WikiLeaks: Ranil Had No Clue How Karuna Came To Colombo

By Colombo Telegraph -August 23, 2012

Karuna

“At the request of Opposition Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe, Ambassador met him on ‘an urgent matter’ the evening June 23. Wickremesinghe wanted to discuss recent news reports alleging that United National Party (UNP) MP Ali Moulana had facilitated transport toColombofor breakaway rebel Liberation Tiger of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) leader Karuna. After an initial denial, Moulana admitted to him that he did arrange for Karuna to come toColomboin early April, Wickremesinghe confirmed. He added that he had first learned about the events only on the morning of June 23. The papers are rife, however, with speculation that UNP leadership had been involved in the planning for Karuna’s transfer.” the US Embassy Colombo informed Washington.

The Colombo Telegraph found the related leaked cable from the WikiLeaks database. The cable subject is “Former PM requests U.S. visa for fellow MP involved in the transfer of rebel LTTE leader Karuna” and written by Ambassador Jeffrey J. Lunstead.A Leaked “CONFIDENTIAL” US diplomatic cable, dated June 24, 2004, updated the Secretary of State on breakaway LTTE) leader Karuna affaire shows Opposition Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe had no involvement re Karuna transporting issue.

Under the subheading “CONCERN FOR MOULANA” the ambassador wrote “Wickremesinghe said that his real concern was for Moulana and his family, given the danger of LTTE retribution. (Contacts said that Moulana’s and Karuna’s families have a long, close relationship.) Moulana has resigned his seat in Parliament, and was planning to leave immediately for Saudi Arabia and then Singapore. Wickremesinghe then said that Moulana would also like to get a visa to go to the U.S. and asked the Ambassador if he could help facilitate that effort.”

“The Karuna/Moulana story is bizarre enough, but the Sri Lankan press and the ruling SLFP have tried to juice it up even more. The government-controlled Daily News headlined the story, “Ranil(Wickremesinghe) Stands Naked,” alleging that Moulana acted with Wickremesinghe’s approval in an attempt to win the backing of four pro-Karuna TNA MPs. The story went on that the resultant turmoil in the UNP would likely cause a split in the party and the replacement of Wickremesinghe by Deputy Leader Karu Jayasuriya.” Lunstead further wrote.

Placing a comment the ambassador wrote “Ranil was adament (and fairly convincing) in his statements to the Ambassador that he knew nothing about Moulana’s involvement with Karuna. As for Karuna, the question of whether the SLA has him or not has been finally answered they do. On the visa issue,Missionhas not found any evidence that Moulana has ever had aU.S.visa. We see no reason to deny him a visa assuming there are no other ineligibilities. We can deflect any negative comments that might arise, should Moulana receive aU.S.visa and it become public: he is eligible as a Sri Lankan citizen and there are no grounds to deny him.”

See the cable below for further details;

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 COLOMBO 001074 

Attack carried out against TNA candidate in Batticaloa
Wednesday, 22 August 2012 

Injured was rushed to the Valaichchenai base hospital. They also completely damaged vehicle of Sivanesan and also attacked the driver of the vehicle.
Supporters of the former eastern provincial council chief minister Chandrakanthan carried out attack against TNA Vakarai area candidate engage in the election conversing at Kalkuda electoral last yesterday.

Parliamentarian C.Yogeswaran thoroughly condemns the attack and urges security personals to take legal action against the suspects involved in alleged attack. Speaking on the attack parliamentarian went on to say, Three individuals arrive in a motorbike carried out attack L.Sivarajan supporter of the TNA candidate Parasuram Sivanesan at 10.30 am last morning. Batticaloa district Tamil National Alliance parliamentarian C.Yogeswaran visited the hospital and take care of the victim and later on visited to the Kalkuda police station and lodged complaint on this alleged attack and urge police officials to take legal action against the suspects. MP also holds discussion with Dr.C.Thatsanamoorthi on the present condition of the injured. Supporters of the Pillaiya carried out this alleged attack where the special security has been deployed in the Batticaloa town to welcome Defence secretary. Parliamentarian C.Yoeswaran stated question raise on the role of democracy in the upcoming election.

Building defying SL governor inauguration receives crude oil attack in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Thursday, 23 August 2012, 01:27 GMT]

The colonial military administration of Colombo on Wednesday allegedly deployed its ‘white van squad’ to pour crude oil on the new building of Valikaamam South (Chunnaakam) civic body before it was scheduled to be declared opened by the Tamil National Alliance (TNA). The colonial military governor of North, Maj Gen (retd.) G.A. Chanadrasiri has been demanding that it should be he who should decide on the inauguration of the building. However, the building was declared opened as scheduled by T. Prakash, the head of the civic body of Valikaamam South. The grassroots politician of the TNA also declared that the office would start to function from Thursday in the new premises. 
 
A fifteen-member squad that came in ‘white vans’ entered the premises in the early hours of Wednesday, around 2:00 a.m., and attacked the two watchmen present there. The attackers tied the hands of the watchmen and assaulted them pouring crude oil on their heads. Then, they went on pouring crude oil on the front side of the three-storey building. 

The crude oil on the walls of the civic body graphically symbolizes not only the Sri Lankan militarization of civil affairs in the country of Eezham Tamils, but also the resistance shown against it, grassroots activists in Chunnaakam said. 

 

Recently, three new buildings were raised for the civic bodies of Valikaamam South (Chunnaakam), Valikaamam South West (Maanippaay) and Themaraadchi (Kodikaamam) divisional councils (Piratheasa Chapai) in the peninsula. 

The buildings were being raised with international assistance. 

G. A. Chandrasiri

The SL military governor of North was exerting pressure on the contractors of the buildings to hand over the buildings to him for deciding the inauguration. 

The complex of Thenmaraadchi (Kodikaamam) Piratheasa Chapai was handed over to the SL governor by the contractor. EPDP paramilitary leader and SL minister Douglas Devananda declared the building opened. Most of the elected representatives of the TNA had boycotted the ceremony. 

In the meantime, Mr Prakash, the head of the civic body in Chunnaakam, declared that the elected representatives of the people should inaugurate the new complex situated near Maruthanaarmadam junction on KKS road.

As the TNA politician threatened with legal action demanding access to the building, the contractor handed over the building to the elected civic body.

Canada can find the war crimes that Australia can't

by Stephen Keim and Jordan Sosnowski

AFP's once-over-lightly investigation of the Sri Lankan High Commissioner to Australia ... Findings in Canada that Sri Lankan navy was involved in crimes against humanity ... We turn a blind eye because there's an expectation the Sri Lankan navy assists in preventing asylum seekers from reaching Australia

Thisara Samarasinghe: Sri Lankan High Commissioner to Australia

( August 22, 2012, Canberra, Sri Lanka Guardian) AUSTRALIA has been under pressure to withdraw the accreditation granted to the Sri Lankan High Commissioner in Canberra, Thisara Samarasinghe.

Samarasinghe is a former Admiral and Chief of Staff of the Sri Lankan Navy. He was promoted to that position during the civil war which ended in May 2009.

Samarasinghe served in the navy for 37 years, and most of that time held high ranking position overseeing military strategy.

The International Commission for Jurists lodged a complaint with the Australian Federal Police alleging that Samarasinghe's involvement with the navy throughout the civil war rendered him complicit in crimes against humanity and war crimes.

The AFP confirms that it has evaluated the ICJA's submission and decided to discontinue the investigation.

However, this decision by the AFP appears to be premature in view of a recent Canadian Federal Court finding that rejected the refugee application of a former member of the Sri Lankan navy on the ground that he was complicit in war crimes.

Facts of the case

The case of Kuruparan v Minister of Citizenship and Immigration involved the judicial review of a decision by the Immigration and Refugee Board to refuse the applicant and his family refugee status or protection in Canada.

The applicant was of Tamil ethnicity and had voluntarily joined the Sri Lankan navy in 1985. While the applicant did not directly participate in combat, he was eventually appointed to the command position of commodore.

Kuruparan continued his post throughout the civil war until 2009, when he fled with his family and sought asylum in Canada.

The board's decision

The Sri Lankan navy was found to be an organisation that had "regularly and systematically" carried out human rights abuses against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTTE) as well as Tamil civilians and sympathisers.

The board ruled that, as the applicant was a former commodore who had participated in and had knowledge of the navy's commission of crimes against humanity and war crimes, he was excluded from refugee protection in accordance with article 1F(a) of the United Nations Refugee Convention.

The applicant's long service and rank, coupled with his knowledge of the atrocities being committed and his failure to leave at the earliest opportunity were all factors the board considered in relation to its finding of complicity.

Further, the board found that due to the applicant's good standing and clean records, his fear of persecution due to his Tamil ethnicity was subjective and not plausible.

Kuruparan sought judicial review of the board's decision and the case came before the Canadian Federal Court.

The court's analysis

The court determined that the board had not erred in its determination that the navy as a whole committed crimes against humanity.

Evidence demonstrated that the navy either acted alone or in conjunction with government forces, over various locations.

It was therefore not necessary to link the applicant to a particular unit, as the objective evidence sourced from the UN and the Asian Human Rights Commission was highly credible.

The court also found that the institutionalisation of torture coupled with the widespread disappearances of the Tamil population was enough evidence to support a conclusion that the navy as a whole was guilty of crimes against humanity.

Further, the court followed an earlier decision of Ezokala in concluding that "knowingly contributing to these activities in any manner whatsoever" is enough to constitute an individual an accomplice.

Implications of Kuruparan for Australia

The applicant in Kuruparan had served for 24 years, in a much lower position than High Commissioner Samarasinghe, and had not overseen any military attacks in that time.

It is difficult not to draw similar inferences of involvement in the case of the High Commissioner.

The AFP decision to drop the investigation into Samarasinghe was not soundly based.

Australia is a party to the United Nations Refugee Convention and is obliged to ensure that people who fall within the UN definition of "refugee" are provided with asylum.

Further, if there is a real risk of the applicant facing particular human rights violations, even if the UN refugee criteria are not met, Australia still has obligations not to return the applicant to their country of origin.

Despite this and contrary to advice from the UN Human Rights Commissioner, Australia recently deported Dayan Anthony - the first Tamil asylum seeker to be returned to Sri Lanka since the end of the civil war.

Anthony was taken from the plane on which he returned directly to Colombo police headquarters. He did not appear again for 16 hours.

Despite the findings in Kuruparan, Australia's policy is to treat the Sri Lankan government and the navy, in which Kuruparan and Samarasinghe both served, as one of its chief allies in preventing asylum seekers from reaching Australia's shores.

By doing so, Australia rejects the same evidence that the Canadian tribunals found so influential.

In deporting Dayan Anthony, Australia also ignores the available evidence that human rights abuses in Sri Lanka are still both regular and frequent.

Respected commentator Bruce Haigh points to international precedent, including Australia's previous rejection of an Indonesian diplomat with a dubious military background, and makes the case that Samarasinghe's credentialing should be withdrawn.

At the same time, Dayan Anthony emerges from Colombo police detention to appear in a press conference recanting his allegations of torture by Sri Lankan authorities in a manner reminiscent of the confessions produced in the Moscow show trials of the 1930s.

The irony may be that the Sri Lankan navy and government appear to have decided that it is in their interest to organise the asylum seeker boats and gouge a profit rather than stop the boats from leaving.

Buffalo Minister closes Universities to make SL the Asian education model
(Lanka-e-News-22.Aug.2012, 11.50PM) S B Dissanayake , the Minister of higher education had closed all Universities in the Island from yesterday (21) , until further notice , supposedly to stall the further deterioration of the tense atmosphere in the Universities. 

It is to be noted that the University Lecturers are on strike for the last two months without salaries, while the Govt. showed no concern at all towards resolving this issue. To compound the confusion , the students who qualified last year to enter the Universities have also not been admitted owing to the Z score muddling by the education Ministry.

On top of the Ministry’s multiple blunders , the question papers too set for the current G C E adv. level exam are abounding with errors. Moreover , because the lecturers are on strike, there is nobody to correct the answer scripts. The Teachers have also warned that if the Lecturers are not examining the question papers they too would suspend their markings. 

Amidst these most unfortunate circumstances militating against the children’s education , for which the Education Ministry and the Govt. are absolutely responsible, the Minister S B Dissanayake had pointed out that there had arisen a situation triggering doubts whether the University system is actually functioning or not, and at what level .
The Minister therefore said he took this decision to close based on the powers vested in him by 1978 University Act No.16 , section 20 (4) A.

Interestingly , the MaRa Govt. of these two education Ministers , Bandula Gonawardena and S B Dissanayake , after tying them to one of its many double bullock carts of Ministers , had not realized that Buffaloes can only do one thing properly- graze in the fields, and having driven the country’s education system to rack and ruin on a scale unprecedented in SL ‘s history, said with pride depending on these buffaloes that it is going to make SL a model education hub of Asia.

India targeted Sri Lanka’s strategic install ions with its nuke capable Agni missile system

Wednesday, 22 August 2012 

India, it was reported stationed long range Agni type Missile system targeting Sri Lanka’s strategic institutions. Among these strategic institutions are, Colombo and Hambanthota Ports, Katunayaka, Ratmalana and Mattala Air Ports, Military Headquarters, Putlam Coal plant and Kerawalapitiya-Kelanithissa oil fired Power Plants etc.

Indian Defense Authorities launched an Integrated Guided Missile Program (IGMOP) for the Research and Development of comprehensive range of missiles, which is managed by the Defense Research and Development Organization (DRDO). They have now developed Nuke capable Agni I – VI (capable of carrying 1000-2000kg war heads within a range of 1000 – 8000km) which can target any military or any other installation in South Asia including Sri Lanka.

India and the US joined in secret to cut off China’s supply route from Iran-Pakistan-Sri Lanka –Bangladesh and Myanmar. It is reported that India is also in the process of developing a Ballistic Missile Defense (BMD) system as an initiative to develop and deploy a multi layers system to protect India from possible ballistic missile attacks from Pakistan and China. Recently, India charged Sri Lanka for secretly soliciting technical support from Pakistan to develop Nuclear Energy and possible enrichment of Uranium so that Sri Lanka could develop medium range missiles with Nuke war heads.

This sensitive defense related information was revealed when the Indian Intelligence Agency’s Research and Analysing Wing (RAW) sacked its high ranking officer, Amreet Ahluwalia from his posting (Beijing Chief) in China. Ahluwalia was charged for compromising sensitive defense information relating to India-China-Pakistan and perhaps Sri Lanka. Ahluwalia, a joint secretary level officer, was suspected for ‘Operational Impropriety’ and has been summarily dismissed. Earlier, in 2004, the same charges were brought against Rabinder Singh who had defected to the US with stock files of information regarding India’s missiles and nuclear capabilities.

In 2008, the then RAW head, Ashok Chaturvedi charged JS level officer Ravi Nair posted in Sri Lanka for cultivating intimate connections with a Thai-Chinese girl who was said to be a Chinese Spy. This connection had begun when Ravi Nair was posted in Hong Kong and was uncovered when his legal wife complained to the RAW about his liaison with this Thai-Chinese woman.

A few weeks ago, the Indian HC in Sri Lanka was rocked by the sexual scandal involving its 1st secretary, Anurag Srirvastara and the Editor of the Daily Mirror, Champika Liyanaarachchi. The Editor of the DM published a few news articles against India as a smoke screen after their clandestine relationship was exposed,. She still continues her secret liaison with various agencies which are anti Sri Lanka.

India, this time used the Tamil Card to get more economic benefits from Sri Lanka while opposing every move of the Chinese Investors. The most recent being the Exclusive Free Trade Zone in Trinco for the Indians and the Catic deal in Colombo.

2 Survive To Tell Of Sri Lankan Abduction Squads

By Krishan Francis , Associated Press -August 22, 2012

The politician knew something was amiss when a suspicious white van pulled alongside him at a Colombo park and four men got out, pretending to exercise. Ravindra Udayashanta alerted his supporters, and police. Soon, the gunbattle began.

In this photo taken May 7, 2012, Ravindra Udayashantha, a 38-year-old town council chairman, looks through iron bars guarding the entrance to his home in Kolonnawa, suburb of Colombo, Sri Lanka. Udayashantha dramatically pre-empted an abduction attempt when he and his entourage surrounded the men from a suspicious white van that pulled alongside him at a Colombo park and captured them. In Sri Lanka, anyone who has crossed someone of importance is wary of white vans, said to be the vehicles of choice for shadowy squads who ''disappear'' opponents of powerful people. Udayashanta said he had been on alert since his brother had been grabbed, an act he took that as a warning from his political rivals. Photo: Gemunu Amarasinghe / AP

In this photo taken May 7, 2012, Ravindra Udayashantha, a 38-year-old town council chairman, displays an army identity card that he seized from one of the men from a white van, in Kolonnawa, suburb of Colombo, Sri Lanka. Udayashantha dramatically pre-empted an abduction attempt when he and his entourage surrounded the men from a suspicious white van that pulled alongside him at a Colombo park and captured them. Eventually, at gunpoint, the men admitted who they were: Sri Lankan government soldiers. In Sri Lanka, anyone who has crossed someone of importance is wary of white vans, said to be the vehicles of choice for shadowy squads who ''disappear'' opponents of powerful people. Photo: Gemunu Amarasinghe / AP

In Sri Lanka, anyone who has crossed someone of importance is wary of white vans, said to be the vehicles of choice for shadowy squads who “disappear” opponents of powerful people. So, Udayashanta’s armed supporters immediately went into action.

“I heard the crack of a gun and I too pulled out my pistol and fired back,” said Udayashanta, who had been involved in a long-running dispute with another ruling party lawmaker over a business deal. Udayashanta’s brother already had disappeared — dragged away one month earlier, he says, by men in a white van.

But things went differently on this March day. Udayashanta and his entourage surrounded the men from the white van and captured them. Eventually, at gunpoint, the men acknowledged who they were: Sri Lankan government soldiers.

In this Saturday, May 5, 2012 photo, Shiromani Prabaharan, left, wife of abducted Sri Lankan ethnic Tamil businessman Ramasamy Prabaharan offer prayers during a special religious ceremony for his wellbeing at a Hindu temple in Colombo, Sri Lanka. Ramasamy was abducted in February in front of his house, two days before a court was to hear his lawsuit against top police officers for detaining and torturing him over alleged links to rebels. Shiromani said a white van filled with armed men pulled up behind their car just as they returned home. In a country where people had hoped the 2009 end of its bloody, long-running civil war would mean a return to normalcy, a country with a history of official forced disappearances that stretches back to the 1970s, the open secret of the white vans has come to exemplify the terror felt by anyone who runs afoul of Sri Lanka's rulers. Photo: Eranga Jayawardena / AP

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Museum theft: JHUleader accuses police of trying to protect powerful politician

‘Arrests only a red herring’    ‘Drug addict story concocted’

August 21, 2012, 10:10 pm 

By Madura Ranwala

Jathika Hela Urumaya Leader Ven. Omalpe Sobitha Thera yesterday scoffed at police claims that the robbery of artifacts from the Colombo Museum had been carried out by a drug addict. He said Monday’s arrests were only a red herring drawn across the trail of the real culprit.

He told The Island the police were not free to conduct investigations into the robbery as a powerful politician was behind the theft.

Sobitha thera said: "Police are attempting to blame this crime on a drug addict. It is nothing but a joke, because the theft was committed in a high security zone. A drug addict would not have been able steal artifacts from the National Museum in that manner. The country is heading in the wrong direction and the situation is really serious as the Museum Director and other officers initially said, when questioned, that the theft was not a big issue as many artifacts had been missing during the time of other governments too."

The Thera said that the Kapilawastu Relics were kept in a Museum in India and protected as a national heritage. But, if they had been kept in the National Museum of Sri Lanka, they too would have gone missing by now.

The police could have found the items stolen from the National Museum if they had been given a free hand to conduct investigations. But, the same police force had been able to find the money and a watch worth millions stolen from the residence of the President’s brother-in-law in next to no time, as they had been given free hand in that case.

"The police may claim that the museum theft was committed by a drug addict, in the same fashion they once produced the produced the body of an unidentified man claiming that it was the killer of Lalith Athulathmudali," the thera said.

Ven. Sobitha said that the theft of artifacts was also blamed on a drug addict and the case file would closed shortly, as in the case of the Lalith athulathmudali killing.

Recovered artifacts stolen from Museum: authorities confirm

Sooka and Sheeran join Sri Lanka campaign

Wednesday, 22 August 2012 

The Sri Lanka Campaign for Peace and Justice have today named two new members of their advisory council: Scott Sheeran and Yasmin Sooka.

Yasmin Sooka is the Executive Director of the Foundation for Human Rights in South Africa. She is one of three co-authors of the April 2011 Panel of Experts' report on Sri Lanka done at the request of UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon.

Prior to joining the Foundation, she was a member of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in South Africa, serving first for three years as Deputy Chair to the Human Rights Violations Committee and then as the chair of the committee. She authored the final report of the TRC. During 2002 and 2004 she was appointed by the UN as an international commissioner for the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Sierra Leone.

She has consulted and assisted the governments of Ghana, Nepal, Afghanistan, Burundi, and Liberia in setting up truth commissions. Yasmin also serves on The Board of Trustee’s for Black Sash Trust, International Coalition of Historic Site Museums of Conscience, is Executive member for Niwano Peace Foundation as well as Advisory member for Leuven Centre for Global Governance Studies and Institute for International Law.

Scott Sheeran is a Senior Lecturer, and Co-Director of the LLM in International Human Rights Law, at the School of Law and Human Rights Centre, University of Essex. He is co-editor with Professor Sir Nigel Rodley of the forthcoming Routledge Handbook on International Human Rights Law.

Scott’s prior experience includes a number of years in the New Zealand Foreign Service, including a three-year posting as the Legal Adviser at the New Zealand Permanent Mission to the United Nations in New York. During this time, Scott was appointed Vice-Chair of the UN Sixth (Legal) Committee of the General Assembly, and was a member of the Bureau of the International Criminal Court (ICC) Assembly of State Parties.

Scott was also previously a legal counsel in a constitutional law firm in New Zealand and a consultant for The Boston Consulting Group. Scott has a Master of Laws (International law) from the University of Cambridge, and was a UNITAR Fellow at Columbia Law School.

Commenting on her appointment Yasmin Sooka said,                                 Read more...

Rajapaksa’s Cynicism On Education

Mangala Samaraweera MP

By Mangala Samaraweera -

August 22, 2012 |

Since 1945 when education in our country was made a free service Sri Lanka was able to to proudly proclaim that it had one of the finest education systems East of theSuez canal. As a result , we posses one of the highest literary rates in Asia and many of the brightest and the best who have served our country in various fields have been products of this system – the envy of many Soth Asian countries. Within this, our universities provided the highest levels of education to its graduates. Even today, many of those who hold top positions in state sector as well as the private sector are products of this system. That is why all governments since indepedence gave the utmost priority to protecting and nuturing our eduction system but unfortunately since 2005 the priority given education has rapidly dwindled.

Since 2005, the government spending on education has been slashed from 2.9% of GDP to a shocking 1.9%. Even our neighbours who used to look up to our education system as a role model are investing more in Education.

The Maldives (many of its leaders were educated in Sri Lanka) is spending 8.7% of GDP on Education.

Nepal 4.7%

India 3.2%

Pakistan 2.9%

Bangladesh 2.4%

As a matter of interest, even Sub Saharan Arica spends 4.7% on education.

The cynical attitude the Rajapakse regime has towards education and the educated is further highlighted by the fact that the government spending for universities was slashed to 0.27% in 2010. Because of the low salaries, some of the best lecturers are compelled to seek greener pastures while the others who continue to serve in their motherland are labelled as thugs or terrorists by this government.

The Rajapakse regime, instead of coming to grips with the calamitous situation in The Education sector today, is busy trying to find scapegoats to justify its own inefficiency while trying to cover up its own secret plan to destroy the free education system as we know it. Like most authoritarian regimes, the Rajapake regime is wary of educated persons and the intelligentsia who are seen as an obstacle to their agenda.

If you look at the type of persons who are running this regime, it is obvious that what is appreciated is Brawn and not brains.

Even in the Z score fiasco, various scapegoats have been put forward to justify this shocking tragedy where over 6500 A Level students have had their hopes shattered due to the sheer incompetence of the executive. Some blame the Ministers, Ministers blame the bureaucrats and the bureaucrats blame the Z score system while the real culprit is sitting tight passing the buck as he usually does.

The Z score system was introduced in 2000 and since 2001 this system was used for nearly 10 years without a problem.

Using the aggregate of raw marks for university admission was an unreliable and obsolete method (discarded by most countries) and was proving to be a grave injustice to students.

The Presidential Task Force on General and University Education of 1998 proposed as one of its recommendations;

 ‘Allowing students to take three subjects instead of four, introducing General English and the common general paper as mandatory, bringing forward the exam from April to August, that the A level not be the sole criteria for university admission and to broaden criteria as done in the UK.’

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“News websites not media” says CID
Wednesday, 22 August 2012

The lawyer who appeared for the CID has told the Colombo Additional Magistrate that the news websites Srilanakxnews and Srilankamirror could not be considered as media institutions.

However, Additional Magistrate Kusalani Punchihewa has said the decision on releasing the computers confiscated by the CID from the two websites would be made on September 4^th.

She has made this comment when the case regarding the journalists who were arrested by the CID for allegedly bringing disrepute to the President’s Royal name and publishing articles that put the government in a difficult sport was taken for hearing.

She has made the directive after considering a request by the Counsel appearing for the defendants, Upul Kumarapperuma to release the computers to the two websites if investigations on them have been concluded.

The Attorney General has told court that there were no objections to release the computers if there is an assurance that data in the computers would not be altered.

However, the CID has objected saying the data in the computers could be altered once they are released.

Lawyer Kumarapperuma has vehemently objected to it and the Attorney General has said there were no objections if there was an undertaking by the websites not to alter the data in the computers.

Is state media considered media?

A media activist said although a special statement could not be made on the matter since it was being heard in court observed that a proper definition needed to be given on what is considered media since the CID has stated that websites were not considered media. He pointed out that the state of the state media would be revealed in such an eventuality.

-Yukthiya.com