responsible for killing had been elected to Parliament.

MP Rahuman, whose seat had been allocated at the opposition, was participating in the committee stage debate on budget proposals under the expenditure heads of the Ministries of Foreign Employment and Foreign Affairs.

Rahuman blamed the then government for the death of national rugby player Wasim Thajudeen. Rahuman said Thajudeen had been killed and the killers would soon be identified.

Opposition MPs registered their protest and said the matter could not be debated as it was sub judice.

Continue reading ‘UPFA MP Indika Anurudha Hits Mujibur Rahman with a Book While Speaking in Parliament;Johnston Fernando and Sanath Nishantha Rush Towards UNP MP Aggressively’ »

By Shamindra Ferdinando

Former Economic Affairs Minister Basil Rajapaksa will be summoned soon by the Presidential Commission of Inquiry to investigate and inquire into Serious Acts of Fraud, Corruption and Abuse of Power, State Resources and Privileges (PRECIFAC) to explain payments amounting to over Rs. 156 mn to the SLAF for using fixed wing aircraft and helicopters.

Former Accountant at the Economic Affairs Ministry M. M. J. N. R. Fernando on Thursday told the PRECIFAC that Divineguma funds to the tune of nearly Rs 157 mn had been utilized to pay the SLAF.

The commission comprises four High Court judges namely Preethi Padman Surasena (Chairman), Amandra Seneviratne, Vikum Kaluarachchi and Gihan Kulathunga. Retired Director (Administration) of Parliament Lacille de Silva is Secretary to the Commission.

Continue reading ‘PRECIFAC to Probe Basil Rajapaksa for Using Rs 156 Million Divineguma Funds to Pay for Flying in Air Force Planes and Helicopters’ »

By Dharisha Bastians

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe yesterday outlined the broad framework of Sri Lanka’s new constitution that his Government will begin drafting next year, with devolution of power, electoral reform and the replacement of the executive presidential system forming the three main focus areas for drafters of the country’s new supreme law.

Delivering the Sujata Jayawardena Memorial Oration, organised by the Alumni Association of the University of Colombo at the BMICH last evening, Prime Minister Wickremesinghe stressed that consensus on these major issues were the need of the hour.

Explaining how the National Unity Government would go about the process of drafting a new constitution, the country’s first since 1978, Wickremesinghe said that a resolution of Parliament will call for the establishment of a constituent assembly, the proposal of which will then be approved by the Cabinet of Ministers. “The job of the constituent assembly will be to draft the constitution, which will then be put before the people at a referendum,” the Prime Minister said.

Continue reading ‘“After Constituent Assembly Drafts New Constitution it Would be put to the People at a Referendum” – Ranil Wickremesinghe’ »

By Saman Indrajith

Strikes, pickets, demonstrations and trade union actions could not topple a government and that was a task only people were equal to, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said in Parliament yesterday.

Participating in the committee stage debate on budget proposals under the expenditure heads of the Ministry of Labour and Trade Union Relations, the Premier said that a few demonstrations by politically motivated trade unions would not level a knockout blow to the government elected by the people.

Wickremesinghe said that the government had increased the salaries of public employees and the private sector salaries would be increased in January.

Continue reading ‘“Strikes,Pickets,Demonstrations and Trade Union Action Cannot Topple Govt” States Premier Ranil Wickremesinghe’ »

M. A Sumanthiran

A Bill prohibiting mechanized bottom trawling was filed again in parliament last week by M. A Sumanthiran, Member of Parliament. The Bill calls for the amendment of the Fisheries and Aquatic Resources Act, No 2 of 1996. The Bill was first presented by Sumanthiran on 21st of April 2015. Following this, however parliament was dissolved.

The Bill in essence proposes to prohibit trawling operations in Sri Lankan waters. The Bill seeks to:
• Amend legislation which allows for licenses to be granted for trawling operations;

• Prohibit the use, possession, import, transport, purchase and sale of trawl nets for the purpose of carrying trawling operations in Sri Lankan waters;

• Specify the action to be taken in the event of persons engaging in trawling operations in contravention of these provisions.

Continue reading ‘Sumanthiran Files Bill Again in Parliament Seeking Prohibition of Mechanized Bottom Trawling in Sri Lankan Waters’ »

By

Reeza Hameed

Today marks the death anniversary of Prophet Muhammad. It is an appropriate time to ponder over the man and his message.

The edifice of Islam is built upon the basic belief that ‘there is no god save Allah, and Muhammad is His apostle’. It is a statement that is whispered into the ears of every new-born and the dying and uttered on all possible occasions by Muslims all over the world. It is part of the call for prayers five times a day.

Allama Iqbal, thinker and poet, sings the glories of the Prophet in the following words:

“ ‘Tis in the forests and the hills,
And on the tranquil plains,
On the seas, in the arms of the waves,
In the roar of hurricanes;
A music heard in China’s towns,
Morocco’s desert song,
And hid within each Muslim’s heart
It makes his faith grow strong
How I have made this glorious name
Beyond all thought sublime.”
Not a learned man

The Prophet was not a learned man. Indeed, there is no evidence that Allah chose his prophets from among the learned. It does not mean he was illiterate, as is frequently said about him. The Prophet, if he was illiterate, could not have engaged in the transaction of business and managed caravans. The Prophet admonished every Muslim to seek knowledge even if it meant having to go to China. It is hardly unlikely that he did not practice what he preached.

Continue reading ‘Pondering Over Prophet Muhammad and his Message’ »

Basil Rajapaksa, the former Minister of Economic Development and powerful brother of ex President Mahinda Rajapaksa was indicted today on multiple criminal charges ranging from bribery and corruption to misappropriation of public funds.

Mr Rajapaksa who left the country immediately after the defeat of his brother at the January 8 Presidential election was arrested on his return several months later but was released on bail after spending time in remand prison.

He has now been formally indicted by the Attorney General in the Colombo High Court for publishing thousands of almanacs on the eve of the presidential election under the ‘Divi Naguma’ village upliftment programme that came under his ministry.

Continue reading ‘Attorney – General Files Indictment at Colombo High Court Against Ex – Economic Development Minister Basil Rajapaksa Over Publication of ” Divi Naguma” Almanacs Issue.’ »

by Saman Indrajith

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe yesterday told Parliament that Sri Lanka would not enter into the controversial Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) with India. It would sign a totally new economic partnership agreement, he added.

The agreement would be on economic and technological partnership and it was being formulated, the Premier said making a special statement in Parliament.

He said the agreement would cover only goods and technological aspects and it would not be extended to professional services.

There was no intention of signing the CEPA by another name contrary to rumours spread by some sections of the society, he said.

Continue reading ‘Sri Lanka will not Sign Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement(CEPA) with India Declares Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe’ »

by Shamindra Ferdinando

Only Mahinda Rajapaksa was equal to the task of eliminating the LTTE through military means Sri Lanka’s former ambassador to Italy Hemantha Warnakulasuriya, PC, said yesterday. He had, therefore, backed Rajapaksa at the 2005 presidential election, he added.

The UNP had been in the grip of the LTTE and the country in crisis at that time, Warnakulasuriya said, noting that there had been a pressing need to ensure Rajapaksa’s victory.

One-time Secretary of the Bar Association of Sri Lanka (BASL) was responding to interviewers, Faraz Shauketaly and Bandula Jayasekera in an interviews telecast on Sirasa and MTV.

When it was pointed out that Warnakulasuriya had intervened on behalf of a person at that time accused of alleged misappropriation of tsunami funds, the former diplomat said that the national requirement to meet the LTTE’s conventional military challenge took precedence over all other contentious issues.

Continue reading ‘If Mahinda Rajapaksa Won Elections in January he Would Have Declared himself as “KING” by Amending Constitution” says Hemantha Warnakulasuriya’ »

By Todd Schneider

Constructing a good budget is like building a good house. The foundation needs to be solid, high-quality materials make a big difference to durability, and careful craftsmanship will bring both stability and confidence to weather future storms. Similarly, budgets needed to be well grounded and credible, built with care to ensure both equity and support high levels of inclusive economic growth, and have enough room to adapt to shocks. Sri Lanka’s proposed budget brings many of these elements to the table, but the devil is in the details and some proposals raise questions.

The proposed budget is right to emphasize the secular decline in government revenue over the past two decades and to make reversing this trend a top priority. Sri Lanka’s tax-to-GDP ratio is one of the lowest in the world, and estimated tax efficiency is low compared with peer countries. However, the targeted rise in public revenue (tax and non-tax) of almost 40 percent seems ambitious—perhaps overly ambitious. This compares with the average rate of revenue growth over the past 20 years of 12 percent. Apart from being an unprecedented increase, the main underlying measures—for the most part—are likely to work toward lowering revenues.

For example, the budget proposes to (i) reduce the rate of the value added tax (VAT); (ii) introduce multiple VAT rates (a practice that generally makes the tax more difficult to administer); (iii) reverse the extension of the VAT to the wholesale and retail sectors; (iv) raise significantly the threshold for the personal income tax; and (v) introduce new tax exemptions. Non-tax revenue is projected to rise by 300 percent, but the specific measures to achieve this increase are not clearly specified.

Continue reading ‘Sri Lanka’s Budget: Devil is in the Details and some Proposals Raise Questions’ »

By Shamindra Ferdinando

Former Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa has alleged that among those LTTE cadres expected to be released soon by the government are two hard core undercover operatives responsible for executing all major attacks in Colombo and its suburbs.

Rajapaksa said one of them was known as Morris, the kingpin of LTTE terror project in Colombo. Morris had masterminded the abortive assassination bid on then Army Chief Lt. Gen. Sarath Fonseka on the afternoon of April 25, 2006, he added. The other operative has been identified as Giri.

Addressing a gathering at the Sunethradevi pirivena, Pepiliyana, Rajapaksa said that Morris had personally taken the woman suicide cadre tasked with assassinating Fonseka on the pillion of a motorcycle into the Army headquarters.

Continue reading ‘Govt Releasing Hard Core LTTE Cadres in Custody Could Pose Severe Security Threat Warns Gotabhaya Rajapaksa’ »

By Chitra Weerarathne

A domestic aide of Justice Sarath de Abrew, the Judge of the Supreme Court, has told a Judicial Medical Officer that she was sexually assaulted by Justice de Abrew at his residence. The complainant had told the doctor that the petitioner threatened to kill her if she revealed the incident, the Additional Solicitor General, Yasantha Kodagoda, President’s Counsel told the Supreme Court while reading a medico-legal report.

Kodagoda said that criminal proceedings had already been initiated in the High Court against Justice Sarath de Abrew, the petitioner in the fundamental rights violation plea. A criminal prosecution is also pending inquiry in the Magistrate’s Court of Colombo.

The ASG submitted to the Supreme Court a copy of the indictment filed in the High Court by the Attorney General together with the medico-legal report and a list of witnesses.

The medico-legal report is by a medico-legal consultant. It was issued by the Director General of Health Services.

Continue reading ‘Supreme Court Judge Sarath de Abrew Sexually Assaulted domestic Aide and Issued Death Threat -Medico Legal report’ »

By
Dayan Jayatilleka

“Daesh [ISIS] is a two faced monster”– French Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian

“Sri Lanka to launch a special court to probe war crimes”, screamed an AFP story. Lead stories of the DailyFT and The Island of Dec. 1st quoted ex-President Kumaratunga as saying the Special Courts would start in January, armed with the option of foreign technical and forensic expertise.“Sri Lanka will launch a special war crimes court early next year to investigate major atrocities during the bloody finale to its decades-long ethnic war, a top official said Tuesday.

Former President Chandrika Kumaratunga, who heads the office of national unity and reconciliation, said…tens of thousands of victims of the Tamil separatist conflict would not accept reconciliation unless war criminals are brought to justice. “…The special court should start its work by the end of this month or by early January,” she said. “They (the court) will not be chasing behind every soldier, but the main line of command will be looked at,” she said…Kumaratunga said she personally believed that involving independent foreign judges was preferable as suggested in a UN Human Rights Council resolution adopted in October.” (AFP, Dec 3, 2015)

Historical realism is imperative. If there were excesses in the last stages of a thirty years war, it is in a manner of speaking, karma, as these most likely resulted from pent-up vengeful blood lust for which the Tigers’ evil deeds over decades were responsible. Command responsibility for any war crimes resides with Prabhakaran who started the war against a democracy, unilaterally returned to war after peace talks with successive elected governments including India’s, and steeped his army in atrocities (e.g. Arantalawa) and terrorism (including the use of suicide bombers disguised as surrendees) such that an element of the Sri Lankan soldiery regarded any member of Prabhakaran’s marauding horde with long-accumulated retaliatory hatred and sought to extirpate them in preventive self-defence.

Continue reading ‘Will 2016 See the End of our History as a Nation with the Capability and Strength to Determine its Own Destiny?’ »

By

Upul Joseph Fernando

The United National Party (UNP) Government that was installed in office in 2001 after toppling the Chandrika Kumaratunga Government was blessed by the Bharathiya Janatha Party (BJP) of India. It’s no secret how the UNP was brought to power. Similarly, it’s an open secret that Chandrika grabbed three ministries of the UNP Government to topple Ranil’s Government a few years later with the help of the Office of the Indian High Commissioner located in Colombo.

The base of that blessing was to hand over the reconstruction contract of the Palaly Air Base to India as requested by the Indian High Commission in Colombo. It is clearly embodied in the book ‘My Belly is White’ authored by then Defence Secretary Austin Fernando. The following passage clearly defines the backdrop to that position.

I kept the file with this order and before anything positive could happen with MilindaMoragoda’s intervention or not, Chandrika Kumaratunga grabbed the MOD on constitutional grounds and I was unemployed with immediate effect from 3rd November 2003. I do not say for a moment that this Indian Intervention had any influence on the grabbing of the MOD. That ended the Palaly Air Base rehabilitation with Indian assistance under RanilWickremesinghe Government.

Continue reading ‘Indian National Security Adviser Doval Tells Sri Lankan President and Prime Minister that New Delhi is Against Colombo Buying 10 “JF 17” Aircraft from Pakistan’ »

By P.K.Balachandran

In a major diplomatic triumph, the government of Sri Lanka has succeeded in persuading Saudi Arabia to reopen the case in which a 45 year old Lankan mother of three was to be “stoned to death” for adultery.
The Lankan Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Dr.Harsha de Silva, told parliament here on Tuesday, that the Saudi government has agreed to give the lady in question a fresh trial in what may well be a benchmark case.

“This can be considered a big victory. We will provide her with legal assistance,” Dr.de Silva said.
The Maithripala Sirisena-Ranil Wickremesinghe government has thus succeeded where the previous regime of Mahinda Rajapaksa had failed. In 2013, the Rajapaksa government was not able to save the life of 24 year old Rizana Nafeek sentenced to be beheaded for the alleged murder of an infant in the household where she was working as a maid.

Even Rajapaksa’s appeal to the Saudi King and the journey of several Muslim leaders to Saudi Arabia to persuade the powers-that-be there failed to have an impact.

Continue reading ‘Diplomatic Triumph for Govt as Saudi Arabia Agrees to Re-open and Review case in Which a Sri Lankan Woman Was Sentenced to Death by Stoning’ »

By Dr. Devanesan Nesiah

We daily read and often hear of “war heroes”, and of our duty from protect them from any charges of misconduct. This is one of the few issues on which there is virtual consensus among Sinhalese political leaders. Even non-Sinhalese political leaders seem to be reluctant to directly challenge this position. However, there is much debate on related issues such as terrorism, war crimes, human rights violation and transitional justice.

There are broad internationally accepted definitions of these terms, subject to much dispute on some of the finer points. But, I have not come across any clear definition of the term “war heroes”. In common usage, this term seems to cover everyone who fought on the winning side of the protracted war against the LTTE possibly excluding those who deserted or “turned traitor” before the war ended. Are “war heroes”, so defined, entitled to or deserving of immunity from charges and investigations of misconduct and, if the charges are proved, from punishment for such misconduct? Surely, that cannot be.

Continue reading ‘Are “War Heroes” Entitled to Immunity From the Consequences of Any Crime That They May Commit?’ »

by Zacki Jabbar

Former President and current Chairperson of the Office For National Unity and Reconciliation, Chandrika Kumaratunga says that a survey carried out by her has revealed that 68 percent of the Sinhalese are for a political solution to the ethnic issue.

Kumaratunga revealed, in Colombo last week, that except two others in her office, no one else knew that she had engaged the services of a French Company to ascertain the views of Sri Lankans on her government’s proposals to address the ethnic issue.

Continue reading ‘Secret Survey Conducted by French Company Reveals 68% Sinhalese are for Devolution Says Chandrika Kumaratunga’ »

By

Reeza Hameed

Many Muslims I have spoken to are opposed to the death sentence imposed on the unnamed Sri Lankan housemaid in Saudi Arabia.

The death penalty, in my view, is not in consonance with the spirit of Islam. According to a Hadith in the compilation of Prophetic traditions known as the Mishkat al-Masabih, an adulteress was forgiven for quenching the thirst of a dog. The dog held out his tongue from thirst when she passed by a well. The woman drew off water using her boot, which she tied to the end of her garment, and gave the water she drew for him to drink. We are told that she was forgiven for that act of kindness.

Islam values the sanctity of life. Killing under the guise of punishment denigrates this cardinal principle. Islam does not condone either stoning to death or any other form of killing masquerading as punishment. The imposition of the death penalty in the name of Islam gives the religion of Islam a bad image. Islam was revealed to deliver mankind from ignorance and inhumane practises and as a mercy to mankind.

Compassion is an essential part of the message of the Quran. In the very first chapter of the Quran, God is described as the Compassionate and the Merciful. The Quran reminds mankind of creation in all its forms and declares it as an act of His mercy.

Continue reading ‘Death Penalty is not in Consonance with the Spirit of Islam and is Contrary to Present day Notions of Justice’ »

by

N Sathiya Moorthy

For a megapolis, Chennai is possibly among the few cities the world over to have evolved on its own and otherwise, without a substantive source of water. With the historicity of the city’s Madras/Chennai twin-names from less than 400 years borrowing from only folklore, the accidental evolution of ‘Madras’ factory on the one hand and Madras Presidency on the other, were both historic accidents.

With the result, when the city and suburbs, lying in a rain-shadow region, to say, gets flooded with an occasional heavy rains, explanations and excuses are sought from elsewhere, without anyone wanting to address the core issues that are at best political, not profitable.

It may thus be timely and fashionable to blame this year’s unprecedented rains and floods in Chennai to ‘climate change’, coinciding as it does with the Paris climate conference. Historically again, the north-east monsoon, that quenches the city’s thirst and also those of the outlying northern districts of Tamil Nadu, is possibly more irregular than the south-west monsoon, which covers much of the rest of the nation.

Worse still, this time, the Bay depressions that feed Chennai’s rain clouds, did not develop into a cyclonic storm, and with that take away death and destruction even more to Andhra Pradesh or Orissa, West Bengal or Bangladesh, as used to be the case mostly. Even the first course that hit coastal Cuddalore district of Tamil Nadu and the Union Territory of Puducherry was not a cyclonic storm in the traditional sense of the term, as the locals had experienced in the past – and may do so in the future, as well.

Continue reading ‘Unprecedented Rains and Chennai Floods: Has it Anything to do with Climate Change?’ »

By Shamindra Ferdinando

Former External Affairs Minister Prof. G. L. Peiris has expressed serious concern over the government considering a general amnesty for LTTE cadres in custody, particularly those who had been convicted on terrorism charges.

Prof. Peiris said that the government stand should be examined against the backdrop of a 17-year-old boy taking his own life, demanding the immediate release of LTTE cadres from custody.

The former law professor said he considered that suicide part of a sophisticated plan to influence the decision making process.

Prof. Peiris was addressing a public gathering at Anuradhapura on Sunday (Dec 6). He referred to Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera’s recent statement in Parliament that the government would explore possibility of offering a general amnesty to those who had been accused, charged and convicted under PTA or other emergency laws. Minister Samaraweera was responding to Jaffna District EPDP MP Douglas Devananda.

Continue reading ‘GL Peiris Expresses Serious Concern Over Granting of Amnesty to LTTE Cadres Convicted for Terrorist Offences’ »

By Madura Ranwala

The Fort Magistrate yesterday remanded till Dec. 14 Dr. Nalaka Godahewa, former chairman of Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) over alleged transfer of Rs. 5 mn to a sports promoting enterprise affiliated with Tharunyata Hetak NGO during the previous administration. The alleged transaction took place in 2013.

The NGO headed by UPFA MP Namal Rajapaksa had utilised the money to pay internationally known hip hop artistes who performed at the Carlton Super Sevens Rugby tournament organized by his organisation. The sports promoting enterprise had transferred the money to the US-based group at the behest of Tharunyata Hetak.

Continue reading ‘Transfer of Rs 5 Million from SEC to Namal Rajapaksa headed NGO: Nalaka Godahewa,Dhammika Perera and Ronnie Ibrahim Remanded till Dec 14’ »

(Text of Editorial Appearing in “The Island” of December 8th 2015 Under the heading “MR’s security”)

Former President Mahinda Rajapaksa is faced with serious threats due to the curtailment of his security and the release of hardcore Tigers, his office has said. The government has sought to deny this claim.

The despicable practice of governments reducing their opponents’ security in a bid to tame the latter is not of recent origin. The Rajapaksa government stripped the war winning Army Commander Gen. Sarath Fonseka of special security after he had fallen from grace and challenged the then President Rajapaksa politically. Today, the boot is on the other foot!

The present government obtained a popular mandate, promising to be different from its predecessor. Now, it has to make good that pledge and ensure that all political and military leaders responsible for the country’s successful war on terror are protected without leaving any room for allegations that it is using security as a tool to control and harass some of them.

Continue reading ‘Govt must not Reduce Security of Former President Mahinda Rajapaksa on any Grounds – The Island’ »

By

Bandula Jayasekara

One morning the then Secretary to the President Lalith Weeratunga called and asked me, “What have you done? President, Gotabahya and Sarath Fonseka are very angry. What has the journalist you helped visit Sri Lanka written. He has written what General Fonseka didn’t say?” I requested Lalith to calm down and explained to him that Stewart Bell was a respected Canadian journalist from the National Post who always wrote against terror and was considered a balanced journalist and that is why I wanted him to have easy access in Sri Lanka. Lalith said: “It has become a big issue here and its making things difficult for us. The opposition, the international community and , Tamil Nadu are making an issue out of it after the publication.”

I immediately called Stewart, who had written a series based on his visit to Sri Lanka to the National Post. Several articles appeared when he was in Sri Lanka. I respected Stewart as a balanced and very responsible journalist. I knew he wouldn’t get anything out of context. This is an excerpt of the interview General Sarath Fonseka had given to Stewart and published in The National Post on 25 September 2008.

Continue reading ‘When Ex- Army Chief Sarath Fonseka said Sri Lanka Belongs to the Sinhalese but Minorities can live Without Demanding Undue Things!’ »

By Ru Kariyawasam

Kurukkal P. Sivaloganathan, Chairman of the Association of Hindu Priests of Jaffna, says that the Sri Lanka Army was blessed by gods and won the war as soldiers refrained from eating beef while the members of their counterpart, the LTTE, ate beef and perished.

Hindus venerate the cow and despise the practice of consuming beef. Kurukkal Sivaloganathan says that vegetarian Hindus were upset when LTTE members were found eating beef.

“Prabhakaran was a Hindu. But, he did not follow the path of Dharma. His father was one of the chief laymen of Ishwara Kovil of Valvettithurai. Prabhakaran did not practice his religion. But, some newspapers tried to portray him as a pious Hindu.

“Hindus are vegetarians. Some Hindus eat meat, but refrain from eating beef. Prabhakaran’s army ate beef, ignoring our pleas against it.

Continue reading ‘Sri Lanka Army Won the War as They Refrained From Eating Beef While Prabhakaran and the LTTE Perished Because They Ate Beef – Sivaloganathan Kurukkal’ »

By By P.K.Balachandran

Four Muslim Members of Parliament, including a cabinet Minister, shouted down Tamil National Alliance (TNA) MP M.A.Sumanthiran, when he mentioned the term “Shariah” while speaking in parliament on Friday on a Saudi Arabian court’s order to “stone to death” a Lankan women for committing adultery.

The 43 year old Lankan woman, a mother of three, was to be stoned to death in Riyadh on Friday but the sentence was not carried out because the lady had appealed against the order with the assistance of the Lankan government.

Sumanthiran, also a leading Supreme Court lawyer, said that laws regarding the mode of punishment in various countries should be looked at afresh, from the human rights angle. He mentioned stoning in Saudi Arabia, flogging in Singapore and the use of the electric chair in some states in the USA as examples of practices which need to be reviewed. He further said that countries cannot prevent people from across the world questioning laws which violate human rights and cannot use religion to stall intervention.

He pointed out there has been international intervention in Sri Lanka to restore human rights in the island and Lanka has accepted it.

Continue reading ‘4 Muslim MP’s Including Minister Bathiyudeen Shout at Sumanthiran and Prevent MP From Speaking on Shariah Law in Parliament’ »

By

Ranga Jayasuriya

A Saudi Shariah court has sentenced one of our women there to death by stoning. Her offence was indulging in a sexual liaison out of wedlock with a fellow Sri Lankan. (The man has also been sentenced to 100 lashes)In general, sex is a personal matter of adult individuals, in which the State has no say. However, the Saudis have a penchant for capital punishment for many otherwise mundane affairs, including renouncing Islam and blogging dissent etc.

Last week, Riyadh carried out the beheading of 50 inmates convicted by their courts on various offences — not to be outdone by their ideological bedfellows, the slave- taking and blood-soaking terrorists of the Islamic State.

Last week, Opposition MP M.A. Sumanthiran was shouted down in Parliament by some Muslim MPs when he questioned legal groundings on stoning to death under the Shari ah law. That Mr. Sumanthiran had the courage to speak up what the vast majority of Sri Lankans ponder in silently is in stark contrast to the silence maintained by the otherwise rubble-rousing Rajapaksa coterie in Parliament. Vocal protests inside the House to Sumanthiran’s remarks could well be disturbing signs of not so covert sympathies with a medieval ideology.

Continue reading ‘Vocal Protests to Sumanthiran’s Remarks on Shariah Law Could be Disturbing Signs of Sympathies with a Medieval Ideology’ »

by Dr A.C.Visvalingam

On 27 September 2015, the SUNDAY ISLAND published an article titled “THE FIRST 260 DAYS OF THE CURRENT GOVERNMENT” sent by the Citizens’ Movement for Good Governance (CIMOGG) regarding what were then seen as the pluses and the minuses of the Sirisena-Wickremesinghe government during its first 260 days in power.

At that point of time, we were inclined to give greater emphasis to the pluses than to the minuses on the presumption that public approbation would encourage the government to aim for more pluses in the future. Very disappointingly, the reality has proved to be otherwise.

Those with whom we have exchanged views over the past 65 days on S-W’s record have expressed sentiments such as the following:

“politicians cannot be expected to change their spots however sweetly they may talk”, “power has gone to this lot’s heads five times as fast as in the case of their predecessors”, “the election platform promise to abolish nepotism was a premeditated and callous lie”, “Sirisena may have been sincere at the beginning about not wanting a second period as Executive President, but it is becoming clearer by the day that he yearns to win the next Parliamentary elections under a suitably-worded new Constitution and become Prime Minister with virtually the same powers”, “in order to further his ambitions, Sirisena has decided to place the interests of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party ahead of Sri Lanka’s”, “the whole exercise leading up to the change of regime has been a monumental confidence trick” etc.

As we are still in no man’s land about the 20th Amendment, the Right to Information Act, the Audit Act and other promised legislation, there was no basis on which we could have ventured to disagree with these negative assessments.

Continue reading ‘Can Our Citizens be Faulted if they Feel Deceived and Betrayed by the Sirisena-Wickremesinghe Govt?’ »

By

C.A.Chandraprema

The first budget of the new government has run into stiff opposition from trade unions, farmers’ organisations and the like – a situation that was hardly unexpected given the provisions in the budget.

This is probably the first time in living memory that a budget has encountered such resistance and all the signs are that this will exacerbate in the coming days and weeks instead of abating. One may say that never has the first fully- fledged budget of a new government come in for flak like this.

Usually, the first two or three years of a government, is a honeymoon period when the public more or less goes along with the government in power. This time however things are working out differently. One may say that the government has brought this situation upon itself by creating impossible expectations among the general public.

In the past one year, the whole country regressed to the 1960s and 70s, when the government was supposed to give and the people were supposed to receive. It was the ethic of the Rodiya community which in feudal Sri Lanka was consigned by custom to begging. The Rodiya was obliged to beg and the non-Rodiyas were obliged to give when importuned and it was believed that both the giver and the receiver were exalted by the transaction.

This welfare dependency was more pronounced among the Sinhalese than either the Tamils or Muslims. It is J.R.Jayewardene who has to take the credit for rescuing the Sinhalese from the Rodiya mentality by boldly doing away with welfare measures such as the rice ration.

Continue reading ‘Resistance Encountered by First Budget of New Govt Shows Signs of Exacerbating Instead of Abating.’ »

By

Kishali Pinto Jayawardene

In a major ironical twist unfolding before our eyes, former President Chandrika Kumaratunga has seen fit to wax eloquent on the importance of judicial integrity this week. Addressing a press conference, she is reported to have said that, over the last decade, the Sri Lankan public in general and she in particular, had lost ‘confidence in the judiciary.’ It was observed by her that ‘the Lokka’ had to give just one call to obtain whatever judicial orders that he wished.

Assessing the judiciary under Kumaratunga

These are richly farcical sentiments coming from a President under whose imperial command the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka commenced its ignominious descent into the worst post-independence controversies in the history of that once august institution.

The International Bar Association (IBA) put this very well in its first fact-finding mission to the country under the Kumaratunga Presidency. Concern was expressed regarding the undermining of the separation of powers between the executive and the judiciary. The lack of accountability of the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) was particularly worrying. The mission observed that ‘it was not confident that the JSC is acting entirely without outside interference’ (see ‘Sri Lanka: Failing to protect the Rule of Law and the Independence of the Judiciary,’ IBAHRI, November 2001).

Its second mission a few years later concluded with severe cautions in regard to the increased politicization of the judicial institution. Regardless, vociferous civil society critics and seniors at the Bar who had held forth on the misdeeds of the JR Jayawardene regime were silent during that period and suddenly became vocal again only after Kumaratunga was thrust out of power.

Continue reading ‘Notion That All Wrongs Were Limited To The Rajapaksa Period Is In Part Dangerous And In Part Foolish’ »

By

Rasika Jayakody

When President Maithripala Sirisena, former General Secretary of the SLFP, visited Paris before the Parliamentary election in 2010, the Paris Branch of his party was bitterly divided.

Both factions of the Paris Branch of the SLFP attempted to hold separate meetings with the then General Secretary of the party who was visiting France on an official matter. President Sirisena, who had been in the party for nearly three decades, did not take too long to realize that an internal power struggle was simmering in the party due to administrative flaws of the then leadership.

President Sirisena’s next visit to Paris was early last week. Although the visit was fixed months ago, the plan was altered at the last moment due to the terrorist attack France’s capital city. After the attack, the President decided to cancel his visit considering security threats. However, there were multiple requests from the French government to visit Paris and also to attend the Global Climate Change conference – an event that drew the attention of the entire world.

The President decided to visit France a few days before he left for the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in Malta. He confirmed to the French authorities that he would be visiting France after addressing the CHOGM as its outgoing Chairman. The President was also scheduled to deliver a three-minute speech at the Global Climate Change Summit, popularly known as ‘COP 21’.

President in Paris

Apart from the summit, the President also held a meeting with the Sri Lankan community in Paris on the first day of his visit. The meeting took place at the Sri Lankan Embassy and it was followed by a gala dinner at the official residence of Ambassador Thilak Ranaviraja. Only a select crowd was invited for the Ambassador’s dinner.

Continue reading ‘Was Mahinda’s “Secret” Meeting with Ranil in Parliament Over Son Yoshita Being Allegedly Implicated in Murder of Rugby Player Wasim Thajudeen?’ »

President Maithripala Sirisena has ordered the immediate withdrawal of an Army security contingent of some 500 personnel assigned to his predecessor Mahinda Rajapaksa. The move came after ministers, at their weekly meeting on Wednesday night, discussed a report by Finance Minister Ravi Karunanayake.

In terms of the report, former President Rajapaksa had been assigned 130 police officers besides 500 army officers and personnel. It came to light that there was documentation to confirm that Police Headquarters had given approval for its contingent.

However, a Government source said there was no documentation either at Army Headquarters or the Ministry of Defence on how the soldiers and officers had been assigned.

Continue reading ‘President Maithripala Sirisena Orders Withdrawal of 500 Army Personnel Assigned for Security to Ex-President Mahinda Rajapaksa’ »

The Financial Crimes Division sent out fresh teams yesterday to arrest Nalaka Godahewa, former Chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). He is wanted in connection with the SEC transfer of five million rupees to Tharunyata Hetak (A tomorrow for youth), an organisation headed by Parliamentarian Namal Rajapaksa.

According to investigations the money said to be allocated for an awareness programme among rural youth on investing in the stock market was transferred to a third party bank account in the United States as payment for a Hip hop dance group that performed at the ‘Carlton Super Sevens Rugby Tournament’ last year.

Continue reading ‘Ex – Chairman of Securities and Exchange Commission Nalaka Godahewa Evades Arrest as Police Crack Down on “Stock Market Mafia” Under Rajapaksa Regime’ »

The Police Financial Crimes Investigations Division is to arrest Nalaka Godahewa, former Chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) under charges pertaining to financial irregularities, authoritative Police sources said.

They also added that Police could not locate the former SEC Chairman’s whereabouts to arrest him yesterday.

Former President Mahinda Rajapaksa appointed Godahewa as SEC chairman in the mid 2012. He also served as the Chairman of the Sri Lanka Tourism Board and the Managing Director of Sri Lanka Insurance.

Meanwhile, the Police Financial Crimes Investigations Division (FCID) also arrested two well-known figures among business circles under the same charges.

Police sources said the two individuals – Dhammika Perera and Ronnie Ibrahim were arrested under instructions from the Attorney General.

Continue reading ‘Police FCID Cracks Down on “Mahinda Mafia”in Stock Exchange: SEC Ex – Chairman Nalaka Godahewa Absconding to Avoid Arrest;Ex – Dep Chair Dhammika Perera Arrested along with Ronnie Ibrahim.’ »

Former President and Kurunegala District MP Mahinda Rajapaksa who spoke in Parliament for the first time since his election as an MP said yesterday that some who allege about wrongdoings during his regime remained silent then. “Some of them were even ministers in my Cabinet,” he said.

Mr. Rajapaksa who responded to a statement by his successor Maithripala Sirisena that 12,000 LTTE members were released during the previous regime said they were released after ensuring they would not go back to war again. But he said suspicions had arisen over this government’s action to release former LTTE cadres.

He said situation was same with regard to the deproscription of diaspora organizations. Mr. Rajapaksa said his government had set the stage for reconciliation by developing infrastructure facilities in the North and East and recalled that the LLRC and the Pranagama Commissions were appointed by him.

He said fulfilling the demands made by the Tamil diaspora was not reconciliation and asked the government not to degrade the security forces.

Mr. Rajapaksa asked the government not to bring in laws to enable the setting up of special courts to try security forces personnel.

The full speech made by Mr. Rajapaksa is as follows –

Hon. Speaker, In 2009, we militarily defeated the LTTE which had been officially named by the US Federal Bureau of investigation as the deadliest terrorist organisation in the world. Though we had defeated the military machine of the LTTE, their political and financial structures based in Western countries remain intact. Therefore, my government maintained constant vigilance to ensure that there was no resurgence of terrorism in Sri Lanka.

There were about four attempts of varying severity by separatist terrorists to regroup in the North but due to our vigilance my government was able to nip all those attempts in the bud. I see now that this vigilance no longer exists. My government rehabilitated and released over 11,000 LTTE cadres and retained in custody only those considered to be dangerous to the community.

The present government has been hastily releasing hard core terrorists without regard to the nation’s security due to political pressure from certain interested quarters. While dangerous LTTE detainees are being released, the Prevention of Terrorism Act is being used to imprison members of the military. The PTA was enacted to deal with terrorism, not to detain members of the armed forces. If any investigation is to be carried out into the conduct of military personnel, the government has a duty to deal with the issue under the laws applicable to the military or under the ordinary law of the country.

That is a basic curtsy that we have to extend to members of the armed forces who sacrificed so much for the country. We have to be heedful of the self respect of our armed forces. Officials of foreign organisations have been permitted unfettered access to Sri Lanka’s military installations such as the Naval base in Trincomalee.

This has resulted in an immediate danger posed to members of the intelligence wing of the Navy reminiscent of the situation that arose after the Millennium city betrayal in 2002. Hon Speaker, We have to be mindful of the events which occurred on the so called Mahaviru day marked recently.

The black flags and the posters on the Jaffna campus openly deified Prabhakaran and called for the establishment of Eelam. The provincial council of the Northern Province ordered that schools be closed and hartals and hunger strikes were organised in the North to bring pressure to bear on the government to release dangerous terrorists. A 17 year old youth jumped in front of a moving train and committed suicide. It is said that a letter was found in his possession demanding that LTTE prisoners be released forthwith.

It is not possible to believe that a teenager would have resorted to this behaviour without instigation and elaborate planning by others. We must be mindful of where these incidents are leading the country. Despite the danger signs that have been manifesting themselves, the government has taken the ill-advised move of removing the proscriptions on eight pro-LTTE organisations and 269 individuals.

I have seen on the internet photographs of the Tamil Youth Organisation and the Canadian Tamil Congress both of which were recently de-proscribed, hoisting the Eelam flag and paying public homage to Prabhakaran. These are organisations which my government banned to safeguard Sri Lanka’s security but they have all been irresponsibly de-proscribed by the current administration.

Officials of foreign governments have visited our country and made demarches to Sri Lanka’s leadership about withdrawing the military from the Northern Province. Decisions with regard to the deployment of troops are matters that should solely be within the sovereign jurisdiction of Sri Lanka.

I cannot approve of officials of foreign governments declaring that they will remain ‘cautious and vigilant’ with regard to military matters in Sri Lanka. The root cause of these problems is the ill-conceived foreign policy of the current administration which is based on bending over backwards to please certain foreign governments which are in turn influenced in their policy towards Sri Lanka by various Tamil Diaspora organisations which can deliver votes at elections in those countries.

Hon Speaker, In October this year, the present government ill-advisedly accepted and co-sponsored a resolution against Sri Lanka which is based on a report which states that there are ‘reasonable grounds to believe’ that Sri Lanka’s armed forces committed grave crimes during the last phase of the war against the LTTE. In terms of this resolution the government has agreed to establish a war crimes court to try Sri Lankan military personnel with the participation of foreign judges, prosecutors and investigators and to allow this mechanism to obtain funding from foreign countries.

They have also agreed to reform the domestic law to bring it into line with the laws implemented by international war crimes tribunals. They have also undertaken to remove through an administrative process, members of the military suspected of having committed human rights abuses even if there is insufficient evidence to charge them in a court of law.

When the British prime minister met our President recently, the former made an offer of six million pounds to reform the military. I do not believe that foreign governments should be sponsoring the reform of Sri Lanka’s armed forces nor should any such reform be done due to pressure from overseas.

I have come to learn that the senior military officers who led the various Divisions during the final phase of the war are to be retired without being given the usual service extensions. When these officers retire, they lose the institutional backing and protection provided by the military. Sending these officers on retirement at a time when war crimes investigations are being spoken of is a clear case of deliberately abandoning these officers.

It is my view that these officers should be granted service extensions by the government until the danger abates. The government has also agreed amend the Public Security Ordinance and to repeal the Prevention of Terrorism Act and replace it with legislation acceptable to the foreign powers.

I see this as a reckless dismantling of the country’s core security legislation. Hon. Speaker, The State owned Rakana Lanka Security Service built up a successful maritime security service in the Indian Ocean Region during my administration. More than twenty private security companies collaborated with Rakna Lanka in this enterprise in various capacities.

Sri Lanka earned a considerable amount of foreign exchange through this endeavour and it continued to function under the present government until very recently. But now I find that the government has for political reasons embarked on a course of action aimed at completely destroying this successful maritime security service which functioned with the approval of the relevant UN bodies.

Key individuals who provided political and military leadership to the war effort are now being hauled virtually on a daily basis before various police financial investigation units and commissions of inquiry probing allegations corruption and fraud.

I believe this is being done to tarnish the image that these individuals built up in the country by providing leadership to the war effort. I know that the people are following these developments carefully.

I wish to call upon the government to not to place the nation’s security in jeopardy over petty political considerations and due to their antipathy towards me and the government I led.

Thank you!

Courtesy:Daily Mirror

By Ashwin Hemmathagama

Assuring the nation that national security was still his first priority while efforts were being made to advance reconciliation and harmony between all communities, President Maithripala Sirisena joined the Committee Stage debate of the Ministry of Defence yesterday.

President Sirisena, who holds the Defence portfolio, condemned the use of extremist rhetoric in the country, saying it was being perpetuated by a few who were no longer powerful politically.

He urged lawmakers to join hands to support national reconciliation.

“Our first priority is national security. There will be no lapses. Recently bail was granted to some LTTE cadres and the Government removed the ban on eight Tamil diaspora groups, but extremists spread lies creating doubts about national security,” President Sirisena charged.

Continue reading ‘President Sirisena Declares in Parliament to Uphold National Security While Advancing Reconciliation and Ethnic Harmony’ »

By

Lasanda Kurukulasuriya

“It is absolutely right to take decisive action against terrorists when they threaten the lives of innocent citizens.”

The speaker of these words was not former president Mahinda Rajapaksa or anyone in his government, but British Prime Minister David Cameron, expressing solidarity with French President Francois Hollande in the wake of the recent terror attacks in Paris. But it appears that what’s sauce for the goose is not sauce for the gander, as Western powers push for implementation of a US-led resolution crafted to make the Sri Lankan armed forces suffer ‘consequences’ for their role in defeating terrorism, in a part of the world far away from theirs.

The eruption of IS terror in Paris came at a time when in Sri Lanka, the Paranagama Second Mandate Report had become a subject of discussion, bringing into sharp focus the monumental hypocrisy of the Western political project in Sri Lanka.

What is more surprising however is that the Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) seems to be collaborating in it (having co-sponsored the resolution, for example). There was some irony too in the fact that even while GoSL was (quite rightly) sending condolences to Paris, it was reportedly hauling up its own former service chiefs who led the fight against terrorism, before one of its numerous ‘Commissions of Inquiry.’

The peculiar trajectory of the debate over the Paranagama Report, both in and outside Parliament, dogged by various attempts to discredit it, have left many people perplexed, and many questions unanswered.

Continue reading ‘Paranagama Commission Report Must be made part of National and International Discourse Despite Attempts by some to Discredit it’ »

(Text of Editorial Appearing in “The Island” of December 5th 2015 under the Heading “Fish or cut bait!)

No sooner had Deputy Minister Ranjan Ramanayake claimed that there were journalists among 300 ‘outsiders’ who had benefited from Avant Garde largesse, than Ports and Shipping Minister Arjuna Ranatunga said a dozen journalists had been on the Sri Lanka Ports Authority (SLPA) payroll.

Both Ranatunga and Ramanayake are political matadors known for their pugnacity. They are not known for pulling punches. But, they have, strangely, stopped short of naming names, in this instance, for reasons best known to themselves. Ramanayake has told this newspaper that Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and JVP Leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake are also privy to a list of Avant Garde beneficiaries.

Ramanayake, in figure-hugging, short-sleeved shirts, flaunting his gym-toned muscles and flashing his trademark mega-watt smile, is a frequent visitor to the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption (CIABOC). It looks as if he were resident there, making complaints of corruption against various people including his ministerial colleagues. Why he has baulked at divulging the names of the journalists in the pay of Avant Garde defies comprehension.

What has happened to our Captain Cool? He treated killer bouncers, toe-crushing yorkers and full tosses alike, danced down the track, throwing caution to the winds, instilled fear into the much-feared pacies and wily spinners and sent formidable opponents on leather hunts? Time was when he displayed his buccaneering spirit on the political front as well; he had the courage to take on the Rajapaksas in their heyday and throw his weight behind the war winning army chief Sarath Fonseka in the 2010 presidential race. But, today, he is too pusillanimous to name a few journalists who have allegedly got paid by the SLPA! Has Arjuna given up the fight?

Continue reading ‘Ranjan Ramanayake and Arjuna Ranatunge Must Name the Journalists Allegedly on Payroll of Avant Garde and Ports Authority – “The Island”.’ »

(Text of Speech made in Parliament on December 3rd 2015 by Leader of the Opposition and Trincomalee district parliamentarian Rajavarothayam Sampanthan)

ගරු රාජවරෝදියම් සම්පන්දන් මහතා (විරුද්ධ පාර්ශ්වයේ නායකතුමා)
(மாண்புமிகு இராஜவரோதியம் சம்பந்தன் – எதிர்க்கட்சி முதல்வர்)
(The Hon. Rajavarothiam Sampanthan – Leader of the Opposition)

Mr. Chairman, I am happy to start the Debate, on which a Cut has been moved by the Hon. Anura Kumara Dissanayake.

We are discussing the Votes of His Excellency the President, the Office of the Prime Minister, Judges of the Superior Courts, the Office of the Cabinet of Ministers and of several Commissions which have in terms of the Nineteenth Amendment, been appointed in recent times.

We are extremely happy that we are in the position to debate the Votes on these Commissions which today have been given a complete measure of independence to be able to perform their functions fearlessly without being in any way subservient to the Executive. I think that was achieved, Sir, as a result of the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment. The passage of the Nineteenth Amendment was eventually due to the very strenuous and indefatigable efforts of the President, His Excellency Maithripala Sirisena and the Prime Minister, Hon. Ranil Wickremesingthe.

It was due to the efforts of the President, the Prime Minister and persons who thought correctly that the system had to be changed, that in the interests of the country and that it was vital to bring about certain changes to ensure that these Commissions will be appointed through a Constitutional Council that would function independently and that the persons who were appointed would be persons of integrity, calibre and possessed the necessary qualities to be able to serve in these Commissions in the best interests of the country.

I am happy that under your guidance, Mr. Chairman, you have indeed exercised, in my view, a great deal of alacrity in ensuring that these Commissions have been appointed without delay all these Commissions have been appointed. I have the good fortune of being a Member of the Constitutional Council in my capacity as the Leader of the Opposition. We have cooperated and made appointments purely in the interests of the country without being guided by any other factor. Sir, I must also at this juncture record my deep appreciation of the manner in which you have guided us to achieve this very important task. We will wait and see how they will perform. I have not the slightest doubt that the performance will be something which the country, the people of this country will appreciate because the persons appointed are those who would, without fear or favour, serve the people of this country and not certain individuals, not certain high-powered persons in the Executive. They would be concerned with the best interests of the people of this country and would serve in the best interests of the people.

Continue reading ‘“How can Govt Charge Persons Under the Draconian PTA After Saying it Would be Repealed?” Asks Opposition Leader Sampanthan’ »

Leader of the opposition of the Northern Provincial Council (NPC) S.Thavarajah has reported to the Auditor General that the Northern Provincial Council has been flouting the Financial Regulations in the Financial Management of the NPC.

In his letter to the Auditor General dated 01.12.2015 he has stated as follows-

The NPC entered into an agreement with Joule Power and Beta Power to set up a wind farm in Palai. In the year 2014 these companies have supplied 06 Nos. water bowsers to NPC as gratis under Corporate Social Responsibilities to the value of Rs. 20 million.

This year the money granted by these companies amounting to Rs. 20 million, has been kept in a separate account in the name of the Chief Secretary without being credited to the Provincial Treasury’s Account and appropriation approved by the council.

When this matter was raised in the Council, the Chief Minister replied that it is being held in a separate account.

Continue reading ‘Northern Provincial Council Flouts Financial Regulations by not Crediting 20 Million Rupees Given by Companies to Provincial Treasury Acct -S.Thavarajah’ »

by Zacki Jabbar

Only about five percent of employees in the public service are proficient in Tamil as the national language policy has not been implemented, says former President and current Chairperson of the Office For National Unity and Reconciliation (ONUR), Chandrika Kumaratunga.

She told a news conference in Colombo on Tuesday that on ONUR’s recommendation the government was in the process of selecting 2,000 persons who were proficient in both Tamil and Sinhala.

“Despite Sinhala and Tamil being official languages, Tamils still receive letters from the State in Sinhala. This is due to only five percent of public sector employees being proficient in Tamil. It is a serious issue which needs to be rectified as soon as possible. Our aim is to secure language rights for every Sri Lankan,” Kumaratunga said, adding that most of those being recruited were retired people but with the skills and experience to get the job at hand fast-tracked.

Continue reading ‘Govt is Recruiting 2000 Persons Proficient in Both Sinhala and Tamil to Fully Implement Sinhala and Tamil as Official Languages – Chandrika Kumaratunga’ »

By Shamindra Ferdinando

The government has sought an opportunity urgently to make representations to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia regarding a Sri Lankan woman sentenced to be stoned to death on a charge of adultery.

Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera made the appeal on Wednesday (Dec. 2) during a hastily arranged meeting in Parliament with the Charge d’ Affairs of the Saudi embassy in Colombo.

Minister Samaraweera urged the Saudi diplomat to arrange for him to speak with Saudi counterpart as soon as possible to seek clemency for the condemned woman. Foreign Employment Minister Thalatha Atukorale, National Integration and Reconciliation Minister A. H. M. Fowzie and Chairman of the Sri Lanka Bureau of Foreign Employment R. K. Obeyesekere joined the discussion.

Continue reading ‘Lankan Envoy to Saudi Arabia Azmi Thassim Commenting to Saudi Press Allegedly Endorses Execution of Sri Lankan Woman’ »

By

M.S.M.Ayub

After May 2009 a youth from the Tamil Community has taken his life for a ‘cause,’ according to Tamil politicians and Tamil media. Rajeswaran Senthuran, a 17-year-old student of Kokkuvil Hindu College in Jaffna had allegedly committed suicide by jumping in front of an express train from Colombo on November 26, a sentimentally important day for many Tamils in the north, since LTTE leader V. Prabhakaran’s birthday falls on that day.

A note had reportedly been found in Senthuran’s school bag containing a demand for the immediate release of the Tamil political prisoners, a hot topic in Tamil media these days and a comment supportive of the carving out of a separate Tamil State. Despite doubts raised by the police as to who had written the note and how it had crept into the boy’s bag, the general perception that now prevails among the Tamil people is that he died for a cause – getting political prisoners released.

The nationalistic emotions were high among the northern people next day, November 27 as the cremation of the boy coincided with the LTTE’s “Maveerar Day” which was commemorated in many places in the province. For several days prior to the “Maveerar Day” Tamil media, especially the newspapers had been carrying articles and comments by politicians, venerating and glorifying the LTTE leaders and the cadres with emotionally charged wordings, but without any coherent analysis of the past. Most probably this might have affected the equilibrium in Senthuran.

Continue reading ‘Suicide of Senthuran:Tamil Politicians and Media Should Refrain From Pushing Youths Towards Unrealistic Political Goals’ »

By

Ramya Chamalie Jirasinghe

As citizens of Sri Lanka we know only two facts about the ‘Nameless Dying Woman’ in Saudi Arabia. One, that she is a Sri Lankan and two that in a few days she will be stoned to death. (The informal news was that the execution is to take place on Dec 4).

The rest, as we have been told by the media and the spokes personnel of the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) of Sri Lanka are mere crumbs of information that we are supposed to be uncritically accept as the real story. We have been told that the woman refuses to be identified as she does not want to cause distress to her family in Sri Lanka. And we are supposed to believe this.

We have been told that the MEA has hired lawyers and are in the process of conducting a legal appeal and that diplomatic discussions are also going on. We are supposed to believe that this is the best solution and also the only option.

Continue reading ‘Sri Lankans want to Know What the Govt is Doing to Save the Life of Nameless Dying Woman in Saudi Arabia?’ »

By

Taylor Dibbert

The Sri Lankan government recently released its proposed budget for the coming year. It’s been met with an array of responses. Some commentators have questioned the calculations which the government has made, including over fundamental matters such as tax revenue.

Kusal Perera, a Colombo-based journalist, says that “most numbers are fake or arbitrarily inflated.” Among other matters, Perera is concerned that this budget will result in increased economic inequality.

On the positive, Maithripala Sirisena, the country’s current president, will control far less of the budget than his predecessor Mahinda Rajapaksa did during the end of his tenure.

According to, Verité Research, a think tank in Colombo, Rajapaksa controlled 62% of all expenditures in 2014, an incredible centralization of power. For 2016, it appears Sirisena would control approximately 10% of total expenditure.

Continue reading ‘No Legitimate National Security Reasons to Justify Increasing Defence Expenditure Under Sirisena Govt’ »

By Charumini de Silva

A confident Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe yesterday sounded determined to lead Sri Lanka to achieve higher socioeconomic growth, despite looming external shocks.

In remarks at the 30th anniversary celebrations of the Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE) followed by the ringing of the market opening bell yesterday, the Premier warned of Sri Lanka facing unpredictable external political and economic turmoil owing to the global fight against ISIS, drop in commodity prices, addition of Chinese currency Yuan to the IMF’s Special Drawing Rights (SDR) basket and a politically-motivated hike in US interest rates.

Wickremesinghe said these developments, on top of lowered world economic growth, “are going to impact us and the rest of the world economically” in 2016.

Continue reading ‘“Sri Lanka Must Become a High Income Country by 2030” Declares Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe’ »

By Saman Indrajith

Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera brought in some photographs of former President Mahinda Rajapaksa to the Chamber yesterday as evidence to prove his allegation that the previous regime had secret deals with the LTTE and Tamil Diaspora.

Holding up the photographs during his speech at the second reading debate on budget proposals the Minister said: “I would like to give these photographs to my friend in the opposition, MEP leader Dinesh Gunawardena. I have heard that Dinesh Gunawardena has a Rajapaksa shrine at his home and he is worshipping the Rajapaksa’s pictures. So, Dinesh can take these, too, and put them up there in that shrine.”

Continue reading ‘Mangala Samaraweera Displays Photographs of Mahinda Rajapaksa in Parliament as “Evidence”of Secret Deals with LTTE and Tamil Diaspora by Previous Regime’ »

By Saman Indrajith

The second reading stage debate was passed with a majority of 107 votes in Parliament yesterday.

It received 159 votes for and 52 against. Thirteen Mmembers were absent.

The vote was taken at 5.25 pm at the end of second reading stage debate that commenced on Nov. 21. The debate on the Sirisena-Wickremesinghe government’s first full budget was held for nine days.

At the end of the debate JVP MP Sunil Handunnetti asked for a division on the budget proposals from Speaker Karu Jayasuriya and a vote be taken by name.

Speaker Jayasuriya moved the House for a vote.

TNA, too, voted for the budget.

The JVP and MPs belonging to the UPFA’s Joint Opposition team voted against it.

Continue reading ‘Budget Passed at Second Reading by Majority of 107 Votes with 159 Voting for and 52 Against’ »

BY S VENKAT NARAYAN

Chennai and several coastal areas of Tamil Nadu were today marooned in flood waters following incessant heavy rains that pounded the city and the neighbouring districts cutting the state capital from rail and road links. The airport was shut down till Thursday morning with at least 700 passengers stranded.

According to unconfirmed reports, at least 200 people are feared in Chennai alone.

Some 70,000 people have been shifted to relief camps.

Though the heavy rains that lashed the city and the suburbs and neighbouring districts of Kancheepuram, Tiruvallur and Cuddalore for more than a day yesterday have shown a let up since this morning, a continuous drizzle under overcast skies spelled further trouble for citizens.

Continue reading ‘Chennai and many Coastal Areas of Tamil Nadu Engulfed by Floods Following Incessant Heavy rain’ »

by Zacki Jabbar

Former President and Head of the Office for National Unity and Reconciliation Chandrika Kumaratunga said in Colombo yesterday that the Special Court to be established shortly to inquire into alleged war crimes would examine the actions of those in the main line of command and not soldiers who were only carrying out orders they had received.

Addressing a news conference at the BMICH to announce that discussions were underway among all stakeholders to introduce a National Policy on Reconciliation, she said that the Special Court to be established before the end of January would comprise only Sri Lankans drawn from among judges and respected members of the private bar.

Kumaratunga emphasised that foreign technological and forensic assistance that had been offered would be accepted purely to assist the Special Court in performing its functions better and deliver evidence-based justice.

Continue reading ‘Actions of Those in Command Would be Probed for Alleged War Crimes by Special Court and not Soldiers only Carrying out Orders”- Chandrika Kumaratunga’ »

By Ashwin Hemmathagama

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe yesterday staunchly defended his Government’s maiden budget, urging Parliamentarians on both sides of the aisle to think out of the box and put aside traditional political rivalries to back the appropriation bill for 2016.

The Budget for 2016 presented by Finance Minister Ravi Karunanayake late last month has come in for both bouquets and brickbats, giving rise to a strong debate over the Government’s fiscal proposals in the country.

The Budget has been criticised for the cancellation of vehicle permit entitlements for both parliamentarians and public servants, revising fertiliser subsidies and school uniforms distribution, increasing emission test charges, and providing foreigners easy access to hold local lands.

But Prime Minister Wickremesinghe who addressed Parliament yesterday, said the criticisms were lacking in substance, and in most cases were not valid.

“Some said there was no taste at all in this budget. Others held the budget would destroy the economy and sell the country to foreigners. Certain members were unhappy to be in the Cabinet and decided to criticise the budget. All these are traditional political slogans that have been used for years and years. You are standing against this budget for no good reason. Maybe it is to raise objection or to fulfil a political party’s requirements. I urge you to shun politics as usual and take a more positive view of things,” urged PM Wickeremesinghe.

Continue reading ‘“ 43% of Sri Lankans earn less than US$2 per day. We need to change this and Pass Benefits to all”- Ranil Wickremesinghe’ »

By

Taylor Dibbert

I was wrong about Donald Trump.

I never thought things would go this far. I never thought the Republican primary would get this out of hand.

“He doesn’t have a chance,” I told people.

“He’s an absolute joke.”

“He’s just a narcissist who can’t help himself.”

“Republicans are never going to get behind the guy. It’s not even clear to me that he’s a Republican.”

“If Donald Trump evens wins the nomination, I’m moving back to Sri Lanka — immediately.”

I was wrong about Donald Trump.

Continue reading ‘Obnoxious Donald Trump Exemplifies the Worst of America’ »

(Text of an Editorial Appearing in the “Daily News”of December 1st 2015 under the heading – Partners in crime ; “War Heroes” must face the music)

There is today a misplaced notion propagated by the pro Rajapaksa Opposition that our soldiers should not be arrested, whatever misdemeanours on their part. True to form, at the forefront of this “Hands off our War Heroes” campaign are Dinesh Gunawardena, Wimal Weerawansa and Udaya Gammanpila.

The latest to join the bandwagon is the National University Teacher’s Association and the Kandy Association of Scholars and Professionals. According to Prof. G.L. Peiris who addressed a forum of these twin organisations, the teachers and professionals have expressed concern at the release of LTTE suspects and the arrest of soldiers.

Peiris, at this forum, of course went to town elaborating on his favourite theme these days, of a nation in peril and the return of the Tiger – all because of the Government’s decision to de-proscribe certain Tamil Diaspora groups in faraway Canada and other Western countries.

Peiris is perhaps of the view that these groups have the capability to resume the war in Sri Lanka, perhaps inspired by the tale of the French resistance group in Algeria who staged a spectacular but aborted bid on the life of French President Charles de Gaulle, as brought out in vivid detail in the blockbuster movie The Day of the Jackal, based on the novel by Frederick Forsythe.

Continue reading ‘Soldiers who Committed Criminal Acts Cannot be let off the Hook Because they are “War Herous” – Daily News’ »

A top-level meeting President Maithripala Sirisena held with a group of senior Army officers has ruffled feathers in the defence and security establishment. Neither Defence Secretary Karunasena Hettiaratchchi nor Army Commander Lt. Gen. Chrisanthe de Silva had prior knowledge of the meeting.

Most of the nine senior officers who met President Sirisena at a hotel in Negombo, while he was on a visit there, played a pivotal role in the final stages of the battle to defeat militarily the Tiger guerrillas in May 2009.

The officers, some of whom are due for retirement reaching 55 years, are learnt to have explained the roles they played during the military operation.

Continue reading ‘Nine Army Generals Meet President Sirisena in Hush Hush Meeting at Negombo Hotel to “Explain Their Role” in Final Phase of War’ »

By

Ranga Jayasuriya

Last week, there was an interesting article in this newspaper that weighed favourably the merits of legalizing prostitution. That media, rights groups and civil society in general are viewing those complex issues in an increasingly pragmatic way — finally having overcome the dominant yet arcane moralistic posture — is a sign of maturity.

That is a pleasant contrast to the recent past. Nearly a decade and-a-half ago, an English newspaper published an article that suggested lesbians deserved to be raped by men in order to cure their ‘illness’. Though it may sound shocking now (and so was even then), the newspaper concerned refused to apologize and the then press council stood by the newspaper, agreeing that lesbianism was immoral and anti- social, hence needed to be cured.

For decades, the public discourse in those intimate yet intricate matters was dominated by moralists, bigots and religious leaders. And when complex social issues are viewed through the binary views of religious and moralistic teaching, it causes more harm than good. To further confound the problem, newly independent countries in our part of the world inherited a hefty load of arcane Victorian laws, which even by the time of independence were largely dormant. The political will and courage in our independent leadership were in short supply to rid our countries of those straight jacketed laws of the by-gone era. For instance, criminalizing prostitution under vagrancy and brothel ordinance is one such; criminalizing homosexuality is another.

Those arcane laws have caused more harm than good. Take for instance laws that criminalize prostitution. They leave hapless women who work the streets at the mercy of often corrupt police, who take ransom and sexual favours. Then there are pimps, who take a cut from the woman’s earning in return for protection, or simply letting her work in areas that they have demarcated as their territory. Thus a law that was meant to protect women has the opposite effect.

Continue reading ‘Many good reasons for legalizing prostitution in Sri Lanka!’ »

Questions are being raised over the craving by Mobitel, which is listed for sale by the Government, for Hutch Sri Lanka’s operations at an exorbitant price.

In the unity Government’s maiden Budget presented a fortnight ago, Mobitel was included among state companies which will be divested via the Colombo stock market.

Despite pending state divestiture, Mobitel via its parent Sri Lanka Telecom, is apparently pursuing plans initiated under the previous regime to buy the loss-making operations of Hutch and consolidate its position in the highly competitive mobile telecom industry.

For want of better pricing, the previous administration at the Treasury halted SLT-Mobitel’s overtures on Hutch. The move is being pursued with greater zeal too despite the promise of good governance and prudence by the President Maithripala Sirisena-Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe Government.

Continue reading ‘Is Mobitel Via Sri Lanka Telecom Planning to Buy Loss Making Hutch at Exorbitant Price?’ »

By Shamindra Ferdinando

Justice Minister Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe, PC, yesterday rejected calls for cancelling the appointment of a retired High Court judge as High Court Commissioner to expedite hearing of cases pertaining to the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) as well as Emergency Regulations.

Minister Rajapakshe was responding to the Bar Association of Sri Lanka (BASL) call to cancel the controversial decision. Former External Affairs Minister Prof. G. L. Peiris, too, on behalf of the joint opposition has urged the government to reverse the decision. The government recently named recently retired Judge Iranganie Perera as the High Court Commissioner.

Continue reading ‘Govt Appoints Retired Judge Rohini Perera as High Court Commissioner to Expedite Cases Under the PTA Despite Protests by BASL and Opposition.’ »

Former President Mahinda Rajapaksa on Saturday criticised the Unity Government over its maiden Budget saying it was full of catastrophic proposals that would destroy the economy whilst claims of higher expenditure on education were not true either.

Expressing his views at a media conference held at the Narahenpita Abayarama, Rajapaksa listed six specific proposals which in his opinion were “most harmful”.

Rajapaksa said that despite an attempt to create an impression of a populist budget with reductions in the price of gas and several foodstuffs and lower income tax rates, “the budget as a whole is guaranteed to drag the country backwards.” “The Achilles heel of this Government is fiscal and external sector management, which has placed the entire country on a ticking fiscal and balance-of-payments time bomb,” warned the former President.

“The gross fiscal irresponsibility displayed in the mini-budget earlier this year has continued in this budget as well,” he charged.

Continue reading ‘Mahinda Rajapaksa Blasts Budget as one that Would “Destroy the Economy ” and Specifically Outlines Six “Most Harmful”Budget Proposals’ »

Cinnamon Grand staff launched an undercover operation at a wedding reception to locate a missing ring, not of the couple, but their main VIP guest, former president Mahinda Rajapaksa.

A search for the gem-studded ring, one of many worn by the former leader, was launched discreetly at the Oak Room of the hotel on Friday night. Washrooms were checked and the carpets scanned for the missing lucky charm.

Continue reading ‘“Undercover Operation”Launched to Locate the “Missing” Gem Studded Charmed Ring of Mahinda Rajapaksa’ »

By Tisaranee Gunasekara

“It is no better for a nation than for a single man to gain the whole world if it loses its soul.; and they also forget that they are sacrificing not just themselves for their patriotism (or what they think is patriotism) but also their country.”

Sebastian Haffner (Defying Hitler)

The extremists on both sides of the ethnic divide did their incendiary best. Their intent was provocation and given the ‘sensitivity’ of the issue, they would have been confident of instant success. The extremists up North behaved as if the very existence of the Tamil people depended on changing the name of Nagadeepa to Nainateevu. The extremists down South acted as if any such a name change would cause the immediate disintegration of Sri Lanka.

But the people, ordinary Tamils and ordinary Sinhalese, refused to take the bait. The screaming, burning, pillaging mobs Northern and Southern extremists were hoping for have failed to materialise, so far. The popular response to the ‘Nagadeepa-Nainateevu issue’ has ranged from indifference to bemusement, but never anger.

The absence of rage is due to the refusal of the UNP and the SLFP to become embroiled in this inane non-issue. History shows that mobs sprouted whenever the UNP or the SLFP used the race card. But this time both parties desisted from flame-throwing.

President Sirisena and Premier Wickremesinghe deserve some credit for this much needed display of sense and sensibility. The hybrid-government has its uses.

Continue reading ‘Performance of the Sirisena-Wickremesinghe Administration Leaves Much to be Desired’ »

by Dr.Devanesan Nesiah

Are we progressing towards Good Governance?

I wish I could answer this question with an unqualified yes, but I cannot. There has been significant progress on several issues, but also stagnation and even regression on several others. The gap between our hopeful expectations and the emerging reality is widening.

Like, perhaps a majority of our population, I rated the administration that was ousted in January this year to have been not only the worst since we attained independence, but also so firmly entrenched in authority that it could not be dislodged in the foreseeable future.

The smooth and peaceful ouster of that administration including its top leaders seemed to be miraculous. In my expectation, and perhaps that of most others, the new administration, once establishedthrough reelection in August, would take us unimpeded towards Good Governance and Reconciliation.

In fact progress has been disappointingly slow and uneven. There has been some credible progress in respect of some aspects of national reconciliation. But what has been achieved on the ground on some very urgent issues central to national reconciliation is minimal ( e.g. the release of prisoners held without trial for many years with no charges framed against them) . So too on the issue of greater devolution to the provinces, and that of missing persons

Continue reading ‘Good Governance: The Gap Between Our Hopeful Expectations And The Emerging Reality Is Widening’ »

by Harriet Gibsone

Most artists would be incapable of approaching a subject as serious as the refugee crisis in song. Not MIA, however, whose new album is on course to politicise pop once again. “The world I talked about 10 years ago is still the same,” she recently posted on Twitter. “That’s why it’s hard for me to say it again on a new LP.”

twitter.com/MIAuniverse

Today, the British artist of Sri Lankan descent premiered Borders, a track that proves she remains unique in her ability to implement ideas about pop culture and important global topics. With it comes a self-directed video, which makes a compelling statement on the continuing migration crisis, chastising the response of European politicians and lamenting the arrival of border fences to keep out migrants.
Continue reading ‘Singer Mathangi “M.I.A.” Arulpragasam Releases Self-directed Video “Borders” on Refugee issues in Europe’ »

Calling for the release of Tamil political prisoners, Rajeswaran Senthuran, an 18-year-old student of Kokuvil Hindu College committed suicide by jumping in front of a train at the Kondavil Railway station yesterday.

The boy had written a letter in Tamil to President Maithripala Sirisena demanding the immediate release of all Tamil political prisoners without further postponements.

Senthuran, wearing his red school tie and white school uniform jumped in front of a moving train shortly after he left home in Kopay telling his family that he was going to school but instead jumped in front of a train near Kondavil station, which is nearly 3 Km away from his school.

Continue reading ‘Kokkuvil Hindu College Student Rajeswaran Senthuran (18) Commits Suicide by Jumping in Front of Train at Kondavil Railway Station’ »

By

Kishali Pinto Jayawardene

Even with all the crestfallen realism which now informs the public mood close upon one year into the classic curate’s egg performance of the Sirisena-Wickremesinghe government, there is some cause for optimism.

‘Hard’ questions of democratic governance are forcefully and publicly interrogated as opposed to earlier discussions which took place in elite circles with little impact on national debate.

Exposing the ugliness

One of these excruciating questions concerns the role and performance of the Office of the Attorney General. Increasingly impatient with theoretical pontifications, the focus now is rather on the accountability of the Office. This is particularly so in the wake of public conflicts between senior officers of the Department as to whether or not to prosecute Avant Garde, the controversial maritime security company.

This week we are informed that the corrupt tentacles of this company reach not only across the political divide but also include journalists on its payroll. It may be good if the bandage on this festering wound is just ruthlessly stripped away to let the public take precise stock of the ugly nature of gargantuan profiteering.

Continue reading ‘Excruciating Questions Over the Role,Performance and Accountability of the Office of the Attorney – General’ »