Udayan writing with racist bias and sowing hatred

Udayan writing with racist bias and sowing hatred

Ridma Dissanayake-Tuesday, 2 July 2013

The Udayan newspaper has highlighted certain statements made by a catholic priest and a former judge with to sow communal hatred.

According to Udayan the priest and the judge during a recent visit to the North and East had said that the present government suppressed the Tamils' rights.

According to the Udayan editorial the priest and the former judge have said that although the war has ended Tamils in the North and South are still living in fear and anxiety and that the government has suppressed the rights of Tamils.

The priest and judge had also said the government had extensively deployed the Security Forces in the North and East and was playing a crafty role by telling the international community that it was ready to hold the Northern Provincial Council election.

Commenting on Udayan's editorial Mullaitivu District Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) former MP S. Kanakaratna said several groups who visit the North and East are expressing biased views aiming to embarrass the government.

"They are telling that the government has suppressed the rights and privileges of Tamils.

They are saying that the freedom of Tamils have been limited due to presence of the armed forces.

But we would like to remind them about the situation that prevailed in these two provinces before May 19, 2009.

I would like to ask if the Tamils living in the North and East enjoyed freedom before end to terrorism?"

Kanakaratne said ; "During that period the LTTE members kidnapped small Tamil children and trained them as child soldiers.

They gave T 56 and Cyanide capsules to the children.

They took everything earned by the Tamils by force while killing political leaders, clergy and civilians as they wished ".

"They should remember that President Mahinda Rajapaksa is the leader who restored freedom, peace and harmony in all parts of Sri Lanka and it is this government that granted the voting rights of Tamils in the North and East.

In such situation the Udayan has no reason for criticizing the government and all these allegations are baseless," Kanakarathna stated.

FO issues Sri Lanka travel warning

UK warns of gangs in Lanka

July 2, 2013

The British Foreign Office has warned visitors to Sri Lanka to be mindful of organised and armed gangs known to operate in Sri Lanka who have been responsible for targeted kidnappings and violence.

The Foreign office, a May 30th update, says while violent crimes against foreigners are infrequent, there have been an increasing number of reports of sexual offences including on minors.

It also says women should take particular care when travelling alone or in small groups, and carry a personal alarm.

“Organised and armed gangs are known to operate in Sri Lanka and have been responsible for targeted kidnappings and violence. While there is no evidence to suggest that British nationals are at particular risk, gangs have been known to operate in tourist areas. A British national was killed during a violent attack by a gang in a tourist resort in December 2011,” the travel advice said.

Just this week the US Ambassador to Sri Lanka had been summoned by the External Affairs Ministry to seek a clarification on a travel note issued by the US State Department also in May to US citizens visiting Sri Lanka.

The US State Department had, in the travel note, cautioned it’s citizens when visiting Sri Lanka of crimes targeting foreigners.

As was first reported in the Colombo Gazette on Saturday, the travel information for US citizens visiting Sri Lanka said that while most violent crime occur within the local community reports of violent crime and sexual assaults directed at foreigners have been increasing in recent months.

It further adds that organized and armed gangs are known to operate in Sri Lanka and have been responsible for targeted kidnappings and violence, although there is no evidence to suggest that U.S. citizens are at particular risk. (Colombo Gazette)

Report by Easwaran Rutnam

Beyond Sri Lanka’s Big Brother syndrome

VIVEK KATJU-July 3, 2013

Colombo’s moves to control subjects connected with state security, and indirectly demography, must not trample on the aspirations and rights of the Tamils and other minorities

Amidst the entire range of complexities that mark the situation in Sri Lanka one fact remains incontestable: President Mahinda Rajapaksa and his three brothers — Defence Secretary Gotabhaya, Basil, who controls politics and economic policies, and the soft-spoken Speaker of the Parliament, Chamal — are the arbiters of their country’s destiny. The institutions of democracy as provided for within Sri Lanka’s democratic constitution operate but neither the parliamentary opposition nor voices of dissent within the ruling alliance have the strength to put a brake on the objectives that the Rajapaksa brothers, especially the President, have set for themselves and, by extension, for their country.

It is clear from the policies the Rajapaksa brothers have pursued since the defeat of the LTTE in May 2009 that their principal objective has been to prevent forever the emergence of a similar organisation. Now, the surest way to ensure that objective would be to take steps to erode, if not eliminate, separatist sentiment among the Tamil community. And the first measure in this direction would be to implement the 13th Amendment and the recommendations of the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) report, especially with regard to incidents of excessive or malicious use of force against civilians in the last few months of the anti-LTTE operations. However, President Rajapaksa and Gotabhaya in particular, have always been critical of the 13th Amendment devolution process which created the provincial councils and gave the provinces meaningful powers including over land and the police. The legislation they wish to promote now would effectively take away these powers. They also desire that in future, constitutional changes regarding provincial powers could be accomplished by Colombo with a simple majority of provinces siding with it. This would lead to Colombo retaining in its hands the authority over subjects that are connected with the state security apparatus and, indirectly, demography.

President Rajapaksa would like to get these changes through before the Northern Council elections which he has announced would be held in September. It is pertinent that he wishes to hold the elections prior to the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in November. For the time being, the proposed changes are being resisted by some ruling alliance partners.

Reconstruction

A recent visit to Colombo and Jaffna enabled this writer to hear a range of voices and also see the reconstruction activities that have been undertaken by the Sri Lankan authorities in the latter city and area. The resettlement work and the reconstruction of physical infrastructure in the four years that have passed since the LTTE’s defeat have been good. While there is a civilian administration in place, the Governor is a retired army officer and this is a ground for complaint. It is true that Colombo would have had little option but to rely on the army in the immediate aftermath of the conflict for resettlement and development work. However, popular sentiment would now be addressed by reducing the army’s salience. The acquisition of land for the expansion of defence facilities is a major ground for complaint.

One of the most contentious issues relates to the size of the defence force to be stationed in the Northern Province. Almost all sections of Tamil opinion are convinced that if the defence forces are placed in large numbers in extensive military facilities, their sole objective would be to coerce the Tamil population. The basis of this belief is that the threat of violent separatism has disappeared with the defeat of the LTTE. The Rajapaksa view, endorsed by many Sinhalese, is that this is not so. It strongly holds that the ambition of a separate Tamil state is widespread, especially in the influential Tamil diaspora. The diaspora is currently focused more on putting pressure on Colombo on human rights issues. However, in future it can promote violent activities and an empowered province in the north may provide them with a base.

There is no easy resolution of these two fundamentally contradictory visions. In the 21st century, terrorist violence is an issue but the security of plural and multi-ethnic states is best guaranteed in satisfactorily addressing the reasonable aspirations of ethnic and religious minorities including their quest for identity, justice, democracy and development. On their part, minorities must shun violent approaches and understand the concerns of the majority communities. Historical memory, ancient grievances and the dubious lessons of battles lost and won in centuries past cannot guide leaders, particularly those who control the destinies of peoples and countries in this digital age.

13th Amendment

The 13th Amendment is the cornerstone of the position of the overwhelming majority of the Tamil political class. It has already been diluted by the decision of the Court regarding the inadmissibility of the merger of the Northern and the Eastern provinces. Any further weakening of the Amendment is unacceptable to them. The Indian position too is to support the implementation of the Amendment. Recently, the Union Minister for External Affairs, Salman Khurshid, urged his Sri Lankan counterpart that elections for the Northern Provincial Council need to be held within the time frame announced by President Rajapaksa and under the present provisions of the Constitution. While India is firmly committed to the territorial integrity of Sri Lanka, the entire country shares the concern expressed in Tamil Nadu for the rights and welfare of Sri Lanka’s Tamil community. Will President Rajapaksa take these views into account and if he does not, what can and will India do? The communication channels which have worked successfully to diffuse situations in the past now need to operate urgently.

(Vivek Katju is a former Indian Ambassador to Afghanistan.)

We should not listen to India on 13 A - Gotabaya

We should not listen to India on 13 A - Gotabaya

TUESDAY, 02 JULY 2013 

Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa said today that Sri Lanka should not listen to India with regard to the implementation of the 13th Amendment as the national problem was inherently one that should be solved by Sri Lankans.

“We should not listen to India on this; this doesn’t meant that we lose the relationship we have with India. But if there is a problem it should only be solved by Sri Lankans and not India,” he said.

He said the national question should have a homegrown solution — and the debate about 13th Amendment should not affect the relations between the two countries.

“India is our friend and we need to continue the good relations. This should not be an issue to strain our relationship, and I’m of the view that India understands that. They should understand that this is inherently a Sri Lankan issue and we have to address it with a solution that we devise” he said,
Rajapaksa said the “alienation of provinces based on ethnicity” was not the solution to the ethnic issue.

“This is not the solution; and it has failed. There are Tamils living in all parts of the country and Muslims too — so what about them? How does the Provincial Council system solve their problems? I believe in the decentralisation of administration; but I don’t believe that areas should be demarcated according to ethnicity, religion, caste or creed. This country belongs to all Sri Lankans and we have to think in those terms,” he said. (Hafeel Farisz)

Mahinda Rajapaksa sibling as special envoy to India on Sri Lanka’s 13A

Jun 30, 2013,

COLOMBO: Sri Lanka will send President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s younger brother Basil Rajapaksa to Delhi to hold talks with Indian leadership over its controversial plan to tinker with the India-moved thirteenth amendment (13A), government sources today said.

Basil Rajapaksa, the minister of economic development and the key political advisor to his brother, would leave Colombo on July 4.

* Minister Basil Rajapaksa to hold talks with India on Sri Lanka's constitutional amendments

Sun, Jun 30, 2013, 11:58 pm SL Time, ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.

June 30, Colombo: Sri Lanka’s Economic Development Minister Basil Rajapaksa will leave for India this week to appraise the Indian leaders of proposed revisions to the 13th Amendment to the Constitution.

Basil Rajapaksa, the younger brother of Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa and an adviser to him will leave for New Delhi on July 4, Press Trust of India reported citing government sources.

Minister Rajapaksa is expected to meet India’s External Affairs Minister Salman Kurshid and National Security Advisor Shivashankar Menon to brief on the political situation including matters relating to the proposed amendments to the 13th Amendment.

Sri Lankan parliament appointed a parliamentary select committee (PSC) to study the issue of the 13th Amendment to the Constitution which was thrusted upon Sri Lanka by India during the height of the war against Tamil Tiger terrorists in 1987 as a solution to the ethnic problem.

However, after the end of the war, the campaign in Sri Lanka to repeal the provincial council system brought into existence by the 13th Amendment is growing momentum as the major Tamil party, Tamil National Alliance, is refusing to participate in a Parliamentary Select Committee proposed by the government to devolve power.

Several parties allied with the government have called for abolishing the Amendment and the Cabinet recently decided to appoint a PSC to discuss revisions to the 13th Amendment due to the divergent views of the coalition members.

India has expressed concern over Sri Lanka’s developments to abolish or amend the 13th Amendment and following a visit to New Delhi by the TNA, which opposes any moves of the government to change the 13 A, Khurshid has stressed that Colombo should not unilaterally move against the amendment.

It has been reported that India’s National Security Advisor Shivashankar Menon would visit Sri Lanka on July 8th to discuss the issue among other matters of interest.

Provincial White Elephants And “Saddantha” White Elephants In Colombo

By Austin Fernando -July 3, 2013 |

Austin Fernando

Recently our former colleague President’s Secretary Lalith Weeratunga has twittered that (a) administratively the 13^th Amendment is a white elephant; (b) it must be viewed from the citizens’ angle (c) devolution should be to the lowest possible level; and, (d)  at sub-national level Provincial Councils (PCs) have not served the purpose. He is not alone in saying so.

A President’s Secretary may declare so to initiate a dialogue; or to ‘drop’ the PCs, and motivate people to meet midway to devolve power to the districts which are bureaucratically centre-aligned or to the Local Authority level. Whatever the preference is, it is clear the intention is to reduce the size of the “devolved unit”. What the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) demands is to increase the size of this unit by merging two provinces. It proves that there is a magic in the size!

Secretary Weeratunga is an experienced public officer. Therefore, I do not ignore his analysis as isolated personal impression, because of his intimate proximity to political powers. Unfortunately, he cannot as a bureaucrat satisfy the genuine and needy political requirements due to government’s uncertainty on the 13^thAmendment.

‘White-Elephantness’ of PCs

Provincial White Elephants And “Saddantha” White Elephants In Colombo by nelvely

On the periphery of a Failed State

On the periphery of a Failed State

Editorial-2013-07-03 

Sri Lanka's decline seen through the lens of international standards seems obvious and inevitable. The economic optics reflects the 'real' situation as opposed to those that are vigorously and spuriously marketed by the Central Bank and its 'pundits.' Over the last few years, the Central Bank has been floating statistics for public consumption, which though implausibly sanguine on paper, have been a tough sell for the average man on the street, for whom reality is the skyrocketing cost of living that makes three square meals a near impossibility, and the breakdown in the law and order situation which has given rise to an ugly culture of impunity.

It is this reality that is reflected in the recently released Failed State Index by Fund for Peace, an independent Washington, DC-based non-profit research and educational institution, which ranks Sri Lanka 28th, placing it in the critical category with a grand score of 92.9. Last year Sri Lanka tied for the 29th place with Bangladesh, with a score of 92.2. Incidentally, Bangladesh still retains the same ranking, with Somalia heading the list with a score of 113.9.

The Failed States Index assesses the pressures experienced by nations based on social, economic, and political indicators such as demographic pressures, refugee flows, uneven economic development or severe economic decline, and human rights, among others. The Index uses colour-coded maps, tables, and a ranking system of 'Critical,' 'In Danger,' 'Borderline,' 'Stable' and 'Most Stable' to determine the current conditions and negative potential in the future.

Post-war, human rights have been a contentious issue that has seen Sri Lanka dragged to the UNHRC and given a painful rap on the knuckles, in the form of two consecutive resolutions. Also post-war the uneven economic development has seen the rich getting richer and the poor poorer, with additional burdens being placed on the poor almost on a daily basis.

Add to this the artful concoctions, where stock market indices are artificially fattened by quasi-legal business practices, financial estimates in government tenders are ingeniously inflated to accommodate commissions, and the massive amounts of cash borrowed from the international banking sector at exorbitant interest rates – and you have a situation where nothing is what is claimed to be, especially in the economic front. The real tragedy lies in the fact that once these statistics are released to the public, the very people who manipulated and released the bogus figures become ready believers in their own concoctions although this is not something that has escaped the international probes and spotlight.

In the 'Vengeance-Seeking Group Grievance' category of the Failed State Report, only Pakistan, South Sudan and Sudan are worse off than Sri Lanka. No doubt the impeachment of the ex-Chief Justice, Duminda Silva-Bharatha Lakshman saga, the infamous 'white-van' incidents, persecution, murder and disappearances of journalists, overindulgence in Sinhalese-Buddhist triumphalism, unrestrained activities of organizations such as Bodu Bala Sena, Ravana Balakaya, the open defilement of other religions given expression to by some leading members of the Cabinet of Ministers, would have all played a decisive part in placing Sri Lanka among the bottom-dwellers in this category.

Another category that Sri Lanka should be ashamed of being in is 'Rise of Factionalized Elites.' This obvious fact that many Sri Lankans are contemptuously aware of, has caught the eye of the 'Fund for Peace.' When all facts and figures are taken into account, the rise of factionalized elites would not escape the thinking of even the most mundane citizen in the country. Sri Lanka has no one to blame but itself and its leaders, both in Government and Opposition.

For Sri Lanka to help paint such an abysmal picture on the fabric of 'Social' indices, the factors and facts must have been really appalling and indisputable. 'Failed State' is no badge of honour nor is it a garland of sweet fragrance to be worn around the neck. The only positive aspect of this entire study is that we are occupying so low a layer, that the only way out is to travel up!

The 13th Amendment

July 2, 2013,

This amendment was passed with UNP MPs taken in buses from hotels, in which they were housed to prevent protesters from meeting them, to Parliament for voting.

The amendment was a result of the so-called Indo-Lanka Accord, for the signing of which Rajiv Gandhi, the then Indian Prime Minister, came here and was assaulted by a naval rating. He was the first VIP to be assaulted in Sri Lanka.

The 13th Amendment by nelvely

UNP Proposals On Constitutional Reform

By Jayampathy Wickramaratne -July 3, 2013 

Dr Jayampathy Wickramaratne, President’s Counsel

Constitutional changes have once again become a hot topic of discussion. The UPFA Government is attempting to dilute the Thirteenth Amendment. Some UPFA constituents are openly for its total abolition and the general feeling is that they have the support of the UPFA leadership. UPFA leaders appear happy to continue with the JR Jayewardene Constitution which they swore to abolish and under which UPFA constituents and their supporters suffered. Proposals made by the National Movement for Social Justice led by Ven. Maduluwawe Sobitha Thero have also generated interest. While making a 10-point programme public, it emphasized that the abolition of the executive presidency and bringing back the Seventeenth Amendment must be considered as immediate tasks.

UNP Proposals on Constitutional Reform by nelvely

Government’s economic policies get another beating

Government’s economic policies get another beating

Details

 

Created On Wednesday, 03 July 2013 13:15

Category: General

UNP parliamentarian and Economist, Dr. Harsha de Silva has told the Mahinda Rajapksa government’s failed economic management as the cause for the downgrading of the country’s outlook from ‘positive’ to ‘stable.’

He has said that the recent downgrading of the Moody’s rating is an indictment on the government’s current economic management and the validity of the purported development story in the coming years.
De Silva has noted that the recent sell down of foreign held government paper seem only the beginning of an emerging crisis of confidence.
“Over the last couple of years we have been pointing to the fact that the economy would lose the artificial growth momentum and that the external payment position would weaken due to economic policy being dictated to be short term political objectives,”Dr. de Silva has said.
“We have been very critical of the unsustainable external debt levels the government was getting in to and also the danger in pushing banks and other state enterprises to get in to high cost foreign borrowing. We have also been pointing out that the incentive to maintain a competitive exchange rate would also be hampered if the volumes of external debt held by these entities become significant,” he has explained.
According to Dr. De Silva, the ratings cut has indicated that however much the Central Bank is attempting to spin a make-believe positive story on the post war economic performance of the country, even going to the unprecedented extent of hiring public relations agencies at enormous costs, the rating agencies and the investor community has and will continue to see through the smoke and mirrors.
“The government has finally succumbed after dodging our continuous questions on why the Finance Ministry was hiding estimated versus actual data on revenue and expenditure in violation of the legal requirement in the Fiscal Management (Responsibility) Act for almost three years,” he has pointed out.

Fiscal fumble!

 July 3, 2013  

• Govt. misses revenue target by Rs. 51.2 b or 14% up to April; expenditure overshot by Rs. 16 b or 2.5%
• Year on Year dip in revenue is 4% expenditure up by 7%
• Total dip in revenue from import base taxes was Rs. 21 b
• Public investment expenditure up by 21.7% to Rs. 196 b
• Budget deficit at 4% up to April and annualised figure swells to 11.8%
• Treasury confident of containing fiscal deficit at 5.8% by year end as announced in 2013 Budget

Government’s economic policies get another beating by nelvely

Sri Lanka to enhance nuclear technology with Russia's assistance

My son is not alcoholic-Keheliya

WEDNESDAY, 03 JULY 2013 

While claiming that his son is not alcoholic, Media Minister Keheliya Rambukwella had said that he had sought the British Airways report to get his son's name cleared regarding the incident on a British Airways flight.

Minister Rambukwella said, "I have sought the report from the airlines. As far as I know, there is nothing abnormal in the airlines report. My son is not alcoholic. Only to sensationalize the issue, the media has made it a issue".

"The cabin door and the lavatory toilet were hardly few feet away and my son mistakenly tried to open the door. The pressurized cabin door is not openable".

"It is not the first time my son has traveled in the aircraft. He has been to many countries with the Sri Lankan team and he knows the etiquette and how to behave in the aircraft". (Bipini Dani)

Media Minister’s Notorious Drunken Son Tried To Open Aircraft Cabin Door At 35,000ft

Media Minister’s Notorious Drunken Son Tried To Open Aircraft Cabin Door At 35,000ft

Sri Lanka to enhance nuclear technology with Russia's assistance
Tue, Jul 2, 2013, 11:55 pm SL Time, ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.

July 02, Colombo: Sri Lanka and Russia have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to facilitate vocational training for Sri Lankan nuclear scientists in Russia.
The MoU also includes managing nuclear and radiation safety issues and development of nuclear technology infrastructure in Sri Lanka.
Accordingly, the Russian government has agreed to provide expert knowledge to Sri Lanka in the sectors of management of nuclear waste, nuclear research and nuclear substances.
Director General of Russian Atomic Energy Agency Sergey Kirienko and Chairman of Sri Lanka Atomic Energy Authority Dr. Ranjith Wijewardena signed the agreement recently.

Dr. Ranjith Wijewardena says Russian support will help to strengthen nuclear technology in Sri Lanka.

Demand truth from Sri Lanka’s

Demand truth from Sri Lanka’s

Appalling abuses happen every day in Sri Lanka. This can’t go on. Call on 

the president to take up Amnesty International’s six-point agenda for change to demonstrate human rights progress in the country. Hurry, the petition closes on 1 September.

The government may have won its 26-year war against the Tamil Tigers in May 2009, but the abuses that became entrenched over that period persist.

Journalists, lawyers, grassroots activists – anyone who dares to criticize the authorities – can be picked up under draconian security laws, including the Prevention of Terrorism Act, and detained for years without access to the outside world. Sometimes the authorities bypass legal avenues, resorting to anonymous harassment and assaults. Reports of people being bundled into white vans and later dumped, or never seen again, are alarmingly frequent.

November’s meeting of Commonwealth leaders in Sri Lanka is our opportunity to demand accountability in the country. In September, we will take your signatures to representatives of the Sri Lankan government at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva. From then, the clock will be ticking. It’s up to Sri Lanka’s authorities to take these demands to heart, acknowledge the abuses, and demonstrate that they are improving human rights in the country.

Sign this petition...

President Rajapaksa

As you prepare for November’s Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Colombo, we recall the values and principles which all Commonwealth countries have committed to. These include: the protection and promotion of human rights, freedom of expression and access to justice.

In line with these values and principles, we call on you to demonstrate before November that progress is being made to stop the systematic violation of human rights in Sri Lanka.

We ask you to:

• Repeal the Prevention of Terrorism Act, and abolish administrative detention
• Release all those arrested under emergency or anti-terrorism laws, unless they are charged with a recognizable criminal offence
• Guarantee access to a lawyer for anyone arrested
• Establish and make public a comprehensive registry of all detainees including the date and place of arrest, detaining authority, place of detention, (including all transfers) and whether the detainee has been charged with an offence or released.
• Publish the 2006 Commission of Inquiry report on 16 "serious violations of human rights" – including the case of five students killed in Trincomalee, and accept international help to resolve outstanding cases
• Enact an effective Witness Protection bill

If Sri Lanka is to be a credible member of the Commonwealth, it needs to fully respect Commonwealth values at home. This is your chance to show the world that the government is telling the truth and making every effort to improve human rights in Sri Lanka.

Canadian facing U.S. terrorism charges pleads guilty to aiding Tamil Tigers

Adrian Humphreys | 13/07/02 

HandoutSuresh Sriskandarajah has admitted in court that he provided support to the Tamil Tigers knowing it was designated as a terrorist group.

A Canadian engineering graduate from Waterloo, Ont., pleaded guilty in New York Tuesday to being part of a terrorist procurement cell securing sophisticated military technology for the Tamil Tigers, including submarine and warship design software, and laundering money.

Canadian facing U.S. terrorism charges pleads guilty to aiding Tamil Tigers by nelvely

KP, Thamilini, Daya Master apply for UPFA nominations

KP, Thamilini, Daya Master apply for UPFA nominations

WEDNESDAY, 03 JULY 2013 

Former LTTE international fund raiser and weapons procurer Selvarasa Pathmanathan alias KP, former LTTE women’s wing leader Subramaniam Sivakamy alias Thamilini and former LTTE spokesman and propaganda wing leader Velayutham Dayanthi alias Daya Master have applied for UPFA nominations for the upcoming Northern Provincial Council elections to be held in September, Daily Mirror learns.
SLFP General Secretary and Minister Maithripala Sirisena said the three former LTTE members will be asked to appear before the party’s nomination board when it begen interviewing prospective applicants who sought nominations for the elections to the Northern, North-Western and Central provincial councils.
The UPFA nomination board will begin interviews on July 6.
The elections are expected to be held in the three provinces in September with the North-Central and Central Provinces expected to be dissolved at the end of this week.
“The two LTTE front men and the woman have been rehabilitated. They haven’t been convicted in any Sri Lankan court of law. Therefore, I do not see why we should not consider their applications to contest the NPC elections,” the minister said.
They will have to first obtain SLFP membership or that of a constituent party affiliated to the UPFA before being given nominations by the UPFA.
Meanwhile, reports said that Daya Master will help prepare UPFA’s manifesto for the NPC election.
He is reported to have said that candidates who were to contest on the UPFA ticket have identified the issues faced by the Tamil people and the solutions to these issues would be included in the party’s election manifesto.
Daya Master has said the Minister and EPDP Leader Douglas Devananda he and other ruling party members representing all communities are in the process of preparing the manifesto.
He had surrendered to the armed forces during the last stages of humanitarian operations and KP was arrested by Sri Lankan intelligent agents on August 5, 2009 in Bangkok, Thailand.
Thamalini crossed over to government held areas on May 20 soon after the annihilation of the top LTTE leadership including Prabakaran. The court sent her for protective rehabilitation at Welikada Prison and later at the Poonthottam rehabilitation center in Vavuniya. (Sandun A. Jayasekera)

Event Invitation: Women – Out Of The Frame Photographic Exhibition

July 3, 2013 
Photographer: Brett Davies Australia/Hikkaduwa

The Women – Out of The Frame Photographic Exhibition will be held from 5th to 10th July 2013 at theLionel Wendt Art Gallery, Colombo, Sri Lanka. Undertaken by Sri Lankan photographer Menika van der Poorten   in conjunction with the National Peace Council of Sri Lanka this landmark photography project and exhibition on women provides the ideal platform to showcase the talent of 45 photographers (men and women) from across the island, and beyond, both professionals and enthusiasts. These photographers’ perspectives help to change the way we see women. The photographs selected for this exhibition capture a moment or moments revealing the complexity of women’s lives – whether it is women from different walks of life in the same frame, women living in a war and conflicted affected environments or elders going about their daily routine.

The project’s aim is to provide photographers in Sri Lanka a platform to present images that ‘go beyond the traditional, objectified and stereotypical portrayal of women common in mainstream media’. Submissions came from Battaramulla, Batticaloa, Bemmulla, Trincomalee, Hikkaduwa, Jaffna, Kandy, Kurunegala, Matara, Hambantota, Vavuniya,  Warkapola and beyond, achieving one of the project’s main objectives which was to reach out to photographers countrywide, particularly those who, due  to war, had limited access to this type of cultural exchange. As Cynthia Cohen’s study Creative approaches to Reconciliationillustrates, “investment in the arts and cultural work are critical to promoting coexistence and reconciliation in the aftermath of violent conflict.”

As a country emerging from a thirty-year conflict, visual media is pivotal in shaping opinions and perceptions. During the period of the exhibition a series of presentations and workshops that support the education, and development of conceptual and technical photographic skills, will be conducted. The workshop programme will encompass digital workflow, telling a story through photography and will encourage discussion and debate on context, ethics and the importance of visual media in making meaning.

“To say that photographs lie implies that they might tell the truth; but the beauty of their nature is exactly to say nothing, neither to lie nor not to.” —Stanley Cavell (1985)

An exhibition catalogue will be available and the exhibition website (www.outofthrframe.lk) will be launched to coincide with the opening of the exhibition. These exhibition and workshops are supported by the Royal Norwegian Embassy, the National Peace Council, and the Goethe Institute.

Jaffna Water Supply And Lagoon Projects

By S.Sivathasan -July 3, 2013 

S.Sivathasan

Background

What provides the occasion for this article? A needless debate in recent years replete with tendentious arguments and not without an attempt at derailing one project with the help of the other, gives the answer. The targeted casualty is water supply and the cutting edge invoked is the aura of the time honoured Lagoon Project.

“Much of the money on the water Supply Project can be saved if the River for Jaffna Project is completed as planned”. Saved and spent where?

“A part of these savings may then be transferred to manufacture single superphosphate at Eppawela, and save on imports of fertilizer”. Where will the other part be used?

“Post conflict rehabilitation of people and restoration of water and soil conservation eco systems, including the River for Jaffna”. Where and where? Not clearly spelt out.

“A submission has been made to President Rajapakse”. These statements were made by Mr. DLO Mendis in May 2009.

Cabinet Decision

Jaffna Water Supply and Lagoon Projects by nelvely