Wednesday, October 16, 2013

SL Teas Must Meet The Challenges Of Stringent Quality

By Rohan Fernando -October 16, 2013

Rohan Fernando

Hon. Minister of Plantation Industries, Mr. Mahinda Samarasinghe, Hon. Deputy Minister of Plantations, Mr. Earl Gunesekera, Secretary, Ministry of Plantation Industries Mrs. Sudharma Karunaratne, Chairperson Sri Lanka Tea Board, Mrs. Janaki Kuruppu, Vice President TEA – Mr. Anslem Perera, Vice President TEA – Mr. Jayantha Karunaratne, Secretary General TEA – Mr. Niraj De Mel, Hon Deputy Ministers, Members of Parliament, Secretaries, Distinguished invitees, ladies and gentlemen.

Firstly, it is my great pleasure and honour to inform that His Excellency the President will join us shortly to be with the members. It’s a rare occasion when a President of a country accepts an invitation to attend an Annual General Meeting. We welcome His Excellency’s decision and take pride in the belief that his decision to grace this occasion would be because our Trade is an important one for the country.

The TEA or the Tea Exporters Association of Sri Lanka was activated by a few exporters in 1999 to address specific issues inhibiting growth of the tea export sector, later expanded to incorporate a majority of active exporters from this country and today it is a strong organization working towards a common goal of improving the tea export sector whilst maintaining cordial relationships with the plantation companies, tea small holders, tea factory owners and the brokers. Member companies of the TEA account for around 87% of the total tea exports in terms of volume and value. The strategy, the Tea Exporters Association put forward 10 years ago to expand the export revenue from 750 million dollars to surpass the 1 billion dollars per annum was readily accepted and mentioned in the budget of 2000 ,recognizing for the first time the importance of value addition through indigenous branding. The strategy document submitted that time also stressed on R&D, backward integration to the tea farmer, introduction of specific curriculum in the universities directly related to the tea industry and induction of latest technologies at factory level to improve quality and product efficiency.

We are glad that some of those proposals are now being implemented,despite there being a few awaiting implementation. Today we are happy to note that the export earnings from tea exceed 1.4 billion USD and this is now considered as the minimum revenue target for our industry. It is our intention and desire to drive this particular segment of the tea industry to reach 5 billion dollars by 2020 and support the government’s ambitious target of export revenue expanding to 20 billion USD by this time.Read More

Anti-Eezham fanaticism in India cites NPC to save Colombo on CHOGM

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 16 October 2013, 02:55 GMT]
On Monday, writing a letter to DMK chief Karunanidhi, requesting him to persuade Thoazhar Thiyagu to call off his fast unto death campaign, New Delhi Establishment’s Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said that “ a decision on the issue of my participation in the CHOGM conference will be taken only after considering all relevant factors, including the sentiments of your party and the Tamil people.” On Tuesday, Chennai-based V. Suryanarayan, who has spent a lifetime in serving New Delhi’s security–intelligence outfits and in opposing independence of Eezham Tamils, wrote that if New Delhi boycotts CHOGM it will harm the NPC ‘experiment’ and “it would be playing into the hands of the fanatical sections among the Tamil diaspora.”

The following are comments received from a Tamil activist for alternative politics in Jaffna:

Manmohan Singh's letter to M Karunanidhi urging the DMK leader to stop Thoazhar Thiyagu's fast-unto-death

Tamils in the island, in Tamil Nadu and in the diaspora have to carefully peruse how the NPC ploy is now used to save the genocidal culprits in Colombo and their perpetrators in the outside Establishments.

It should also be clear why C.V. Wigneswaran, installed by New Delhi by ingenious manipulation of the opportunity of voting, was condemning CHOGM boycott call, even before his election.

The worst blow to the self-respect of Tamils all over the world is the thinking in the Establishments and in their decades-long ‘advisory’ sections that the Stateless nation of Tamils that was led into genocide by deceit and by keeping the world blind by engineering information, could easily be deceived in politics too, without conceding anything fundamental.

“What could you do about it if we all in the Establishments have decided for it,” is the attitude that is shown to Tamils and that is systematically orchestrated in the psy-op campaigns.

Tamils could do a lot if they could realise the ultimate adversaries in the Establishments and the illusions created by them.

As a beginning, elected NPC members in the North could take a stand on the CHOGM, ignoring Wigneswaran, so that Manmohan Singh and the world will know what Tamils in the island think. Eezham Tamils who have voted in the NPC election also will know about the candidates they have voted in the New Delhi-engineered election.

Knowing how the DMK chief was deceived, or allowed himself and along with him took the entire Tamil Nadu to get deceived by New Delhi during the genocidal war, Tamil Nadu should be prepared for a struggle of proving geopolitical strength not only to New Delhi but also to Washington and London.

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Ms. Jayalalithaa has passed a unanimous resolution in the State Assembly in 2011, calling for New Delhi to facilitate indictment of Sri Lanka for war crimes and crimes against humanity at the UN. The resolution also called for economic sanctions by India against Sri Lanka.

In 2013, initiated by the Chief Minister, the State Assembly once again passed a unanimous resolution, this time calling for an UN-conducted referendum among Eezham Tamils in the island as well as in the diaspora on the question of a separate Eezham. The resolution also reiterated the earlier resolutions, specifying that the investigation should be on the crime of genocide along with war crimes.

As none of the resolutions by the representatives of Tamil people has been honoured by New Delhi, and as the ultimate outcome is a bold hoodwink in the name of ‘experimenting’ with an already existing NPC under a unitary constitution, Tamil Nadu should get a cue that the genocide investigations have to be first carried out in India itself.

Perhaps, conducting such an investigation in India on the decades-long facilitators of Eezham Tamil genocide will almost be like conducting an international investigation, and this could effectively arrest all further plans of genocide, now unrestrictedly designed and carried out by all sort of extra-parliamentary elements in India. Demand for such an investigation could be in the manifesto of Tamil Nadu parities thinking of next coalition at New Delhi.

The diaspora may have to come out of its ‘articulators’ who virtually serve the Establishments by hijacking and sitting on any international struggle of Eezham Tamils.

V Suryanarayan

Aspiring for Tamil Eelam is a righteous right of every Eezham Tamil coming from a long genocide-affected nation.

While the demand for international investigation on Sri Lanka's genocide and the right of the diaspora to have a say in the referendum on a separate Tamil Eelam are matters unanimously resolved in the State Assembly by the people’s representatives in Tamil Nadu, whom Suryanarayan is referring to as “fanatical sections among the Tamil diaspora?”

Either by advising the security-intelligence outfits of New Delhi or by relaying their views to engineer opinion, a mandate-less esoteric group, fanatically opposed to the independence of Eezham Tamils, was long contributing and is contributing to genocide. This itself is a matter for political as well as academic investigation in India.

The Chennai-based, retired Senior Professor V. Suryanarayan’s advice for India to not boycott CHOGM in order to facilitate the NPC “experiment” under the “highly respected Chief Minister Wigneswaran,” and to not “play into the hands of the fanatical sections among the Tamil diaspora,” appeared in the website of the Institute of Peace and Conflict Studies (IPCS) in New Delhi, directed by Dr. D. Suba Chandran.

Thousands of protesters present at protest against Indian central government

[ Wednesday, 16 October 2013, 01:45.20 PM GMT +05:30 ]

Thousands of protesters present at protest organised by the Thamilaga Vazlhurimai party against the Indian central government yesterday.

Protesters proposed 5 demands. They are,
1. India should boycott CHOGM chaired by the international war criminal president Mahinda Rajapaksa
2. Full fill demands of Tamil activist Thiyagu
3. Shutdown Poontamalli and Chenkalpattu detention centers. Release Tamils detained at prisons in Tamil Nadu and release Tamil Nadu fishermen detained in Lankan prisons.
4. Indian government should not provide military assistance and training to Lankan military personals.
5. Dual citizenship should be granted to Lankans residing in India.

UK Worked With Sri Lankan Security Forces

During The Final Stages Of The War – Report

October 16, 2013

“Two senior PSNI officers were deployed as ‘critical friends’ of the Sri Lankan regime around the time of a civilian massacre by government forces in 2009. Documents reveal how the UK worked with Sri Lankan security forces during the final stages of the bloody civil war which devastated the country.” Belfast Telegraphreports.

British police secretly advised the Sri Lankans since the Thatcher era, with visits to the Royal Ulster Constabulary’s headquarters during the Troubles and early guidance from an ex-MI5 director on counter-insurgency strategy.

It was previously revealed how 3,500 Sri Lankan police officers – including some senior commanders – received training from the Scottish Police College since 2007.

It has now emerged UK police training in Sri Lanka continued even during the bloodiest months of the war.

The links to Northern Ireland were revealed following a Freedom of Information request to the PSNI by Corporate Watch, a not-for-profit research group.

Meanwhile the corporatewatch.org yesterday said; “In February 2009, Sri Lanka was an island at war. After nearly three decades of conflict, the separatist Tamil Tiger rebels were being cornered by government forces, in what has become known as the ‘killing fields’. 300,000 ethnic Tamil civilians fled the fighting, only to be rounded up and ‘screened’ for militant sympathies in squalid barbed-wire internment camps. By August 2009, Amnesty International warned that this system of indefinite and arbitrary detention included some 50,000 children.

To read the CorporateWatch’s Freedom of Information request to the PSNI click here

Gary White MBE (Director of Operations at Ineqe Group Ltd.) Recently retired from the Police Service of Northern Ireland, Gary White is regarded as one of the most experienced conflict management practitioners in Europe [Courtesy: ineqe.com]

Duncan McClausland OBE (Non Executive Director, Ineque Group Ltd.). A former Assistant Chief Constable with the PSNI during which time, his organisational and management skills were tested during the delivery of services with an annual budget of £1.2b. [Courtesy: ineqe.com]

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 15 October 2013, 22:08 GMT]
A Director of Operations at Ineqe Group Ltd., a Belfast-based Security Agency and a Non Executive Director of the same security outfit, which has project links to British Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) and the British International Development Ministry, were seconded from the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) and deployed to Sri Lanka by the FCO to act as “critical friends” to the Sri Lankan Police and to provide “hands-on assistance” during the final phase of the war, Corporate Watch has discovered through a Freedom of Information request to the PSNI, news reports in UK said on Tuesday.

“It has now emerged UK police training in Sri Lanka continued even during the bloodiest months of the war,” said Belfast Telegraph, on the latest revelation by the Corporate Watch.

The Director of Operations at the Inege Group, Mr Gary White, and Non Executive Director Mr Duncan McCausland were the ‘Critical Friends’ who were ordered to assist the Sri Lankan Police.

The Corporate Watch, which recently revealed how 3,500 SL police officers – including some senior commanders – received training from the Scottish Police College since 2007, releasing the latest report on the Ineqe assistance, also said that the British police has been secretly advising the Sri Lankan forces since the Thatcher era.

Some excerpts from the Corporate Watch report follow:

“Training police abroad is nothing new for the pair. Prior to joining Ineqe, they travelled to Bangladesh, Bolivia, Georgia, Iraq, Lebanon, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Venezuela, according to their CVs - accessible online for any prospective customers to browse. But what on earth were they doing in all these exotic locations? That is less well advertised. In Bolivia, White ran public order courses for the Police and Military, while posing for the camera with some bicycle cops. But it is their work in Sri Lanka that warrants closer scrutiny, as the Belfast Telegraph partially revealed this morning.

“In February 2009, Sri Lanka was an island at war. After nearly three decades of conflict, the separatist Tamil Tiger rebels were being cornered by government forces, in what has become known as the 'killing fields'. 300,000 ethnic Tamil civilians fled the fighting, only to be rounded up and 'screened' for militant sympathies in squalid barbed-wire internment camps. By August 2009, Amnesty International warned that this system of indefinite and arbitrary detention included some 50,000 children.

“It may come as a surprise, then, that this was precisely the six-month period when White and McCausland were seconded from the PSNI and deployed to Sri Lanka by the FCO. The pair were ordered “to act as a 'critical friend' to the Sri Lankan Police” and provide “hands-on assistance”, Corporate Watch has discovered through a Freedom of Information request to the PSNI. The itinerary for their first visit included “high level meetings with [the] Inspector General of Police” (IGP), Sri Lanka's top cop Jayantha Wickramaratne, who incidentally had himself trained in Scotland and Northern Ireland during 2007. As IGP, Wickramaratne was part of the 'Task Force' responsible for the administration of the internment camps.”

China and Sri Lanka further strengthening ties

Wednesday, 16 October 2013

China and Sri Lanka are working towards further strengthening ties between the two countries.

The Vice President of the Chinese People’s Association for Peace and Disarmament (CPAPD) Yan Junqi, who is also the Vice Chairperson of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress, has called on President Rajapaksa this morning at the President’s House.

While commending President Rajapaksa for the “achievements made under his leadership,” Yan according to the President’s Office has expressed her interest in working to further strengthen bilateral relations between Sri Lanka and China.

Chinese Ambassador in Sri Lanka Wu Jianghao, Executive Vice President of CPAPD Ma Wenpu and several other officials from CPAPD had accompanied Yan.

Separatism Can Mean Beheading: Army Commander

October 16, 2013

Army Commander Daya Ratnayake issued a strong warning to groups with separatist agendas, saying the world had already seen how Sri Lanka answers separatism.

“As long as people are within a democratic framework we can all live happily. But if anyone becomes extremists or tries to divide the country, it is not the country that will be divided but their heads that will be severed from their bodies,” he said.

The Army Chief made these remarks while on a tour of the former conflict zones of the Wanni recently.

Jumbos punching Packer

Editorial-October 15, 2013,

The press has recently carried pictures of government politicians fawning over Australian Casino tycoon, James Packer, who was here last week. They went out of their way to make him feel important for obvious reasons.

Pictures showed a happy Packer flashing a thousand watt smile. However, UNP MP Dr. Harsha de Silva has claimed that the Opposition was able to make him return empty-handed by blocking a government move to rush legislation through Parliament to grant his casino to be set up here a tax holiday.

The government’s wisdom of pampering the likes of Packer with various concessions as part of a strategy to build what its critics call a gambling economy stands questioned; and all the more so because the ordinary people are burdened with indirect taxes which have caused the prices of essentials to go into the stratosphere. It is they and local industrialists who deserve tax relief more than anyone else. Such incentives should be utilised to attract investment, both local and foreign, to develop the much-neglected manufacturing sector which should be the bedrock of the national economy. Not even the bitterest critics of the government will object to tax concessions given to ventures such as industries or tourist hotels as the country gains from them in the long run.

Casino kingpins are birds of passage; their much-touted mixed-development projects are only facades. They vanish after making enough money if they feel more could be made elsewhere. When they realise their time is up, they will engage in kerb crawling for willing governments in other developing countries. This is the name of the game.

The need for setting up red-light economic zones, as it were, to lure gambling magnates and others of questionable reputation arises when cash-strapped governments get stuck in reality distortion fields of their own making, borrowing as they do heavily to achieve unrealistic development goals. The late President J. R. Jayewardene, in a bid to give the economy a turbo boost, asked us to be ready to contend with robber barons, and successive governments have been rolling out the red carpet for such shady characters with deep pockets ever since. If wasteful government expenditure is curtailed drastically and available resources are frugally managed while an investor friendly environment is created with negative factors such as corruption and bureaucratic red tape eliminated, a country’s dependence on casinos etc to prop up its economy could be reduced to a great extent.

Dr. de Silva has warned that a future UNP government will tax all casinos heavily. We really look forward to that day! However, conventional wisdom has it that promises are like babies—very easy to make but hellishly difficult to deliver. There is no reason why anyone should disagree with Dr. de Silva on the need to deny casinos tax holidays, but it is hoped that the UNP, if and when it forms a government, will not opt for pandering to the whims and fancies of wealthy foreigners including casino magnates who throw dollars and pounds around.

While the SLFP was in the political wilderness it campaigned hard against robber barons. Its frontliners condemned Joe Sim, described as a ‘casino king’, who came here during President Ranasinghe Premadasa’s tenure and made enough money, but had to leave after falling from grace. Today, we have them dancing attendance on Packer!

As we pointed out in these columns last July, Joe Sim was brought here again in 2003 by the UNP-led UNF government. Addressing the media in Colombo on April 26, 2003, he said he had been invited by the UNF government to help Sri Lanka promote tourism and investment. He unveiled a plan to build a mega entertainment complex in Sri Lanka a la Disneyland. So much for politicians and their antipathy towards casino tycoons!

Namal gets SEC to give millions to Tharunyata Hetak

Wednesday, 16 October 2013

President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s son, MP Namal Rajapaksa has got the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to provide millions of rupees to his Tharunyata Hetak movement.

It has been revealed that the SEC had given monies close to Rs. 5 million to Tharunyata Hetak for “awareness creation regarding capital markets.”

Director General of the SEC Dhammika Perera has told the media that the funds were provided to Tharunyata Hetak due to the “penetration the movement has in the country.”

“The funds were provided to cover the costs for the organisation and for it to conduct awareness programmes on capital markets,” he has said.

However, Tharunyata Hetak has received funding from businessmen and many government institutions on Namal’s directive.
The SEC, which is the regulator of the Colombo Stock Exchange, has been marred by controversy with the resignation of its Chairpersons Mrs. Indrani Sugathadasa and Tilak Karunarathne.

Sugathadasa resigned stating she could not carry out her duties with a clear conscience.

Karunarathne when handing his resignation alleged that the stock market was controlled by a mafia but stopped short of naming the individuals behind the mafia before his resignation.

Ranil –Karu- Sajith dicuss: Ranil senior leader and all powers to leadership council

(Lanka-e-News -16.Oct.2013, 4.30PM) A discussion was held among UNP leader Ranil Wickremesinghe, Karu Jayasooriya and Sajith Premadasa last evening at Sri Kotha to appoint an apex leadership Council to take decisions on party matters.

Prior to this, a discussion was held between the group including Ranil, Karu and Daya Gamage, and Ven.Girambe Ananda Thera of the National Bhikkhu Front together with Sangha members at Polwatte Vihara, Kollupitiya. During that discussion, the Sangha members have presented a list of proposals to the UNP leader stipulating how the proposed leadership Council should be.

The proposals enumerated therein are :

Ranil Wickremesinghe shall function as the senior UNP leader and opposition leader .

The powers of the party leader shall be vested in the proposed leadership Council.

All decision making regarding all party activities shall be with the proposed leadership Council.

The reforms within the party and changes thereof , as well as appointments to positions shall be by the leadership council.

The powers that are now with the Executive committee shall be transferred to the leadership Council.

The leader of the proposed Council shall be Karu Jayasooriya and Sajith Premadasa shall also be included in it.

The number of members of the Council shall not exceed nine.

All changes that are to be effected shall take place within two weeks .

Ranil, Karu and Sajith who discussed the list of proposals of the National Bhikkhu Front , have agreed to hold the second round of discussions next week, reports say .

The seniors of the UNP explain that these proposals generally are progressive and salutary , and based on the party constitution the power to take decisions are even now not vested in one person - the party leader, and it is the Executive Committee that has those powers. These powers are vested in the party leader as and when necessary by the Executive committee only.

The democratic role of the proposed leadership council is lesser than that of the present Executive committee , they pointed out.

The number of members of the leadership council is less than half that of the Executive committee , and many of the members to the Executive committee are appointed by a majority of the officials of the party organizations .Moreover , if the leadership council is appointed by the executive committee itself, the vesting of powers of the latter in the leadership council is ridiculous and a joke , they claim.

Hence what is most paramount is party ‘s unity and harmony . Following today’s discussions among Ranil, Karu and Sajith , if the latter does not follow his characteristic backstreet policies of running with the hare and hunting with the hound , and does not display that dastardly characteristic of painting a different picture when coming out after the discussions, that would be most welcome , the seniors who know too well about Sajith’s evil traits revealed. Sajith is waiting with his mouth widely opened until Maharaja’s microphone is held to it , political analysts told Lanka e news.

UNP: A changing of the guard?

October 17, 2013
UNP Chief Ranil Wickremesinghe left on a two-day visit to Singapore after a marathon day of discussions that centred on his leadership of Sri Lanka’s main opposition party on Tuesday (15).

Nearly two weeks ago, the United National Party’s internecine war turned bloody on the streets of Matara. Three days ago, as a belated result of that violence, Matara Police sought the arrest of the party’s Communications Chief, a former Foreign Minister of Sri Lanka, Mangala Samaraweera in connection with organising an illegal protest and more incongruously, the petty theft of two megaphones.

UNP a Changing of the Guard by nelvely

Flimsy and ridiculous loudspeaker theft charge against Mangala enlarged on bail :Ranil to strike back against witch hunt

(Lanka-e-News-16.Oct.2013,4.30PM) The Matara chief magistrate Ruwan Sisira ordered that Mangala Samaraweera M.P. ,Devinuwara UNP electorate organizer H R Wimalasiri and UNP Balapitiya electorate organizer Kamal Soysa charged with theft of a loudspeaker be released on personal bails of Rs. 100,000 each.

The police submitted a B report to the court in respect of the above named individuals who surrendered to the police yesterday(15), based on charges that the crowd with them attacked with cinnamon poles , caused damage to a vehicle and robbed a loudspeaker

While Samaraweera was being enlarged on bail , a further 6 UNP activists were arrested by the police . Accordingly , so far 44 individuals have been taken into custody . But only two suspects were arrested of the Maharaja faction.

The police submitting a further report stated in writing to court that in connection with the incident of 5 th October , 14 individuals including Mangala Samaraweera ought to be arrested . But this number had dissolved away and as at yesterday , charges have been filed against only 7 of them .

These so called suspects are UNP stalwarts who in fact have nothing to do with the Matara incident. The indictment against them that they robbed a loudspeaker is as flimsy as is most ludicrous.

It is the general consensus that , this is truly a devil dance performed by the joint efforts of a spineless judge and the police scoundrels which are part and parcel of a witch hunt directed against opposition politicos.

Strangely ,those who were produced before the court day before yesterday(14) have been replaced by another group yesterday(15). In other words , those who were wrongdoers before the law 14th are not so yesterday, and those who were not wrongdoers 14th have become wrongdoers yesterday under the MaRa’s capricious (il )legal system .

.Nissanka , attorney at law speaking to Lanka e news said , they have even filed a charge that Mangala Samarweera had robbed a loudspeaker . How ridiculous is this . There is absolutely no law here , it is just a vindictive and venomous agenda against the opposition politicos, he added.

Hereunder are the names of the 7 individuals against whom charges were mounted yesterday :

Mangala Samaraweera – Matara district M.P
Sadath Chandrsekera – Private secretary to opposition leader Ranil Wickremesinghe
Kithsiri Kahatapitiya – PC member and UNP Bulathsinghala electorate organizer
Kamala Jayantha Soysa , lawyer – UNP Balapitiya electorate organizer
Suranimala Rajapakse – former education service Minister
Sandeep Samarasinghe – former Mayor of Kegalle and UNP Kegalle electorate organizer
Lawyer Nadil Maalagoda –Colombo Municipal council member

Meanwhile ,UNP leader Ranil Wickremesinghe convening a special media briefing today announced that they would campaign against the intimidating, vindictive and vicious actions of the Rajapakse regime driven by selfish and sordid motives to arrest UNP Mangala Samaraweera M.P. , other UNP M.P.s , organizers and activists as well as make them political prisoners.

Gota raves while reading charges against Mangala!

Tuesday, 15 October 2013

An infuriated defence secretary Nandasena Gotabhaya Rajapaksa has made his office tremble when he shouted out thus: “Didn’t I say he is an UNPer. He is making a joke of the entire police department. Shouldn’t he have said weapons were found during yesterday’s search of Mangala’s room? Without doing that, he is making absurd charges and humiliating us too.”

The reason that made the defence secretary to scream like that at the top of his voice was the producing of Matara district MP, UNP communication unit chief Mangala Samaraweera to the Matara magistrate’s court by Matara police with the charge that he had ‘misplaced two loudspeakers.’ Following this screaming bout, the defence secretary has ordered the head of the state intelligence to submit an immediate report after inquiring into the connections SSP Deshabandu Tennakoon was having with UNP figures.

Commenting on this development, a senior lawyer representing the defendant told us that the charge of ‘misplacing two loudspeakers’ cannot be taken lightly. That is because, it would come as no surprise if a special proposal was adopted in the House to amend the Penal Code and the Criminal Procedure Code with the two-third majority in the supreme parliament, saying that ‘misplacing loudspeakers’ is a an offense carrying a minimum of 10 year prison term. ‘Misplacing two loudspeakers’ would be an offence serious enough to be indicted, going by the manner in which the country’s chief justice was expelled from her position, said the senior lawyer.

Police want Ranil’s secretary

WEDNESDAY, 16 OCTOBER 2013

The Police Department was searching for UNP Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe’s Secretary Sudath Chandrasekera and a former opposition leader of the Western Provincial Council, Kithsiri Kahatapitiya to arrest over the attack on the Matara protest on October 5, Police spokesman said today.

Police spokesman Ajith Rohana said five special units have been deployed to search for five suspects including Mr. Chandrasekera and Mr. Kahatapitiya over the attack on the protest. (Lahiru Pothmulla and Sanath Desmond)

WikiLeaks: UNP Will Have To Open Up To A New Generation Of Leaders – US

October 17, 2013 |

“Wickremesinghe’s image has suffered serious damage in recent months. Most particularly, he has suffered in comparison with longtime rival President Kumaratunga, who is widely seen as dynamic and passionate. That said, Wickremesinghe should be able to weather the storm for now. In the mid- to longer term, if the party is to improve its standing, however, it will have to open up to a new generation of leaders. There is a view that UNP leadership circles have become a bit stuffy and are not open to new blood. Humbled by its recent defeat, the UNP is going to have to adjust to get out of its current political trough or face further defeats down the road.” the US Embassy Colombo informed Washington.

The Colombo Telegraph found the related leaked cable from the WikiLeaks database. The cable is classified as “CONFIDENTIAL” and discuses the UNP’s internal crisis after the 2005 April parliamentary election. The cable is signed by the US Ambassador to Colombo Jeffrey J. Lunstead on May 12, 2004.

Read the cable below for further details;