Silumina to be sued for falsely defaming that Ranil had talks with LTTE leaders : Rs. 500 million claimed in damages and sale of Silumina in UK to be banned
(Lanka-e-News- 19.Oct.2014, 11.45PM) While even in the Audit report it is stated that the secretary of the foreign Ministry of the Rajapakse regime had made an overpayment of Rs. 20 million slyly without duly following tender procedures to P. T. Thurairaja , an LTTE leader who was even under arrest of the Swiss Police , the Rajapakse regime that is remaining blind to all these anti national and perfidious activities , had used its Silumina newspapers to publish a most abominable news canard that Ranil Wickremesinghe the opposition leader during his recent London tour met with the LTTE leaders.
In the Silumina dated 19th was to be published under the caption ‘who is the opposition politico behind the lifting of the ban on the LTTE?’ supported by an article written by T. Chandrasekeran and a photograph. At the bottom ,this is related to a discussion supposedly held by Ranil with the Tamil Diaspora in London.
A detailed probe conducted into this by Lanka e news had proved this report is an absolute lie. In the photograph in question is a group of officers of the UNP branch , and all of them are Sinhalese out and out . In the left are :
Indika Kumara –UNP member of the London branch executive committee member.
Indika Kumara –UNP member of the London branch executive committee member.
Dharshana Denzil – UNP London branch secretary
Roshan Samantha Yapa – UNP London branch youth front treasurer.
Ranil Wickremesinghe – UNP leader
Harshaka Kannangara – UNP London branch President
In connection with this deliberate calculate falsehood concocted by the government published by the Rajapakse regime newspaper Silumina , steps have already been taken and legal advice sought to file court action in London claiming Sterling pounds 2 million (Rs. 500 million in SL rupees approximately ) as damages against this defamation and contumelia, the former President of the UNP London branch Harsha Siriwardena told Lanka e news. He also added that an injunction order against the sale of the Silumina newspaper in UK is to be shortly obtained . ‘The government Silumina newspaper which does not expose anything , nor write a word against the government’s mollycoddling and pampering of the LTTE leaders KP, Karuna , Thamalini and Daya master has deemed it right to write defamatory and vilifying reports about us falsely linking us with the Tigers,’ Siriwardena bemoaned.
Ranil Meeting Sri Lankan Diaspora
| by Rajasingham Jayadevan
( October 20, 2014, London, Sri Lanka Guardian) Campaign orchestrated by the wings of the Sri Lankan government against the Opposition Leader Ranil Wickramasinghe is clearly a calculated, diabolical and depraved drive of harassment to gain petty parochial mileage to overshadow the political setbacks experienced by the Rajapakse family.
I write as one of those who had the opportunity to meet the Opposition Leader in London. I together with Tamils representing diverse Tamil polity excluding the LTTE met Mr Ranil Wickramasinghe and discussed wide ranging issues centred on the authoritarian governance in Sri Lanka. We were one of the Tamil groups. He was frank and forthright in his comments and reflected the maturity of a seasoned and an educated politician to explain the way forward to overcome the difficulties.
He said thirteenth amendment is in the statute and affirmed the need to implement it properly and sincerely. He confirmed his priority is to implement the 13th amendment for the people of Sri Lanka to enjoy the devolvement already available in the constitution.
Those who met Ranil had engaged with President Mahinda Rajapakse, former President Chandrika Kumaratunge, and many other leaders of the Sri Lankan polity. The meeting we had did not reflect any sectarian discussions and issues of progressive decay in the governance and being the Opposition Leader, he very well articulated the need to redeem Sri Lanka from its gloom.
We came to know through the UNP organisers, that Ranil could not meet the exhaustive demand for meetings with the diverse Sri Lankan community due to time constraints. They expressed their overwhelming enthusiasm that cross section of the Sri Lankan community had met him.
According to the report in the Sunday Times, Global Tamil Forum refused to meet Ranil Wickramasinghe on the grounds that he had appointed Sajith Premadasa as the Deputy Leader whom they branded as an anti-Tamil racist. When I contacted the GTF to explain the opportunity missed to meet the Opposition Leader, Suren Surendran was categorical that their decision was justified.
I came to know members of the TNGT or BTF did not meet the Opposition Leader. The decaying political thinking of the government only confirm its lack of farsightedness to reason out whey these groups will not meet the Opposition Leader.
When I spoke to few from the Muslim and Sinhala community who met Ranil, they all confirmed the same views we held.
The anti-Ranil campaign only confirms that the government is panicking. One Sinhalese who was until recently associated with the government was disgusted with the progressing failures in governance and confirmed to me in writing that ‘the Sinhalese, are beginning to say Ranil is a good man, not a hora (thief) and they would vote for Aliya (Elephant) and that the UNP should swim with this tide and strengthen itself to correct the malaise experienced under the present Mahinda rule’.
