By Madura Ranwala-July 7, 2014
The Police will file a plaint today against Deputy Minister of Internal Trade and Cooperatives, Hemal Gunasekera for using a vehicle with a false number plate.
The politician was stopped by the police on the Southern Highway on May 20 while travelling in that vehicle.
Police constable Suminda Saman, who stopped the deputy minister’s vehicle has complained to the police that he was attacked and his car burnt by a gang a few days later.
PC Suminda has recently tendered his resignation to the Police Department, claiming that he had no faith in the police investigations into the incident and his life was in danger.
‘Sri Lanka Under Al-Qaeda Threat’; Muslims Condemn Ceylon Today’s Inflammatory Marketing Techniques
July 8, 2014
Ceylon Today – one of the mainstream English newspapers in Sri Lanka, has come under heavy criticism following a poster campaign carried out by the company to promote its July 6th issue titled ‘Sri Lanka underAl-Qaeda threat’ bearing the image of a masked, black-clad terrorist wielding a gun.
The Sri Lanka Muslim Council (SLMC) in a letter to the newspaper’s Editor-in-Chief, Hana Ibrahim yesterday have expressed their concern and objection to the subject matter chosen to promote the newspaper, pointing out the content is lacking ‘sensitivity and concern to the recent anti-Muslim violence and the ongoing hate-campaigns against Muslims’ in the country.
SLMC Vice President Hilmy Ahamed in his letter has described the poster campaign as an ‘insensitive, unethical and opportunistic marketing technique’.
He has pointed out that such campaigns coupled with the provocative stories that have concurrently been published by certain other media institutions have contributed to fuelling unsubstantiated rumours of Islamic terrorists operating on Lankan soil, which is in turn systematically helping gain grounds for hate campaign against Muslims.
Ahamed has gone on to state that against the backdrop of the Secretary to the Ministry of Defence, Gotabaya Rajapaksa denying the existence of such armed Islamic groups in Sri Lanka, it is of vital importance that the media refrains from sensationalising issues.
Furthermore, he has called upon Ibrahim to ensure that responsible and ethical business practises are adopted by Ceylon Today, that would not further endanger the social relations between Sinhala and Muslim communities that are presently in a fragile state.
We publish below the letter in full; Read More
