Govt. Grabs Lakshman Kadir’s Land In Jaffna

August 1, 2013 

The son of assassinated Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar has filed legal action against Government moves to acquire his ancestral property in Maviddapuram in the Jaffna peninsula.

Lakshman Kadirgamar

Sriraghavan Kadirgamar filed a writ application in the Court of Appeal today, seeking a Writ Certiorari to prevent Lands Minister Janaka Bandara Tennakoon from acquiring the property though his attorney, Lilanthi De Silva.

The former Minister who inherited the land from his mother, was a strong critic of the LTTE and considered Sri Lanka’s best foreign minister of all time. Minister Kadirgamar’s brothers have also extended yeoman service to Sri Lanka, as military officers of rank and eminent lawyers.

His son’s petition against the Government’s acquisition of his personal property puts the eminently respected Minister’s family front and centre of an ongoing struggle for land rights in the formerly embattled Jaffna peninsula.

The case will join several other petitions filed by some 2000 land owners in the Northern Province alleging an acquisition of their traditional lands by the Government. The struggle for land is an emotive one in the north because it is perceived as being a root cause of the ethnic issue since the 1950s.

The former Minister’s property now owned by his son was exclusively allotted to him by a Jaffna District Court decree in May 1968, the petition says.

Sri Raghavan Kadirgamar is seeking interim relief from the courts, to prevent the respondents and their agents from taking any steps to act upon the acquisition notice until after the case is heard.  The Minister’s son is also seeking a mandate in the nature of a  writ of Certiorari quashing the purported acquisition notice published under Section 2 of the Land Acquisitio Act. In his petition it is argued that the acquisition is arbitrary and unreasonable and serves no public purpose.                               Read More

British University students remember Black July

31 July 2013

British University Tamil Societies across London collaborated to hold a Black July remembrance discussion session at the London School of Economics on Monday.

Students from the London School of Economics, University College London, City University, Westminster University, Imperial College London, Roehampton University, Cambridge University, Kings College London and Queen Mary University attended and took part in discussions at the event.

British University Students Remember Black July by nelvely

Recent violence makes Lanka Muslims insecure

ABU AHMED-Thursday 1 August 2013

Organized attacks on Muslims in Sri Lanka, which began almost two years ago, continue unabated while the government remains indifferent. In the absence of any official attempts to put an end to these assaults, worried Muslims are thinking of taking to streets to highlight their grievances. Muslims all over the world are closely monitoring developments in the island state fearing it could become another Myanmar.
There is growing feeling within the Muslim community in Sri Lanka is that though these attacks although look isolated, they are well organized and coordinated with ulterior motives. 
However, Sri Lanka, which has just emerged after a 30-year-old ethnic war cannot afford another catastrophe. Muslims suspect that militant Buddhist monks are attacking, looting, plundering and killing Muslims as part of their well-planned strategy and are least bothered about its fallout on the country.
The precarious situation prompted former Information Minister Imtiaz Bakeer Markar to ask the government: “What are we waiting for? Are we waiting for a calamity to happen? Isn’t it time to drive sense into Buddhist extremists who are pushing the country toward yet another disaster?”
In a recent interview with a Sinhala weekly, Markar, a politician loved and respected by Muslims and Sinhalese alike, emphasized the need for immediate government action to stop these attacks, warning that failure to do so will inevitably lead to a catastrophe.
The besieged Muslim community that constitutes about 10 percent of the island’s population is made to believe that the government’s refusal to bring these extremists to book is like patronizing them. So far all appeals from the Muslim community and the mainstream Sinhalese community to stop this hooliganism have fallen on deaf ears.
Muslim politicians in general, sandwiched between their desire to cling onto their positions to enjoy perks and their obligations toward their community, betrayed the community and sold their souls. Divided into many splinter groups they have been cleverly exploited as tools to serve the government’s interests. This is the reason why Muslim parliamentarians are not taken seriously by the government and the Muslim community as well.
The question is that if Tamil National Alliance, TNA, parliamentarian M.A Sumanthiran could accuse the government of being behind attacks on Muslims what is preventing the Muslim parliamentarians from opening their mouths.
Shameful state of affairs was such that while Sumanthiran accused the government of being behind the attacks on Muslims and had done nothing to protect Muslims, Muslim parliamentarian Faizar Musthapha defended the government claiming that it was “Bodu Bala Sena which was responsible for these attacks.”
However the prevailing view among Muslims is that “How BBS could function as a government within the government and openly violate laws, harass and humiliate Muslims without the government’s connivance.” The attacks on Muslims, which began with the destruction of a Muslim shrine at Anuradhapura under the watchful eyes of the police around two years ago, have now become almost a regular incident in one form or other.
Last month a group of Buddhist extremists went on a protest march from Kataragama to Temple Trees to submit a memorandum asking President Mahinda Rajapaksa to ban animal slaughter. Is there any need for a provocative march, aimed at whipping up anti-Muslim sentiments? 
Days later, on June 30 night, a Buddha statue was secretly placed at Azhar Vidyalayam playground in Batticaloa district. This has been the only playground for students at Azhar Vidyalayam and Shaduliya Vidyalayam. A complaint was lodged at Valaichenai police followed by filing a case in a court, which in its June 25 2013 verdict, stated that the playground belongs to the school. Defying the court verdict, the temple authorities placed a Buddha statute in the center of the playground. No one was taken to custody so far.
Ten days later Arafa Mosque in Mahiyangana was desecrated in one of most barbarous manners on July 11, 2013. The tragedy is that this happening in a country known as the land of Dhammadipa, known for its 2500-year old Buddhism, Buddhist culture and ancient civilization? Even the aborigines Veddhas never stooped to this low level of barbarism. Do the perpetrators understand the damage they are causing worldwide to the image of the mainstream Sinhala Buddhists?
In a statement to the media, Sri Lanka Muslim Congress leader and Justice Minister Rauf Hakeem had this to state: “The Mahiyangana Mosque has been targeted for over a week, in what appears to be the latest in an organized series of attacks carried out on mosques and the hate campaign against the Muslims in Sri Lanka by extremist Buddhist groups for many months. Such acts of intolerance especially during the holy month of Ramadan hurt the sentiments of Muslims in the country contributing to further polarization of communities. On an earlier occasion when the mosque came under attack by extremists, evidently, no preventive measure had been taken. The government’s impervious attitude to such rising crimes and inaction in curbing such mounting hate campaign will be dangerously read as that of stimulating religious violence.”

• Abu Ahmed is a Colombo-based journalist.

Sri Lanka: The new persecution

 August 1, 2013 

“Is there no woman here? …Is there no man in this land? Is there no honest man or only the sort of man who nourishes and protects the sons of his own blood? Is there no god in this country? Is there no god in this country where the sword of the king is used for the murder of innocent strangers?” – Kannahi’s lament outside the Madurai court from the 3rd Century Tamil epic, Silapathikaram as referenced by Dr. Vasuki Nesiah, delivering the 14th Neelan Tiruchelvam Memorial Lecture

Persecution by nelvely

Chanaka Amaratunga And The 13th Amendment

By Rajiva Wijesinha -August 1, 2013 |

Prof. Rajiva Wijesinha MP

Chanaka Amaratunga

Chanaka Amaratunga died tragically on the 1^st of August 1996. Almost exactly 9 years previously he had penned the Liberal Party statement on theIndo-Lankan Accord, which still stands as the most intelligent assessment of that seminal episode in modern Sri Lankan history. It was a ringing assertion of principle and moderation at a time when dogmatic opponents of the Accord were suggesting that disaster had struck us, as though a remedy was not urgently needed for the disasters the country had been going through for years.

The relentless erosion of democracy – with the referendum that postponed elections, the political arrests and torture and murder that were widespread (Ananda Sunil for example, and the state sponsored murders in Welikada in 1983), the intimidation of Judges of the Supreme Court who delivered unwelcome judgments or statements (which the West delighted in during those Reagan days, when ‘our bastards’ were protected whatever they did) – and the ruthless suppression of moderate Tamil opinion had led to violence that was corrosive. Though it is now argued that the Indians prevented what would have been certain victory over the Tigers in 1987, that was certainly not assured, nor could it have led to lasting peace and reconciliation, given the deep resentments in the country at the time, in the South as well as the North.

Read More

End of nomination period – Election monitoring report  

 Thursday, 01 August 2013 15:29

2013 Provincial Council Election - Summery
Areas covered
Campaign for Free and Fair Elections (CaFFE) deployed its election monitors in all districts where the elections are held, Kandy, Matale, Nuwara Eliya, Kurunegala, Puttalam, Jaffna, Kilinochchi, Mannar, Mullativ and Vavuniya.

Important – This report only contains incidents between 7 am to 2 pm on August 1 and during pre nomination period.
Background
After Central and Northwestern Provincial Councils were dissolved state property has been widely used for election campaigning. CaFFE informed bout this phenomenon to the governors of Central and Northwestern provinces, Tikiri Kobbekaduwa and Tissa R Balalla. In addition the Department of Elections issued several circulars requesting authorities to reacquire the state properties being used for campaign purposes. However the misuse of state property remained unabated and several candidates used vehicles owned by the provincial council to hand in their nominations.

Last day of nominations
Background

End of nomination period – Election monitoring report by nelvely

Health sector in crisis

By Aisha Nazim-Thursday, 01 Aug 2013

Food supplies to hospitals will come to a standstill by next week, if arrears of Rs 600 million owed to food suppliers are not settled immediately, the Health Services Trade Union Alliance (HSTUA) revealed. Addressing a media briefing yesterday, President of the HSTUA, Saman Ratnapriya, said the Health Ministry had approached the Treasury twice in the recent past, to get funds to meet costs incurred on food. Though Rs 700 million has been allocated to all hospitals to cover the cost for food, only Rs 100 million had been issued, leaving an arrears of Rs 600 million, Ratnapriya claimed. "The health sector has many such shortcomings, and it is at such a moment that the Treasury has decided to cut down a further Rs 5 billion from the funds.

The situation is such that hospitals don't even have anaesthetics for surgical
operations. In some areas of the country, pregnant women have to get anaesthetics from pharmacies and take it to the hospital before their caesarian operations," he alleged, querying whether it was fair for the government to cut down on already insufficient funds.

Citing a number of other issues, the unionist charged the lack of funds has resulted in the reduction of fuel supply to the vehicles at the Karapitiya Hospital. Fuel was obtained from two filling stations in the vicinity of the hospital. However, as the hospital is Rs 1.2 million in debt to both filling stations, one of the sheds has stopped supplying fuel. The hospital also has an outstanding electricity bill of over Rs 3,970,000.

Terror by ruling politician in Daraniyagala; UN concerns; Top police offcier feld to save life

Terror by ruling politician in Daraniyagala; UN concerns; Top police offcier feld to save life

Thursday, August 1, 2013

Why did SSP Prishantha Jayakody Desert?  Although the Police department states that they are considering the former police media spokesman SSP Prishantha Jayakody as a deserter, it is reported that no such official document has been received by his family.

Terror by Ruling Politician in Daraniyagala; UN Concerns; Top Police Offcier Feld to Save Life by nelvely

Govt. struggles to maintain fiscal discipline and consumer prices rise 6.1%

July 31, 2013, 8:23 pm 

The government yesterday showed signs of struggling to maintain fiscal discipline as consumer prices rose 6.1 percent in July 2013 from a year earlier as reflected in the official inflation index, the Colombo Consumers’ Price Index, down from 6.8 percent the previous month largely due to a statistical phenomenon called the base effect.

"Inflation was higher last year so the movement’s in the price index this year show up as lower inflation rates. Only a few items in the index saw prices decrease," a Treasury official said not wanting to be named.

Inflation, as measured by the Colombo Consumers’ Price Index (CCPI) (2006/07=100) computed by the Department of Census and Statistics decreased to 6.1 per cent on a year-on-year (YoY) basis in July 2013 from 6.8 per cent in the previous month. This decline was observed for the second consecutive month. The inflation rate on an annual average basis also decreased to 8.3 per cent in July 2013 from 8.6 per cent recorded in the previous month. Core inflation on both YoY and annual average basis continued to decline to 3.1 per cent and 6.2 per cent, respectively, in July 2013 from 4.3 per cent and 6.4 per cent, respectively, in June 2013, the Central Bank said in a statement.

"The CCPI increased by 0.2 per cent in July 2013 over the previous month, with the Index increasing in absolute terms to 176.8 from 176.5 in June 2013. The contribution to the monthly increase in the Index came mainly from price increases (by 0.2 per cent) in the Food and Non Alcoholic Beverages sub-category. Within the Food category the price of some varieties of vegetables, fruits and fresh fish, potatoes, big onions, red onions and limes increased during the month. However, a decrease in the price of many varieties of vegetables and fresh fish, green chillies and eggs was reported. Within the Non-Food category, increases in prices were reported in the sub-categories of Transport (by 0.5 per cent); Clothing and Footwear (by 0.2 per cent); and Miscellaneous Goods and Services (by 0.1 per cent). Meanwhile, the prices in the sub-categories of Housing, Water, Electricity, Gas and Other Fuels; Furnishing, Household Equipment and Routine Household Maintenance; Health; Communication; Recreation and Culture; and Education remained unchanged during the month," the Central Bank said.

Yesterday the government announced increases to excise duties on tobacco, cigarettes, liquor and ethyl alcohol and import duties on vehicle tyres, excluding for busses, vehicle parts, dairy products, including butter, liquor and tobacco products was also revised with effect from 31 July 2013. "

"This move is expected to help the development of domestic industries, particularly related to light engineering, dairy products and tyre manufacturing. In addition, the total tax applicable for the importation of Single Cabs was also revised to correct an anomaly on taxing such vehicles," the Treasury said in a statement.

The new rates have been published in Extraordinary Gazette Notifications No. 1821/1, 1821/3, 1821/4 and 1821/18, dated 29 July 2013, it said.

Economists said the use of ad hoc mid-night tariff changes were signs the government was having difficulty maintaining fiscal discipline. "The government is obviously finding it hard to stick to the budget estimates, this is what these sudden changes point to," one economist said not wanting to be named.

International Monetary Fund (IMF) Sri Lanka Resident Rep Dr. Koshy Mathai, addressing the Sri Lanka Economic Summit last month, said Sri Lanka’s fiscal position, despite commendable improvements, remained weak and exacerbated macroeconomic volatility and led to high inflation.

Dr. Mathai said Sri Lanka’s loose fiscal position led to higher inflation and higher interest rates. A high level of public debt has also stunted growth compared with many other economies, including Sri Lanka’s peers, and put pressure on the banks.

Black July, Mullivaikkaaal And The Mahavamsa Mindset Of The Sinhala Nation

By Visuvanathan Rudrakumaran -August 1, 2013

PM - TGTE - Visuvanathan Rudrakumaran

Brothers and sisters, Thirty long years have passed since our hearts were burdened by the nightmares of Black July.

July 23, 1983 – the day the world came to know the horrors of Black July. It was during those days……
..when over 50 Tamil political prisoners were mercilessly tortured and beaten to death by Sinhala inmates of the infamous Welkade maximum security prison under the watchful eyes the prison authorities themselves.

..when Kuttimani, the detained Tamil freedom fighter, had his eyes gouged out and crushed on the ground in punishment for his pledge that he shall donate his eyes in order to see the dawn of a free Tamil Eelam even after his death.
It was during those days…..

..when, over 3,000 innocent Tamil civilians, including women, children and the elderly, were massacred in an orgy of blood-letting directed by the Sri Lankan State solely on account of their Tamil nationality.
It was during those days…..

..when Sinhala mobs set upon and burnt down Tamil homes, businesses and places of worship.They were the days that revealed to the world the ugly and diabolical grip of Sinhala Buddhist chauvinism on the long suffering Tamil People in Sri Lanka.

The ongoing of pogroms since those days in Black July continue to reinforce in us the fact that the Tamil Nation could not live together with the Sinhala Nation in peace and security. The imprinting of these painful experiences in the collective memory of the Tamil people continue to affirm their resolve that the creation of an independent and sovereign state of Tamil Eelam was the only way to guarantee them a life in peace, security and dignity.

Black July marked the first significant moment in the history of the armed struggle undertaken by the Tamil nation in its search for freedom. The heinous crimes committed by the Sinhala nation on those dark days did not crush the aspirations of the Tamil nation. Instead, Black July served to embolden the Tamil people to extend the scope of their struggle to every nook and corner of the Tamil Nation, and to the distant lands in which the Tamils lived.                                                              Read More

Sri Lanka sets date for polls in former war zone

byAFP -August 01, 2013  Residents of Sri Lanka's former war zone will go to the polls in September in a regional election expected to hand limited autonomy to minority Tamils, it was announced Thursday. The voting will be held on September 21 during a nine-hour period, a spokesman for the Election Commissioner told AFP. It will be the first-ever election for the Northern Provincial Council and Tamils are expected to win. The area's capital Jaffna was the centre of a de facto state run by Tamil separatist rebels during the 37-year ethnic war. Elections for two other councils elsewhere in the country will also be held on the same date. President Mahinda Rajapakse's ruling coalition had promised to share limited power with Tamils through a local council after the military crushed the rebels in May 2009. The councils in the north and elsewhere were established in line with an agreement with neighbouring India, which promised to rein in Tamil separatists on its soil provided Colombo's Sinhalese majority share political power with Tamils. Although the government agreed to hold polls, it has moved to strip some powers from the councils, citing national security concerns should Tamils win. Sri Lanka adopted a de facto federal system in 1987 but never held elections in the Tamil-dominated north, which continued to be ruled directly by the president. Councils have, however, been functioning in Sinhalese-majority areas that Rajapakse's party controls. Sri Lanka is under international pressure to promote ethnic reconciliation and investigate allegations of war crimes by its forces in the final stages of the war. It has denied allegations that up to 40,000 civilians were killed during the bloody finale. The UN estimates that up to 100,000 people were killed during the whole of the conflict.

Alcohol prices upped to fund govt. campaign for NWP polls – Daya Gamage

Details

 

Created On Thursday, 01 August 2013 15:24

Category: General

UNP national organizer Daya Gamage, in a statement, says fear of exposure among corrupt politicians and heads of state departments and institutions following the releasing of the COPE report and the president’s warning that he has the ‘files of everyone’ were the reasons behind the fire at the CWC chairman’s office.

The government is deceiving the people in its campaign for the upcoming polls, he says, adding that UPFA candidates are distributing free alcohol in the north western and central provinces.

After promising to halt alcohol use, the government has once again raised excise taxes to further increase its massive income.

With this increase, addicts have begun to patronizing illicit liquor dens and producing the booze themselves, and the media has exposed that as many as 85 liquor shops in the country are owned by government MPs and their cronies.

It is clear that government politicians are spending the monies earned by selling liquor to the people on their campaign for the NWP polls.

Without having a correct economic strategy, the government has also increased import taxes on vehicle spare parts.

By holding Deyata Kirula and other public deceptions that target elections, the government is giving temporary solutions to public issues, and I pray that wisdom dawns on the people to understand the true nature of the government and take correct decisions at the elections by understanding the deception by the corrupt in the government, he adds.

Busting the common wealth of the people - Editorial

WEDNESDAY, 31 JULY 2013

While millions of people in Sri Lanka are struggling for survival and the cost of living keeps on soaring, the Government is to spend a staggering Rs. 1,930 million for the Commonwealth Summit to be held here in November.
The Government had waged an international battle to ensure that the summit was held here amid widespread calls for a change of venue because of the Rajapaksa regime’s track record on human rights issues, alleged war crimes, destroying the independence of the judiciary and the independence of the media with a major breakdown in the rule of law.

Eventually, political analysts say India brought about a turning point by insisting that Colombo should be the venue of the summit. The full political price the Government paid for this is still not known, but most analysts believe that the holding of a free and fair election to the Northern Provincial Council without any changes to the 13th Amendment was one of the conditions agreed to by the Rajapaksa regime. Whatever the political price and whatever the internal consequences with some of the Rajapaksa regime’s main allies, strongly and openly opposing the compromise, the financial cost appears to be far too much and the people would have the right to ask who gave the Rajapaksa regime the political power to bust up the common wealth of the people. After all, the Commonwealth is regarded by most analysts as a pompous artefact of once colonised countries and the main benefit will be the privilege given to the President to be the Chairman of this largely powerless organisation for the next two years.

Reports say that at a recent meeting, the President himself cautioned ministers to be careful of what they say or do not say about the summit. He pointed out that the former Prime Minister had presided over the Colombo summit of leaders of more than 70 countries in the Non-Aligned Movement in 1976. The next year her party was thrashed at the July general elections and it did not have enough seats for her to even become the Leader of the Opposition.

According to our sister paper the Sunday Times, in addition to the colossal Rs. 1,930 million, the Rajapaksa regime is also to import super luxury cars for Commonwealth leaders. The choice now is between full option BMW 7 series and Mercedes Benz super class vehicles or a combination. Earlier the regime had planned to rent the fleet from owners of luxury vehicles or buy them and after the summit to sell them at a public auction. But latest reports say some UPFA ministers - who already enjoy an extravagance of privileges including the payment from public money of their monthly electricity bills amounting to more than Rs. 200,000/= - have asked for these super luxury summit cars to add to their fleets of vehicles. Such and other instances of super luxury living if not vulgar extravagance has raised questions among millions of people as to whether politicians are serving them and giving to the country or whether they are shamelessly grabbing the wealth and resources of the country.

According to a report submitted to the Government, the expenditure for the summit is like the accounts book of a billionaire.
For millions of people, especially those living below the poverty line, such expenditure and numerous other instances of super luxury living by politicians who are elected to be servant leaders of the people are outrageous. These millions of people may be wondering whether they are considered as collies in a company or sovereign citizens of the country.

Cardinal laments conduct of some  LG politicos

By Norman Palihawadana-July 31, 2013

Cardinal  Malcolm Ranjith

The deplorable conduct of some Pradeshiya Sabha members and chairmen tarnished the image of the country, Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith said yesterday.

He said politicians should set an example to the people who voted them into office.

The Cardinal expressed these views when he was asked what he thought of the deteriorating law and order situation in the country and the situation at Deraniyagala, where an estate superintendent was killed by politically connected goons.

The Cardinal said politicians had to behave with proper decorum without bringing the country into disrepute.

Suspe

cts are not my supporters - CM

July 31, 2013, 10:41 pm 

Sabaragamuwa Chief Minister Maheepala Herath yesterday strongly denied being the political godfather of former Deraniyagala Pradeshiya Sabha Chairman Anil Champika Wijesinghe and his gang. CM Herath claimed that he and his son, Kanaka in Parliament hadn’t supported Wijesinghe. The SLFP veteran was responding to a query by The Island. CM Herath said that he would be consulting lawyers over the coming weekend to discuss legal action against those defaming him and his son.

The Jekylls And Hydes Of Religions

By Tisaranee Gunasekara -August 1, 2013 

“Imagine a garden with a hundred kinds of trees, a thousand kinds of flowers, a hundred kinds of fruit and vegetables. Suppose, then, that the gardener….knew no other distinction than between edible and inedible, nine tenth of this garden would be useless to him. He would pull up the most enchanting flowers and hew down the noblest trees and even regard them with a loathing and envious eye”. - Hermann Hesse (Steppenwolf)

The discovery of the Higgs boson was a watershed event in the journey of science[i]. In the pantheon of scientists who paved the way for that momentous moment Abdus Salam occupies a pre-eminent position. Prof. Salam was Pakistan’s only Nobel Laureate.India rejoiced in his towering achievements (he was born in pre-Partition Punjab) but Pakistan did not. The local police inspector was the highest state official present at his funeral.

Prof. Salam was an Ahmadi-Muslim. In 1974,Pakistan introduced a constitutional amendment decreeing the Ahmadis to be non-Muslims. Prof. Salam was a theoretical physicist of global renown, but for Pakistanhe was nothing more than a pariah, a heretic.

The persecutory-marginalisation of Prof. Salam is symbolic of how religious fundamentalism warps the national mind and debilitates the national will.

Pakistan’s founder did not try to decree who is/is not a Muslim. Mohammad Ali Jinnah’s Foreign Minister was an Ahamadi-Muslim as were many of the new country’s top military and civilian officials. But as the influence of Wahabism began to permeate Pakistani society, the country became more intolerant not just towards Christians/Hindus but also towards Muslims deemed the ‘wrong sort’[ii]. Politicians started to pander to religious extremists to gain popularity and legitimacy. Prime Minister Bhutto introduced the first anti-Ahmadi law; Gen, Zia Ul Haq followed with more extreme measures (he also introduced the Sharia law in Pakistan, with the full backing of his American patrons).                               Read More

State secret no. 1 - President has taken a 50% commission from the Norochcholai project

Monday, 29 July 2013

The Government Servants Against Corruption organization says with great responsibility that President Mahinda Rajapaksa had taken a 50% commission from the Chinese company that was assigned the project to construct the Norochcholai coal power plant.

Several senior government officials and some senior state officials who are now in retirement have formed a group that would release details corruption among the high ranking government officials. The reports are to be released under the name “state secrets” (rajya rahas). In the first paper released by the group on Norochcholai states details about a Rs. 15,000 million (Rs. 1.5 billion) fraud committed by the President in the construction of the Norochcholai coal power plant.

State Secret No. 1 - President Has Taken a 50% Commission From the Norochcholai Project by nelvely

Reveal godfathers of Deraniyagala criminals – UNP

Noori Estate killing:

By Shamindra Ferdinando-July 31, 2013

A thorough investigation into the killing of Nihal Perera (69), Superintendent of Noori estate in Deraniyagala on the morning of July 5 would expose the godfathers of those arrested for the high profile killing, Kegalle District UNP parliamentarian A. D. Champika Premadasa said yesterday.

Premadasa, who had been a longstanding SLFPer before switching his allegiance to the UNP, toldThe Island that people of Deraniyagala had been terrorised by the gang responsible for the estate superintendent’s killing for quite some time. The MP said that Kegalle district SLFP leadership should be ashamed of what was going on in the Deraniyagala electorate.

When pointed out that he as an Opposition lawmaker as well as a member of the main Opposition party had been strangely silent on the issue, MP Premadasa said that Kegalle was represented by him and MP Kabir Hashim. MP Premadasa assured The Island that he would take up the issue at the party’s decision making Working Committee next Tuesday (Aug. 6).

The police have so far arrested 21 persons, including former Chairman of Deraniyagala Pradeshiya Sabha Anil Champika Wijesinghe in connection with the killing. Avissawela Magistrate Dhanushka Seneviratne ordered all 21 suspects to be produced before courts on July 31.

The parliamentarian said that it would be the responsibility of the government to ensure an impartial investigation.

Addressing the editors of print and electronic media at Temple Trees on Tuesday (July 30) President Mahinda Rajapaksa assured that the police would investigate the incident thoroughly. When asked whether he was aware of the police intimidating residents suspected of supplying information to the media, President Rajapaksa immediately got in touch with IGP N. K. Illangakoon over the phone. Having spoken to Illangakoon, President Rajapaksa assured that the police were in the process of verifying facts.

Responding to a query by The Island, Kegalle District MP and Deputy Livestock Minister H. R. Mithrapala yesterday acknowledged he had been instrumental in nominating Anil Champika Wijesinghe to contest local government polls. He said that Wijesinghe had been backed by several members of SLFP ‘Balamandalaya’ hence he didn’t see any reason to deprive him of nominations. Responding to allegations that Wijesinghe and his henchmen had campaigned for him, the deputy minister said that Wijesinghe had fallen out with him just a few days after the LG polls. Wijesinghe had been made Chairman of Deraniyagala Pradeshiya Sabha as he polled the highest number of preferential votes at the LG polls in keeping with a party decision that those who topped lists of preferential votes should be appointed head of LG bodies.

Mithrapala said that he as the Deraniyagala electoral organiser had prevented Wijesinghe from being given nomination to contest the subsequent LG polls. "An angry Wijesinghe backed the candidature of a UNP contestant in retaliation," MP Mithrapala said.

Deputy Health Minister Lalith Dissanayake (Kegalle District MP) told The Island that he, too, believed that an impartial inquiry had to be conducted into very serious allegations. Responding to a query, MP Dissanayake said that tough action was called for to prevent such crimes.

UPFA parliamentarian Y. G. Padmasiri asserted that the situation wouldn’t have deteriorated to such an extent if the police had acted swiftly and decisively. Unfortunately, in spite of the main suspect being a mere Pradeshiya Sabha member, he had tremendous political clout. Padmasiri, a senior member of LSSP, a constituent of the UPFA alleged that the local police had collaborated with political goons. He said that the Deraniyagala crisis reflected the actual ground situation in the country.

A large group of residents recently signed a petition seeking permanent STF presence in the area to ensure safety and security of those who had voiced concern over the situation. At a meeting held at Tamil Vidyalaya on July 28, several persons alleged that the local police had cooperated with Wijesinghe’s gang.