Sri Lanka must punish human rights violators: P Chidambaram

Finance Minister P Chidambaram said that the Sri Lankan government is indeed accountable and they must bring to book those perpetrators to justice. (Reuters)

PTI : Singapore, Thu Nov 21 2013

Joining international demands for a proper inquiry into the alleged human rights violations during the war against the LTTE, Finance Minister P Chidambaram on Thursday. said Sri Lankan government must investigate and punish those responsible for them.

"I think the Sri Lankan government owes a responsibility and a duty to its own people and the people all over the world to investigate the allegations of human rights violations and punish those who are responsible," he told more than 1,000 delegates at the 2nd South Asian Diaspora Convention 2013, which opened here on Thursday.

"That's an aspiration or a desire that recognises no national boundaries. It is a human rights issue," he said, responding to a delegate's question on why investment should be allowed into Sri Lanka when the minority Tamil community was suffering.

Last week, British Prime Minister David Cameron, who visited Lanka for attending Commonwealth Summit, set an ultimatum till March for Colombo to initiate a proper inquiry into the alleged war crimes during the last phase of the campaign against the LTTE, failing which Britain will move the UN Human Rights Council for an inquiry by the Rights Commissioner.

The Prime Ministers of Canada and Mauritius boycotted the Summit, citing poor human rights record of Sri Lanka. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh also skipped the conference after strong opposition from Tamil Nadu which did not want any Indian presence at the Summit.

Chidambaram said, therefore, the Sri Lankan government "is indeed accountable, they must be held accountable, and they must bring to book those perpetrators to justice."

"Having said that, it does not mean that Sri Lanka should not grow economically, or that investors should not invest in Sri Lanka. Nobody invests for charity. They invest because they think it is profitable opportunity.

"I don't think that Sri Lanka's present failure to yet account for what happened at the end of civil war should prevent investment from going into Sri Lanka," he added.

What Did Sri Lanka Get Out Of CHOGM?

By Sharmini Serasinghe -November 21, 2013 |

Sharmini Serasinghe

It appears that our Emperor’s attempts to show-off his new clothes vizspanking new infrastructure, spotless city etc., to the world through CHOGMwent seriously wrong!

At the expense of the Lankan tax-payer we managed however to provide a free and very expensive platform for the LTTE diaspora to be heard through the Eton- educated gab of none other than the British Prime Minister David Cameron himself. He made no bones about why he was coming to Sri Lanka and what he was going to do here and he did it!

The Indian PM let his British counterpart do all his dirty-work and stayed at home blaming it on ‘domestic’ problems.

The LTTE rump managed to get Sri Lanka to foot the bill for a hugely successful international media blitz held on our own soil to espouse their cause.

Prince Charles had a nice Birthday party!

Other CHOGM invitees had an all-expense-paid holiday in sunny Sri Lanka and went home.

All’s well that ends well, but what did Sri Lanka get out of hosting this carnival?

Besides egg on our faces, we got as ‘gifts’ two old boats from Australia which might otherwise have ended up in a scrap yard, with two caveats attached - they are to be used for preventing any prospective Sri Lankan asylum seekers making a nuisance of themselves in Australia and the Sri Lankan tax-payer must foot the bill for the “rebuilding” of these ‘gifted’ old boats!

And of course we and our future generations were landed with a LOT of bills amounting to over a staggering Rs. 6 billion which we the tax-payers must pay over many years to come!

That’s about it, as far as what Sri Lanka got from hosting this mega carnival!

What Sri Lanka didn’t get from this event is a long list of negatives that may go on forever.

To start with, according to local media reports city hotel occupancy levels were far below expectations. The originally expected occupancy of 4,000 city hotel rooms was never realised with only 50% of that at approximately 2100 rooms being actually occupied during the event.

Reports further state that if not for CHOGM, the average occupancy rates of city hotels at this time of the year would have been around 75% to 80% percent. One leading hotelier reportedly claims that his hotel lost “a good Rs.80 million of business due to CHOGM”. And that is only the reported loss of one hotel. What about the others that carried out massive refurbishment of their properties in time for CHOGM?     Read More

The rights and wrongs of attending CHOGM

18 Nov 2013

A Sri Lankan refugee seeks asylum in Australia. Photo by AFP.

By attending the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Sri Lanka, the Australian government has sacrificed a commitment to human rights, writes KISHALI PINTO-JAYAWARDENA.

Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott’s claims that Sri Lanka is a country where a lot of progress has been made post-war are a gross misrepresentation of practical realities.

Contrary to the Prime Minister’s statements, which came during the weekend's Commonwelath Heads of Government Meeting, things are not better for Sri Lankans.

The country has been transformed into a formidably militarised society with power as well as significant control over a massive percentage of public funds remaining in the hands of the President and his two brothers. One brother is the Secretary to the Ministry of Defence and the other, a senior Cabinet Minister. The third brother is the Speaker of Parliament.

The judiciary has been undermined by the arbitrary impeachment of the Chief Justice resulting in her being thrown out of office earlier this year. The Supreme Court under a ‘new’ Chief Justice has publicly withdrawn from its constitutional role of protection of liberties.

In fact, Sri Lanka’s rule of law has been eroded for the majority Sinhalese as well as the minority Tamils and Muslims. In particular, minority Tamils face high surveillance and constant monitoring in the militarised northern peninsula. The Muslim minority has also been under attack with mosques and business places being targeted by extremist groups who appear to enjoy state patronage. These attacks not are properly investigated or brought to courts of law.          

Sri Lanka is currently facing a resolution at the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) which is centered on the implementation of the recommendation of the government’s own Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC).

Issuing its report two years after active fighting between the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and government forces ended, the LLRC castigated the Government for the breakdown of the rule of law.

It mandated that arbitrary arrests and detention by the armed forces should cease and that abductions and enforced disappearances should be effectively dealt with by law. These recommendations dramatically contradicted government spokespersons who had declared that post-war abductions and disappearances were non-existent. Importantly, the LLRC stated that the police – responsible for torture, deaths and disappearances should be de-militarised. It recommended that an effective witness protection law and a right to information law be enacted.   

However many hard-core LLRC recommendations still remain un-implemented. 

For example, de-militarisation of the police has not occurred – rather, there is a cosmetic shift through which the Department of the Police has been shifted to a new Ministry of Law and Order. Yet this new Ministry is manned by a former army man.

Moreover, the Defence Secretary - unarguably the most powerful man in the military hierarchy - routinely makes statements which indicate that he is still in control of the police. One recent example is his statement that police powers would not be devolved to the provinces.  

Two years from the LLRC Report, Tamil mothers are still searching for their sons and wives still searching for their husbands. Last month, a draft witness and victim protection law was announced, but concerns persist as to its clauses and the independence of the proposed protection division. A right to information law remains in limbo in contrast to Sri Lanka’s neighbours in South Asia.

Where implementation of the rule of law is concerned, Sri Lankans are worse off than during the war.

It is therefore unfortunate that the Australian government – despite claims to the contrary – is lending unconditional support to the Sri Lankan government. While inter-country cooperation in addressing people smuggling operations need to be acknowledged, this should not be at the cost of sacrificing fundamental Commonwealth values.

Yet this is precisely what the Australian government appears to be doing, to the detriment of the Sri Lankan people and ultimately to the detriment of the Commonwealth itself.     

Kishali Pinto-Jayawardena is a Sri Lankan lawyer and columnist for Colombo's The Sunday Times who is visiting Australia on the distinguished visitors program at the ANU Research School of Asia and the Pacific.

The Chutzpah Years

 by Tisaranee Gunasekara

“There is something in human history like retribution; and it is a rule of historical retribution that its instrument be forged not by the offended but by the offender himself.”

Marx (The Indian Revolt)

( November 21, 2013, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) The original Mahinda Chinthana Manifesto was launched with much fanfare in 2005. The theme song of that event referred to Candidate Mahinda Rajapaksa as a ‘King who believed in equality’.

Eight years later, with painful hindsight, it is easy to realise that that monarchical reference - together with the title of the Manifesto (the first time any Lankan leader named his/her election manifesto after him/herself) - constituted the first tentative steps in the country’s descent from a flawed democracy to a patrimonial oligarchy. At that moment, the lyrics and the title seemed just an example of infantile but essentially harmless self aggrandisement many Lankan politicians are lamentably addicted to.

The Chutzpah Years by nelvely

Tory Trap Of Inquiry

By TU Senan -November 21, 2013

TU Senan

Prime Minister David Cameron shook the blood-stained hand of Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa, accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity. When Labour leader Ed Miliband criticised David Cameron in Parliament for attending the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in Sri Lanka he was basically crying over spilt milk. At least for this reason New Labour should be renamed ‘Late’ Labour.

Miliband seems to have set “a new record for opportunism” – Labour only really started to talk about CHOGM once the meeting was taking place and protesters, Channel 4 and others brought the trampling of democratic rights to the fore. Worse – Labour was actually in power when the genocidal slaughter took place in Sri Lanka in 2009.When hundreds of thousands of Tamil-speaking people took to the streets in London demanding action they were grossly ignored – and not a peep from the then government while an estimated 70,000 Tamils were being slaughtered. And worse again – just after the massacre it was Labour that agreed to CHOGM in Sri Lanka.

Despite accusing Ed Miliband of knowing nothing about foreign affairs, he “barely gets out of Islington”, Cameron has nothing to brag about. The Conservative propaganda revolves around two key points. Cameron claims he helped to ‘shine a light’ on the Sri Lankan regime by taking the British media with him. And he now threatens to call for a war crimes inquiry.

Cameron’s claim that only his visit to Sri Lanka could force the regime to allow the British media in, is ridiculous. The very consideration that the free media would not be allowed into the country unless accompanied by the PM sufficiently reveals the character of the regime. There is also plenty of evidence proving that war crimes were committed by the Rajapaksa regime. The most recent is the Callum Macrae No Fire Zone documentary broadcast by Channel 4 weeks before CHOGM.                          Read More      

Government gearing for UNHRC summit in March

Thursday, 21 November 2013 

The Mahinda Rajapaksa government, despite its brave act saying it was ready to face any challenge, is now gearing to face the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) sessions in Geneva next March when the resolution adopted on Sri Lanka last year is taken up for review. The government inn usual form has decided to take some ad hoc steps to show to the international community that action is being taken to address alleged human rights violations in the country.

The government has announced that the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka will conduct the first national inquiry into alleged human rights violations with the assistance from local and foreign experts.

Human Rights Commissioner Dr. Prathiba Mahanamahewa has told the media that the first national inquiry into the alleged human rights violations related to torture between the period of 2009 and 2013 would be conducted with local and foreign legal experts.
He has said the inquiry would be carried out during a period of 18 months.

Dr. Mahanamahewa noted that the Commonwealth Secretariat believed that Sri Lanka should focus on a national inquiry without leaving space for an international inquiry over alleged human rights violations.

According to the Commissioner, the national inquiry would be independent since it will be carried out with the participation of local and foreign legal experts.

Reprisals start in Mannar

21/11/2013

Following on from last week's Commonwealth Summit we were concerned that there might be reprisals against those who had been brave enough to speak out. We have now seen worrying signs that this might be happening. We received this report from Mannar today, the report's authors asked us to make it public to show the Sri Lankan Government that the world is watching.

The House of Sunesh, in Mannar, a full time member of NAFSO and an activist against disappearances, was visited by people claiming to be CID at 0130am today. 

Sunesh received a call at 0130, asking to come out from the house, in a rude manner. He was not at home but he pretended that he was there.They were banging on the door. 

When Sunesh asked who they were, one said " Rishwarn". He was speaking in Tamil and had a Sinhala accent. 

They said "you went with Fr. Sebamalei, Fr. Neru, and Sahayam campaigning against the Government, recently in Jaffna.We should have abducted you at the first time (there was another visit some time ago). Do you want to be alive? Do you want any harm on your family?" 

Then Sunesh said he would inform the Bishop and other priests about this harassment and they said they are not afraid of anyone. 

They were there banging on the door for about half an hour. Sunesh's wife and the children were the only other people there. 

Sunesh was in the forefront in the campaigns against disappearances and on the rights of fishermen, land grabbing and IDP Issues. He was also in the front of the recent campaign held in Jaffna with the family members of the disappeared when the British Prime Minister and New Zealand Foreign Minister visited Jaffna. 

During that demonstration three people who was there in civilian attire (suspected to be CID) were heard saying pointing at Sunesh, "that bugger is too much. We must do something."

There Are No “Pro-Tamil” Sinhalese

By Charles Sarvan -November 21, 2013 

Prof. Charles Sarvan

Many may stand apart from the general current (because they are distracted, bored, indifferent or disdainful) but few actually have the independence of mind and courage of spirit to go against the powerful and destructive torrent.

Neville Jayaweera recently sent me his tribute to Adrian Wijemanne who died in July 2008 at the age of 81, and it serves as a kind of prolegomenon to what follows. Jayaweera takes note both of Wijemanne’s distinguished public career, and lauds him as a person who was “remarkably modest and devoid of ego, neither talking about himself nor ever deliberately seeking public profile or visibility”.  He was one who lived modestly, “never accepting payment either for lecturing or for writing” and having only his pension for an income. Yet, Jayaweera observes, such a human being was distanced by former colleagues, by most former close friends, and by some relations. Why? Because of his stance on Sri Lanka’s ethnic question: he was seen as a Sinhalese who was pro-Tamil. If colleagues, friends and relations did not understand him, then it’s not surprising that others heaped abuse, often intense and vulgar, on him; threatened and futilely tried to intimidate him with dire physical consequence.  (In another communication to me, and with reference to Wijemanne, Neville Jayaweera writes of “closet racists”: seemingly cultivated, liberal-minded and progressive in public but “troglodyte in private”.) Jayaweera, employing a Biblical reference, describes Wijemanne as a voice in the wilderness. One may add that it was, by and large, an unheard and certainly unheeded voice. But lines from Robert Frost’s poem, ‘Bereft’, come to mind: “Word I was in the house alone / Somehow must have gotten abroad / Word I was in my life alone / Word I had no one left but God.” The last would have more than sufficed for Adrian Wijemanne because he was a deeply religious man whose ethics and morals (they are not the same) were drawn from, and based on, his religion. But would it be accurate and correct to say that the few Adrian Wijemannes of Sri Lanka, both male and female, are pro-Tamil? This is what I seek to address here.                                 Read More

Cut-out of Rajapaksa burnt in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 20 November 2013, 23:35 GMT]
A large cut-out of SL president Mahinda Rajapaksa, has been burnt down in Jaffna city in the early hours of Wednesday. Coinciding with this incident, the SL military has beefed up the presence of armed soldiers in the streets of Jaffna. The cut-out was put up in connection with Mahinda Rajpaksa’s widespread campaign of the deceptive Vadakkin Vasantham ‘development’ campaign. 

The incident has taken place near St. Patrick’s College situated within 1 km of Jaffna city. 

Large posters and cut-outs of Mahinda Rajapaksa, have been put up at several locations in Jaffna by the ‘Military’ Governor of Northern Province Maj. Gen. (retd.) G.A. Chandrasiri and SL Minister and EPDP leader Douglas Devananda. 

The SL military has been guarding the localities where the cut-outs of their Commander-in-Chief was placed. However, in recent times, some of these cut-outs and posters have been subjected to crude oil attacks and other forms of destruction. 

A large poster put up at Stanley Road was also destroyed in recent days, sources in Jaffna said. 

The SL military has been engaged in inciting violence by targeted attacks on grassroots activists who were active in mobilising against the mainstream parties from South that campaigned for Tamil votes in the Northern Provincial Council elections. The Eezham Tamils used the NPC election as an opportunity to demonstrate that they rejected not only Mahinda Rajapaksa's UPFA from the South, but also Ranil Wickramasinghe's UNP and and ex-military commander Sarath Fonseka's ‘Democratic Party’ that took part in the NPC elections.

Hotels: Great rates but where’s the traffic?

Sunday, November 17, 20

Five-star hotels in Colombo charged over US$500 per night net for delegates attending this week’s Commonwealth Summit in Sri Lanka, more than three times the standard room rate, but still ended on the losing side.

One hotel lost as much as Rs.100 million due to occupancy being less than 20 per cent compared to 70-80 per cent during this period. Others had lower than that partly due to some delegations arriving with reduced numbers.

Prescribed hotel rates decided by the government for delegates attending the summit were: 5 star – $571 net, 4 star – $431, 3 star – $343, 2 star – $273 net and 1 star – $159 net.

“The rates were based on hotel rates prevalent during the previous Commonwealth summits in Perth and Trinidad, and also to compensate for lost business at the 5-star hotels,” one official involved in the accommodation arrangements for delegates said.

Up to 4,000 rooms in 33 hotels had been booked for the conference but that figure fell to 2,000-2,500 rooms
The 5-star – Hilton Colombo, Cinnamon Grand Colombo, Cinnamon Lakeside, Taj Samudra Colombo, Galadari Hotel and Kingsbury Hotel were open only for conference delegates and were unable to provide food and beverage or open restaurants to non-resident clients, or offer rooms to non-conference delegates.

“Legal Luminaries” says some Lawyers Too Old

(Lanka-e-News-21.Nov.2013, 7.00PM) “Chief Justice says some Lawyers Too Old” Under the above caption the ‘Sunday Leader’ of 17.11.2013 reports that the CJ says “most Lawyers above 70 years old are not up to date with the current laws and regulations” and “lose cases making an unfavourable impact on their clients”.

Still laughing, I telephoned my friend Stanley Jayasinghe to give him the good news that he will not, in future be required to distrust me. He had never been able to come to terms with my advise to him (when I was about 70 years of age) that “Even I should not be trusted when I am in my black coat.”

Within 24 hours I became aware of the fact that the ‘Ceylon Today’ of 16.11.2013 had carried an article under the caption “Presidential Poll plan runs into a Storm”. It was reported therein that former CJ Sarath N. Silva (who is well nigh 70 years of age) when contacted had, inter alia, said that :

(i) the 18th Amendment does not specifically mention about holding a Presidential Election after 4 years were completed in a second term,

(ii) the 18th Amendment does not state the President can contest for the third time before completing his second term,

(iii) one might argue that if the President can contest for the presidency after four years of his second tenure, it has to be the same with the third tenure too,

(iv) however, if the Constitution has not specifically stated that, the law does not accept it, and

(v) the government appears to be stuck there, but they can go to the Supreme Court and seek an interpretation.

The fact of the matter is that in September 2010, the 18th Amendment amended para (3A)(a)(i) of Article 31 of the 1978 Constitution to read as follows:

“Notwithstanding anything to the contrary in the preceding provisions of this Chapter, the President may, at any time after the expiration of four years from the commencement of his current term of office, by proclamation declare his intention of appealing to the people for a mandate to hold office, by election, for a further term: provided that where the President is elected in terms of this Article for a further term of office, the provisions of this Article shall mutatis mutandis apply in respect of any subsequent term of office to which he may be so elected”.

Sarath N. Silva has obviously not been “up to date” with this significant change in the Supreme Law effected within 16 months of his relinquishing the position of Chief Justice. This seems to justify the view expressed in the Bar Association that the termination should be at the age of 65.

Having stated categorically what in his view the Constitution does not state, Sarath N. Silva goes on to say that in such circumstances the law does not accept it and opines that the government can go to the Supreme Court and seek an interpretation. 

There is not a shade of doubt that if the government acts on this seriously erroneous advice and seeks an opinion of the Supreme Court, the present CJ will meekly oblige by furnishing the interpretation sought by the government?

Ironically, in this instance, acting on this patently faulty advice will have a most favourable impact on this client. This will not be the first time that, purportedly acting on advice tendered by “Legal Luminaries”, this government has circumvented unambiguous constitutional provisions.
Elmore Perera, Attorney-at-LawFounder CIMOGG, Past President OPA

Presidential Poll Plan Runs Into A Storm

By Elmore Perera -November 21, 2013 |

Elmore Perera

Under the above caption, ‘Ceylon Today’ of 16.11.2013 reported that “The Government’s plan to hold a Presidential Election in 2014 has run into a storm of a constitutional crisis as there is no provision in the 18th Amendment to the Constitution that allows an incumbent President to contest a Presidential Election before the end of his current presidential term”.

When contacted by Ceylon Today, former Chief Justice Sarath N. Silva is reported to have, inter alia, said:

“the 18th Amendment does not specifically mention about holding a presidential election after four years were completed in a second term”.

“according to the 1978 Constitution, the President can hold an election after four years of his first tenure,”

“the 18th Amendment does not state the President can contest for the third time before completing his second term,”

“one might argue that if the President can contest for the Presidency after four years of his second tenure, it has to be the same with the third tenure too”,

“However, if the Constitution has not specifically stated that, the law does not accept it”, and

“the government appears to be stuck there, but they can go to the Supreme Court and seek an interpretation.”

However, the stark reality is that paragraph (3A)(a)(i) of Article 31of the Constitution has been amended in September 2010 by the 18th Amendment to read as follows:

“Notwithstanding anything to the contrary in the preceding provisions of this Chapter, the President may, at any time after the expiration of four years from the commencement of his current term of office, by proclamation, declare his intention of appealing to the people for a mandate to hold office, by election, for a further term:

Provided that, where the President is elected in terms of this Article for a further term of office, the provisions of this Article shall mutatis mutandis apply in respect of any subsequent term of office to which he may be so elected.”

President Rajapaksa, who is himself a Senior Attorney-at-Law, has already been advised by the Supreme Court that his second term is deemed to have commenced only at the time he took his oaths in November 2010. The plain and unambiguous meaning of Article 31 of the Constitution  as amended by the 18th Amendment is that, the President may hold a Presidential Election at anytime after completing four years of his second term in November 2014 and before he completes his second term in November 2016, and the same will apply to his third tenure too.”

This is the only valid interpretation of Article 31(3A)(a)(i) that could have been tendered to him by the author of the 18th Amendment  Prof G.L.Pieris and/or his Senior Legal Advisor, former Chief Justice Asoka Silva. Presumably dissatisfied with this interpretation, the President apparently is, probably on the basis of the aforementioned opinion of his one time mentor and ally former Chief Justice Sarath N. Silva, seeking a more favourable interpretation from his former Senior Legal Advisor to the Cabinet and present Chief Justice Mohan Pieris.

Clear signs of total depravity? – Oh tempora, Oh mores!

*Elmore Perera, Attorney-at-Law -Founder CIMOGG, Past President Organisation of Professional Associations

President to present Budget 2014 today

CARTOON-CT

President to present Budget 2014 today

November 20, 2013, 9:24 pm 

President Mahinda Rajapaksa, in his capacity as Finance Minister, is scheduled to present the 2014 Budget to Parliament today (21) at 1.00 p.m. The debate on the second reading of the Budget will commence the following day at 9.30 a.m. and continue till Nov. 29.

According to the Appropriation Bill, presented to Parliament, total government expenditure would go up by 30 percent from last year’s Rs. 1,335 to Rs. 1,542 billion with the biggest allocation being made to the Ministry of Defence and Urban Development––Rs 253 billion. The current year’s defence budget is Rs. 289 billion.

The President’s expenditure for 2014 has been increased to Rs. 85 billion from Rs. 74 billion.

Rs. 164 billion has been allocated for the Finance Ministry.

Among key financial outlays for ministries for the next year, include Ports and Highways - Rs. 144 billion (Rs. 131.4 billion for the current year), Health - Rs. 117.6 billion (Rs. 93.5 billion for 2013), Mass Media and Information - Rs 26.8 billion (Rs. 27.1 billion for 2013, Education Rs 38.8 billion (Rs. 37.9 billion for 2013) and Higher Education - Rs. 29.5 billion (Rs. 27.9 billion for 2013).

The other notable allocations are: the Ministry of Public Relations - Rs 2.4 billion, Economic Development Ministry - Rs. 106 billion and the Ministry of Law and Order - Rs. 52.3 billion.

The appropriation Bill has set a borrowing limit of 1,100 billion rupees for 2014, down 15 percent from Rs 1,295 billion set in the appropriation bill for 2013.

Rs. 300 million has been allocated to the Prime Minister for the next year –– a decrease from Rs. 320 million in the current year.

GOVT INCREASES DEFENCE SPENDING

November 21, 2013 

The government allocated a record 253.9 billion rupees for the defence ministry, which is 16.5% from the total estimated spending of Rs 1,542 billion for the year 2014.

The 2014 defence budget is marginally higher than the 249 billion rupees budgeted for this year.

Meanwhile 51 billion rupees has been allocated for the Justice Ministry, Rs 144.9 billion for the Ministry of Ports and Highways, 106 billion rupees for the Ministry of Economic Development, 75.9 billion rupees for Education, Higher Education and Education Services ministries and 117.6 billion rupees for the Ministry of Health. 

The government’s estimated income for the next year is 1,100 billion rupees.   

Sri Lanka will aim for more than 7.5 percent annual economic growth in the next three years, President Mahinda Rajapaksa told the parliament on Thursday while presenting the 2014 budget. 

The central bank expects growth of 7.2 percent this year. The International Monetary Fund has forecast 6.5 percent growth this year and again in 2014.

President Mahinda Rajapaksa, who is also the finance minister, said maintaining a flexible exchange rate regime along with productivity improvement is important to achieve the export revenue target of $20 billion in 2020.

He told parliament he was raising telecom tax from 20 to 25 percent to rake in more revenue from the rapidly growing industry.

Rajapakse introduced a 15 percent tax on land leased to foreign nationals, slapped a two percent tax on banks and raised duties on the import and export of several commodities.

The government expects to reduce the budget deficit to 5.2% in 2014, to 4.5% in 2015, and to 3.8% by 2016.

Court in Jaffna dismisses SL military claim on Tamil memorial site at Theeruvil

Theeruvil monument photographed in early 90's [TamilNet Library Photo]

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 20 November 2013, 22:18 GMT]
District Court of Point Pedro in Jaffna on Wednesday dismissed the claim by the Sri Lankan military that the land, which the Urban Council of Valveddith-thu’rai (VVT) had chosen to build a public park at Theeruvil was a property that should belong to the SL military. Legal sources in VVT said the civic body could now proceed with building the park which is situated at a key memorial site, where three significant monuments stood in remembrance of key LTTE leaders and commanders who sacrificed their lives under the occupation of Indian and Sri Lankan militaries and civilians massacred by the Indian military at VVT in 1989.   

 Following an ambush on Indian soldiers at VVT, a large contingent of Indian soldiers who were under the command of Brigadier Shankar Prasad declared curfew in VVT, entered the houses of civilians, raped more than 50 Tamil women, shot and killed more than 64 people, including children and women. The massacre, which went on for three days from 02 August 1989, is known as India’s Mylai massacre in the country of Eezham Tamils. 

In remembrance of the victims of the massacre, the Valvai Massacre Monument was constructed in the form of a lotus flower at Theeruvil. 

During the military intervention by India in 1987, Jaffna and Tricomalee regional commanders of the Liber          
                            

Court in Jaffna Dismisses SL Military Claim on Tamil Memorial Site at Theeruvil by nelvely

Gota And Ioma Meet Pope

November 21, 2013 |

Pope Francis received Secretary to the Ministry of Defence Gotabaya Rajapaksa at an audience in the Vatican on Wednesday, says the Sri Lankan government.

Rajapaksa who visited the Vatican as the Special Envoy of  the President Rajapaksa, conveyed to Pope Francis an invitation from President Mahinda Rajapaksa to visit Sri Lanka in the near future, the Permanent Mission of Sri Lanka to the UN, Geneva stated in a statement today

The Sri Lanka Mission said; “During his visit, the Secretary also paid courtesy calls on dignitaries of the Vatican City State. Rajapaksa appreciated efforts by the Holy See to promote world peace, disarmament, interfaith dialogue and dialogue among civilisations. He said that as a nation that has been blessed with a multi-ethnic, multi-religious and multi-cultural social fabric, and more importantly as a country that was coming out of a long period of conflict, Sri Lanka valued the strength that comes from the unity of the diverse communities in Sri Lanka. After almost thirty years of suffering, Sri Lanka had embarked upon a new era of development and reconciliation for all its people and looked upon the international community for encouragement and support.

“He said that Sri Lanka was keen to explore further avenues to strengthen and consolidate relations between the Holy See and Sri Lanka.

“The delegation accompanying Mr. Rajapaksa included Mrs. Ioma Rajapaksa, Ambassador of Sri Lanka to the Holy See Ravinatha Aryasinha, Ambassador of Sri Lanka in Rome Bennet Cooray, the Commander of the Navy Vice Admiral Jayanath Colombage and Chairman UDA Sirinimal Perera.”

Sri Lanka nationalist