MaRa - CJ conflict :Namal too steps in; it is now a battle between low and high caste

(Lanka-e-News- 05.Dec.2013, 7.00PM) In order to give a twist in favor of the Rajapakses in the conflict between Medamulana MaRa and his chief justice Mohan Peiris CJ (cheat justice) before it can become a public scandal, MaRa’s son Namal , the one and only synthetic lawyer of Sri Lanka (SL) had stepped forward , based on reports reaching Lanka e news inside information division.

Namal had suggested that Anuradhapura high court judge Khema Swarnadhipathy shall be appointed as the secretary to the Judicial Service commission (JSC) , and Fort magistrate cum district judge Thilina Gamage be appointed as the deputy secretary , which will mean that Rajapakses can completely control the judiciary thereafter.

Thilina Gamage is a brother of Matara SLFP Provincial council member, and obviously a Namal Rajapakse stooge. Ms.Khema Swarnadhipathi was a high court judge who did not receive promotions because of her incompetence and inefficiency.

By claiming that she was a victim of Shiranee Bandaranaike ‘s vendetta, during the period of the impeachment against the latter , this Swarnadhipathy the inefficient judge was involved in the mounting of charges against Shiranee Bandaranaike . At that time when grade 9 qualified Minister Wimal Weerawansa tried to act funny before the judges and tried to teach the grandmother to suck eggs only to become a laughing stock finally , it was this judge Swarnadhipathy who gave evidence in support of Weerawansa alias Modawansa .

The escalation of the conflict between MaRa and Mohan Pachoris (CJ) had created two divisions, Thilina Gamage , Khema and others of the low caste have taken the side of the infernal Medamulana backwoods land crocodiles while Shiranee Burhan , Ninjal Hatch and others of the high caste have taken the side of Mohan Peiris.

Peiris who was most dynamic during the days of the impeachment against the former chief justice , and flying high has now fallen low and is wondering in silence what had gone wrong in the present context.

Presidential award to Buwaneka Aluvihare for directing ‘Duminda comedy’!

 Thursday, 05 December 2013 

A clear example of the extent to which Sri Lanka’s judiciary has deteriorated is yesterday’s appointment of additional solicitor general Buwaneka Aluvihare as a judge in the Supreme Court after he fully directed, on behalf of the attorney general, the comedy by using the law in prostitution, in which the murderer of Bharatha Lakshman Premachandra has been made an aggrieved party, a veteran legal professional told us. 

Mr. Premachandra, the president’s advisor on trade union affairs and three others were killed in October 2011 in Mulleriyawa.

A trusted henchman of the defence secretary, Buwaneka Aluvihare has left the AG’s Department with a big black mark by plotting steps gradually to save Duminda Silva at the defence secretary’s request. Falling to an unbelievably lowly depth that does not befit his additional solicitor general position, he had personally met CID’s Shani Abeysekara and Merryl Ranjan Lamahewa at the defence ministry and told them how they should record witness accounts and give evidence before the court, said the veteran legal professional.

Buwaneka Aluvihare fully claims the infamous credit for doctoring the ‘eyewitness account’ of Bharatha Lakshman’s driver, the main witness in the murder, to ‘heresy’ in order to make it to the advantage to the accused. If Duminda Silva is acquitted even without being indicted, he should worship a photograph of Buwaneka Aluvihare, said the veteran legal professional in a fully dejected tone.

Developing trend is dangerous: Killing of a person in custody is a heinous crime: Standing Committee of the BASL on Rule of Law
(Lanka-e-News-05.Dec.2013, 10.30PM) The explanation given by the police regarding the death of three suspects who were under police custody arrested in connection with the killing of a police officer and his wife at Kamburupitiya, is unacceptable and the whole incident smells of another case of extra judicial killing.

The explanation that the 1st suspect arrested was killed by police firing when the suspect (was hand cuffed) tried to pick up a weapon to shoot at the police officer, when the suspect was taken to recover the weapons used in the crime and the explanation given regarding the deaths of the two suspects attested few days later that the suspects have fled from police custody (hand cuffed), and jumped into the Denagama tank is hilarious. The circumstances surrounding the death of these suspects need investigation by a special commission. 

Any person accused of committing criminal acts has a right to be tried according to law. The police cannot be allowed to try and punish persons accused of crimes however serious they may be. This will amount to usurpation of judicial power by the police and the persons responsible has to be dealt with under the law of the country.

This is not an isolated incident. It is seen that during the last few years large number of such incidents of death of persons in police custody has been reported and the explanation by the police in all such cases has been identical. 

The killing of a person in state custody is a heinous crime as the state is said to be the guardian of its citizens and it is considered that state custody is the safest custody.

Blatant violations of fundamental rights guaranteed under the constitution has to be condemned and the government owes a duty, if it respects rule of law, protection of human rights and democratic values to take immediate steps to appoint a judicial commission and clear the doubts that the people have for very valid reasons. If not it will have a serious infact on the image of the country in respect for rule of law and human rights.

The developing trend is dangerous no one can lay down limits to such actions and it may be not long before even opponents of the establishment will be dealt with summorarily in this manner. 

These incidents have created a doubt on the efficacy of the law enforcement establishment to deal with crimes of this nature and the will of the government to protect human rights of its citizens.

LAL WIJENAYAKE 
CHAIRMAN
PRIYANTHA GAMAGE
CONVEROR

Namal says Basil sabotaged CHOGM!

 Thursday, 05 December 2013 

MP Namal Rajapaksa, senior son of the president, is publicly saying these days that despite government claims of CHOGM being a big success, it had been a failure and is blaming it on economic development minister Basil Rajapaksa. The president’s three sons, along with the first lady, have declared war against minister Basil Rajapaksa and defence secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, according to Temple Trees sources.

The crisis has worsened to such as extent that publicly accusing minister Basil of being biased towards the Indian government, rather than to the Lankan government, MP Namal is even saying to his face that he has become a puppet of India. It is not Jayalalitha, but Basil Rajapaksa who is behind the absence of the Indian prime minister at CHOGM, MP Namal says with full responsibility.

Also, MP Namal has made the president to take firm decisions against Lakshman Hulugalle, the controversial figure these days, in a clear demonstration of the enmity between the young MP and the defence secretary. After Hulugalle was expelled from the director general position at the MCNS, the defence secretary, in a unilateral decision even without obtaining persmission from the president, has appointed him the DG of NGO affairs. With the blessings of his father, MP Namal has now declared war against all of them.

Questions over monies allocated to MCNS in 2014 Budget

 Thursday, 05 December 2013 

Questions have been raised by the main opposition UNP as to what would become of the monies allocated to the Media Centre for National Security (MCNS) in the 2014 Budget.

UNP parliamentarian Dr. Harsha de Silva has posed a question in a television programme about the Rs. 24 million allocated in the 2014 Budget 2014 for the MCNS.

He pointed out that the MCNS was dissolved on an order from President Mahinda Rajapaksa but Rs. 24 million has been allocated for it in the budget.

Dr. de Silva has also said that another Rs.25 million has been allocated for 2015 and Rs. 24 million allocated for 2016 for the MCNS and that it showed that the government has prepared the budget unsystematically and aimlessly.

Rs 1.3 B Samurdhi funds misappropriated by government – JVP

By Ravi Ladduwahetty-Thursday, 05 Dec 2013

The Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP), charged in Parliament yesterday that the government has misappropriated Samurdhi funds to the tune of Rs 1,387 million, which should have gone to the savings accounts of Samurdhi beneficiaries but had instead used them for Divi Neguma projects.

Participating in the Third Reading stage on the Budget 2014, under the Expenditure Heads of the Ministries of Economic Development and Investment Promotion, JVP Parliamentary Group Leader, Anura Kumara Dissanayake, charged in Parliament that this was an absurd situation where the government has spent the interest on the deposits on Divi Neguma projects instead of rightfully crediting them to Samurdhi recipients' accounts.

He also claimed that a portion of the funds had been transferred to the Divi Neguma bank account for promotion and advertising with Rs 10 million already spent on the President's investiture ceremony.
Divi Neguma Authority funds had also been used for Diriya Matha and children's fund projects which are a flagrant contravention of the laws governing the Samurdi Authority, and this was at a time when the Divi Neguma Authority had not even been launched, Dissanayake charged.

He also said that the government had not registered some of the associations providing these funds with the Central Bank, which was a mandatory requirement, and which had been listed in the COPE report as well.
Further, Dissanayake proposed a parliamentary debate on James Packer and his proposed investments, and how sweeping tax concessions had been afforded to him when the masses were not afforded any benefit or tax concessions.

"This is an absurd situation where the government gave tax concessions to Packer and Crown Investments, then cancelled the Gazette, and said it was bringing in a new one," he said.

Dissanayake also showed a report to the House of Packer's proposals and asked the House how Packer could produce a report to the government without the government having submitted the second Gazette. "What is this amazing power that James Packer has in this country, and is James Packer more powerful than the Parliament of Sri Lanka?" Dissanayake queried.

"This is the first time that the Casino mogul is a part of Sri Lanka's economic policy, which the government has not declared in the 2014 Budget," Dissanayake stated.

Illegal Kidney Business: Gota Must Response Or Sue The London Times

By Mangala Samaraweera -December 5, 2013 

Mangala Samaraweera MP

Although Parliamentary convention compelled the chief whip to move a cut of Rs.10 at the commencement of this debate, We should, in fact move a cut of at least several billion rupees for the Ministry of Defence and Urban Development as the treasury allocations for this ‘super’ Ministry continues to increase annually by leaps and bounds despite the end of the war four years ago.

The Ministry has now acquired a reputation for being the most corrupt, wasteful and the most deadly ministry of this regime. In fact, it is the source of many of the ‘evils’ afflicting our country today: it is a well known secret that the destabilisation and the undermining of many of our democratic values and institutions – white van abductions and extra judicial killings and other serious human rights violations, the physical as well as the technical suppression of the media, the culture of impunity for crime and criminals and the total collapse of the rule of law can be attributed to this Ministry under discussion now.

Due to the constraints of time, I am unable to deal with many of these issues, but I want to take this opportunity to inform this house about the insidious attempt by this Ministry to change the demography of the city of Colombo while at the same acquiring prime property in the heart of Colombo by various ‘shell’ companies held by family members of this regime.  As the Krishh scandal, where millions of dollars as bribes involving some members of the family has been discussed in this house before, I will not take any time to talk about it but the plight of the people in the Slave Island Area who have been forcibly evicted by the Army on behalf of the UDA with false promises is a glaring example of attempts to change the ethnic demography of Colombo.

In the guise of urban redevelopment, many families of mainly Muslim and Tamil origin in the Colombo Municipal area have been evicted from  homes – many of them third generation deed holders – by coercion, threats and false promises using the full might of the military who are virtually running the UDA now.

In fact, in 2007, the houses of over 300 residents in Glenis St. in Slave Island were demolished by the army. These houses were not shanties and some were actually 2 or 3 story houses and many had a history going back to over 100 years. The residents were intimidated by the army to go to Weligoda in Mattakuliya to live in temporary shelters for 6 years.

Then in 2010, 18 houses in Mews St. – again predominantly Muslim and Tamil- were demolished using brute force and thuggery and many people had to run for their lives, even leaving their furniture and belongings behind. Subsequently M.M.F. Rizmiya filed a fundamental rights case FR 349/2010 in Supreme Court against the UDA on behalf of the residents with Mr. J.C. Weliamuna appearing on behalf of the petitioners.

On 11th May 2011, the Deputy Solicitor General Informs SC that a decision has been taken to construct a new block of the Baseline Rd., Dematagoda housing scheme for the petitioners and the UDA agreed to give homes  there for the petitioners.

I quote from the court proceedings of 11th May 2011:            Read More

UNITED AGAINST CASINOS...

December 5, 2013

Leader of the Democratic Party and former Army Chief Sarath Fonseka joins Opposition Leader Ranil Wickramasinghe, Chairman of the UNP’s Leadership Council MP Karu Jayasuriya and MP Sajith Premadasa at a seminar against casinos in Sri Lanka. The event organized by the United Bhikkhu Front (UBF) and United National Bhikkhu Front today (Dec. 5) was attended by several opposition politicians and Buddhist clergy. (Pic by Osanda Daham Nimsara)

Melvin Kavindra, not owner of Good Wood Plaza

 Thursday, 05 December 2013 

In response to the news article we have published under the headline ‘Peni Hula’ has invested Rs. 200 m in Salaka casino!’

we have received an email, 

frommarketing.ceynor@gmail.com by Kolvin Kovida, Chairman / Managing Director, seeking a correction.

It refers to the following paragraph of the said article.

“Peni Hula’ was first introduced to Sudharma by Krishani Gunatilake, the wife of the owner of Dannie Brothers, which owns Good Wood Plaza hotel in Katunayake. Sudharma comes to know Shashi Weerawansa also through Krishani. All of them are loan sharks.”

In keeping with our adherence to right to reply, we publish below, what this email says.

“Krishani Gunatilake” is the wife of Director of Good Wood Plaza Hotel Mr. Melvin Kavindra and he is not the owner. Above mentioned Ladies are also involved in multi million lendin rackets to various people on various occasion. Denny Mudalali was the founder chairman of Hotel Good Wood Plaza Ltd . After His demise Mr. S.D.Kolvon Kovida Became the Life Time Chairman And Managing Director of the Hotel and still holds this position and His Wife is Mrs. Ajantha Peries.”

“Also please note that the Hotel Good Wood Plaza has nothing to do with this incident.”

Previous articles

‘Peni Hula’ has invested Rs. 200 m in Salaka casino!

S Lanka heroin scam hits office of PM Jayaratne

By Charles Haviland-4 December 2013

DM Jayaratne said that that police investigations into the heroin seizure are continuing

Sri Lanka's prime minister has ordered staff not to write letters in his name, after drug traffickers obtained a letter written by a secretary in his office to authorise a heroin shipment.

DM Jayaratne said that action would be taken against the sender.

At least 131kg (288lb) of heroin worth millions of dollars was seized on 30 August.

The heroin was hidden in cans packed into a container sent from the Pakistani port of Karachi.

It was concealed among ceramic bathroom fittings and plastic goods.

A customs official was quoted as saying it was the largest seizure of the drug in the South Asian region.

It had been unloaded at Colombo's port two months earlier and was addressed to a local recipient, but had been held pending production of documents and cash needed for its import.

'Not small-time'

A letter emerged from the prime minister's office, dated 23 August and signed by a co-ordinating secretary who said he would be "thankful on behalf of the Hon Prime Minister" if action was taken to waive import charges.

Heroin seizures are not uncommon in Sri Lanka

The letter said it was being imported by a local company which was just launching its business and could not afford heavy duties.

In his statement Mr Jayaratne acknowledged that a secretary in his office had sent the letter, saying "police investigations with regard to this are continuing".

It was not yet possible to say under whose instructions the letter was issued, he added, but parliament would be informed once the person was disciplined.

The statement said a Pakistani national and a Sri Lankan had been arrested in connection with the case.

Another Pakistani, said to be responsible for the smuggling, left Sri Lanka before the seizure but had now been taken into custody in his home country.

Three Pakistani anti-drugs officials are due to arrive in Sri Lanka to help investigate the case and Interpol assistance has also been sought.

The issue was raised in parliament by opposition MP Anura Dissanayake, who said the importers were clearly "not small-time smugglers".

"As in the case of many fraudulent businesses they, too, seem to have had the blessings of politicians," he said.

Media reports have highlighted the possibility that Sri Lanka is becoming a trans-shipment hub for narcotics.

VIDEO: CUSTOMS OFFICERS SEIZE ILLEGAL HAUL OF ETHANOL...

December 4, 2013 

Customs officials seized 74,480 litres of Ethanol that was illegally imported to Sri Lanka in seven containers last Friday.The ethanol haul was valued today at Rs.82 million, Customs officials stated. (Pics by Osanda Daham Nimsara)

‘Responsible sovereignty’ – an emerging challenge

December 4, 2013, 8:39 pm 

The East China Sea, showing surrounding regions, islands, cities, and seas

One region where the national interest of states is figuring prominently in inter-state relations today is South East Asia. This principal factor in the behaviour of states is being brought to the fore in a pronounced manner currently as a result of China declaring what is being referred to as an Air Defence Identification Zone in the East China Sea. This measure, which is essentially intended to protect what China sees as territories belonging to it in the East China Sea, is plunging it into what is seemingly a collision course with some of its neighbours in the region: South Korea, Japan and the Philippines.

‘Responsible sovereignty’ – an emerging challenge by nelvely

UN authorises military action in Central African Republic

UN votes to increase military action in Central African Republic to attempt to combat "complete chaos" that has enveloped country

By Mike Pflanz, Nairobi and agencies-05 Dec 2013

The UN Security Council has authorised increased military action by France and African troops to try to end the crisis in the Central African Republic.

The council unanimously approved a French-sponsored resolution Thursday aimed at restoring security and protecting civilians in the impoverished country.

The authorisation is expected to lead to an increase in troops for an African Union-led force and French troops.

UN Authorises Military Action in Central African Republic by nelvely

For those people who cannot speak for themselves, we have a duty to speak.” – Jan Logie

Dec 3rd, 2013

On the 17th of November a room in the Mt Eden War Memorial Hall was overflowing with a tense and attentive crowd. We were all there to hear from Jan Logie, the MP recently returned from a fact-finding mission to Sri Lanka where she had been detained under claims of violating immigration laws. The meeting was hosted jointly by the National Council of New Zealand Tamils and the Green Party, and the crowd was a congenial mixture of supporters of both organisations.

After a welcome and introduction, Keith Locke provided some useful background; he had visited in 2003 when the Sri Lankan Government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam were engaged in peace talks. What was striking about his contextualisation was a rejection of the dominant international narrative around the Civil War.

“There’s often an assumption that there had to be a war, and it was a war against terrorists or terrorism. I don’t accept either of those things. You have to look back into history to see that the truth is a little bit different. There have been terror tactics used on all sides, and the impetus to the development and strength of the Tamil Tigers was as a result of Government-sponsored terrorism against the Tamil people.”
- Keith Locke

Logie explained that Australian Senator Lee Rhiannon and she had been careful to get advice on visas before the trip because of the Sri Lankan Government’s record. Two Australian journalists were recently interrogated for over 15 hours and deported – internationally it is increasingly accepted that Mahinda Rajapaksa’s Government has scant regard for freedom of speech.

“Closing down a press conference for a New Zealand MP and an Australian Senator is not a visa problem; it’s an utterly contemptible violation of free speech.”

- Keith Locke

There was an atmosphere of resentment and ample expressions of distaste around the room when the topic turned to the New Zealand Government reaction to the incident. Both Prime Minister John Key and Minister of Foreign Affairs Murray McCully had effectively sided with Sri Lanka detaining a democratically elected MP on a human rights fact-finding mission. That could be looked upon as lèse majesty - at a minimum it is damaging, arrogant tribalism.

She went on to reveal some of the horrific abuses perpetuated on a regular basis by the Sri Lankan Government. Tamil children have been taken from their families and put into special homes, where they’re taught only Sinhalese and some are abused, physically and sexually. When the family had gone to the police not only was no action taken, the accused had been seen with military protection in the town. Politically-motivated rape and sexual abuse was a ‘very common thread, backed up by all of the external reports from the UN and Human Rights Watch’.

“We spoke to a man who had been in prison for ten months with no charge and had been tortured during that time.”
- Jan Logie

Another recurring theme was frustration with a deeply partisan and unethical justice system. President Rajapaksa impeached the Chief Justice and replaced him with his own legal advisor. Understandably public ‘confidence in the police and court system has been fundamentally undermined’. There were reports of buildings being bugged to covertly record people giving evidence. The elections had not been free and fair. People had been stopped by the police and told not to vote.

“So there’s no independent justice system, there’s no or very constrained media, there is regular intimidation and abuse of people who are trying to speak out or organise around issues. There is an active program of displacing the local people that is being lead by the Government. That was a consistent message – from Sinhalese and Tamil. My hope is that New Zealand will go back to our tradition of standing up for human rights internationally as well as in this country. For those people who cannot speak for themselves, we have a duty to speak.”

- Jan Logie

Unfortunately the New Zealand Government has a long way to go if we are to be seen as upholding human rights. Although John Key did raise disappearances at CHOGM, he did not condemn Rajapaksa. Given that David Cameron made headlines with his criticism, and

Stephen Harper boycotted CHOGM, it is truly telling that our Prime minister’s position is divergent. Key is of the bewildering opinion that ‘people now feel safe’ and ‘The rights and wrongs of all the issues are not for us to really delve into’. While Cameron spoke of the ‘harrowing’ experiences of those he met in the North, McCully talked about new roads. National MP Kanwaljit Singh Bakshi has even praised the Sri Lankan government and said that their resettlement process was ‘impressive’ and going ‘in the right direction’. Key is determined not to support an independent investigation, and did not support Jan Logie when her fact-finding mission was compromised. Perhaps our government is not much better than Sri Lanka’s when it comes to discovering and communicating truth.

The day after the meeting, Amnesty International released a press release, echoing Jan Logie’s sentiments, and calling John Key’s performance at CHOGM a ‘failure’ 

‘by choosing self interest over a principled stance and effectively giving his seal of approval to a country whose Government stands accused of war crimes, John Key missed that opportunity (to stand up for our values) and in doing so has let New Zealand down.’

- Amnesty International Executive Director Grant Bayldon

Sumanthiran Hits Out At Govt MPs For Allowing Rajapaksa Regime To Cause The Country To Fall Before Intl Community

December 5, 2013 

M A Sumanthiran, Member of Parliament speaks on the stand of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) on the way the controversial Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC) conducted the kangaroo style impeachment of Chief Justice Dr. Shirani Bandaranayake and family rule in Sri Lanka.

Sumanthiran

He reiterates that the TNA does not condone the murders and terrorism of the LTTE, and that this has been stated by him time and again. He asks whether there is a need to keep saying it over and over again, when the position has been already stated several times. On the other hand he says that those in power should realize their own role in creating problems for the standing of Sri Lanka in the eyes of the world today.

Sumanthiran makes some hard hitting arguments, emphasizing that the difficulties and embarrassment faced by Sri Lanka today, are largely due to the dishonesty, nepotism and bungling of the Rajapaksa regime. He urges Government MPs not to be blind followers of anyone – even the President.

He challenges MPs (especially Government MPs) to resist concentration of power in one family and tells the Government MPs that only grumbling about the rise of authoritarianism and looking over their shoulder is not enough. He says that it is the duty of Parliamentarians to protect democratic powers which should be exercised democratically, and not in a way that leads the country further into authoritarianism.

See full address:

Part – 1

Part – 2 

Northern Province Chief Minister calls for international action to stop colonisation of the North-East

 03 December 2013

The Chief Minister of the Northern Province, C.V. Wigneswaran, called Monday for the international action against the Sri Lankan government’s program of settling Sinhalese families on Tamil-owned land forcibly appropriated by the military.

“This cannot be stopped by us alone, and the international community must take action. Only if the international community acts will our situation change,” Wigneswaran said.

He was speaking to reporters after meeting with the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Internally Displaced Persons, Dr. Chaloka Beyani, in Jaffna.

Four years after the armed conflict, tens of thousands of Tamils remain displaced in the Northern and Eastern province as the Sri Lankan military refuses to withdraw from their residential and agricultural lands.

Occupied through successive military operations since the nineties, dozens of villages and surrounding farms remain encompassed into sprawling ‘High Security Zones’.

Instead of allowing the property owners to return home, the Sri Lankan government has forcibly appropriated the occupied lands and begun settling Sinhalese.

With the military dominating “all avenues of employment, in all spheres [of economic activity]”, the displaced Tamils are being forced to borrow to survive, the Chief Minister said.

Outlining his conversation with the Special Rapporteur, Wigneswaran said,

“I informed the envoy that in Valikamam North, more than 6000 acres of land had been appropriated by the military and I gave details of so much more in the Killinochichi District as well.”

“On the basis of their present activities, they plan to stay in the North for a further hundred years, which really means that they plan to bring people from the South and resettle them along with army families.”

“Similar to what they did in the East, they are trying to colonise the North as well, which cannot be stopped by us alone, and so the international community must take steps. Only if the international community acts will our situation change."
“[I told the Special Rapportuer] this should be brought to notice of international community which should take steps accordingly.”

“Livelihood of residents of the North had been seriously affected and they take loans for their day to day living. All avenues of employment had been taken over by the army, who carry out work in all spheres including agriculture, fisheries and trade, denying opportunities to the people.

“I explained to the envoy that the people were facing severe difficulties as a result.”

Beyani also visited the Konapulam IDP camp at Valikamam north today (pictured below).

Wigneswaran last month briefed British Premier David Cameron on the ongoing hardships faced by Tamils in the North-East.Mr. Cameron also visited an IDP camp during his visit to Jaffna.

Somebody Has Gone In A Helicopter And The Buried Gold Has Been Taken Away – Sampanthan

December 4, 2013 

“I have got information now, Sir, how Nadeshwara College and a house opposite it were bulldozed yesterday. They found gold there in the premises of this house. Apparently, a person who is not there now had buried the gold there in his foundation thinking that it will be safe. It appears the gold has been taken away.” leader of the Tamil National Alliance, R. Sampanthan said yesterday.

” ‘Somebody has gone in a helicopter’, I am told. The gold has been taken in a helicopter. So, I do not think, Sir, these are good things. I do not think these things should be allowed to happen. I heard many people talk about the TNA today. Unfortunately, I do not have the time to deal with all that. But, you have much more to do with the LTTE than me. I do not know who KP is. I have not seen him. But, he is your buddy. There is a Minister in your Cabinet who has been referred to the LLRC Report in regard to something that happened in Batticaloa sometime ago. You had the former Chief Minister in the Eastern Province who did not win this time. You made him win.  I have nothing to do with the LTTE. You have a lot to do with them. Can you deny the fact that the LTTE influenced the election verdict in your favour in December, 2005? Can you deny that? So, please do not throw stones at us. We have nothing to do with the LTTE. We worked with them to bring about a political solution when we needed to work with them, but beyond that we never had any talk with the LTTE. I want to say that on the Floor of this House, and I want everyone of you to get that very clearly, that you have much more to do with the LTTE than I have or that we have.” Sampanthan made above remarks in the parliament yesterday.

We publish below the speech in full;

Mr. Chairman, I want to commence my speech by referring to the comments made by the Hon. Dinesh Gunawardena on the question of democracy. I will speak about this later in the course of my speech. But, let me publicly state that the most democratic election conducted in recent times in the past several decades was undoubtedly the election conducted by Madam Sirimavo Bandaranaike in 1977.

We are now discussing, Sir, the Votes of the Ministry of Defence and Urban Development and also the Votes of the Ministry of Law and Order. Our points of view may not be the same as the points of view of the Government. We listened to the Hon. Dinesh Gunawardena patiently and quietly and did not disturb him. We do hope that even if our points of view are different from the points of view expressed on behalf of the Government, you will kindly extend to us the same courtesy.

I propose, Sir, in the course of my speech today, to deal with the presence and the actions of the armed forces and of course, of the police, particularly in the Northern and Eastern Provinces. I must say that though the police may be accused of inaction at certain point of time, in the course of the elections in the Northern Province – I happened to be there quite frequently when the elections were taking place – the police officers, particularly those in the higher hierarchy of the police in the Northern Province, seemed very receptive to whatever we had to say. I also observed that at the meetings that were conducted on behalf of the TNA, there was police presence in sufficient numbers to ensure that the meetings were conducted without much disturbance. In any case, Sir, both the armed forces and the police are instruments of the Government and cannot but be reflective, at least to some degree, of Government policy. I propose, Sir, to deal with the role of these institutions, particularly during the course of the elections in the Northern Province, particularly by the armed forces.    Read More