INDIAN ACTOR ARRESTED FOR VISA VIOLATIONS

November 22, 2013 
Sri Lankan-born Tamil cinema actor V.I.S. Jeyapalan has been arrested in the Mankulam area in Vavuniya for allegedly violating visa regulations, Police Spokesman SSP Ajith Rohana said.

Mr Jeyapalan, who was born in Jaffna and left for India during the height of the war, had recently returned to the island on tourist visa. 

He had reportedly traveled to Mankulam to commemorate the death of his mother. 

Mr Jeyapalan is an acclaimed Tamil poet and a writer and has also acted in several Indian movies. In 2011 he won the Indian National Award for his Acting in Tamil movie - Aadukalam. 

Reason for Basil’s fleeing to US revealed!

 Friday, 22 November 2013 

The reason for economic development minister Basil Rajapaksa suddenly going overseas just days before the CHOGM and amidst the heightened controversy regarding casinos, one of his subjects, has now been revealed. Although his staff says the minister had gone to the US for a medical test, the main reason is a dispute he is having with the president’s eldest son MP Namal Rajapaksa.

The dispute had arisen after a large cutout of minister Basil Rajapaksa erected on the Colombo-Katunayake expressway had been removed on the orders of MP Namal Rajapaksa. Prior to the opening of the expressway, the president had taken a walk along the road and MP Namal Rajapaksa had noticed that the cutout of minister Basil Rajapaksa was bigger than the cutout of the president. MP Namal Rajapaksa had ordeed the presidential security division personnel to remove minister Basil Rajapaksa’s cutout before he makes the return journey. This shows the extent of the internal struggle for power in the Rajapaksa family.

In addition, minister Basil Rajapaksa has told the president that his wife, attorney Pushpa Rajapaksa, should be nominated the chief ministerial candidate for the western province. However, first lady Shiranthi Rajapaksa and MP Namal Rajapaksa had openly shown opposition to it by removing minister Basil Rajapaksa’s cutout. Other members of the Rajapaksa family have proposed Gotabhaya Rajapaksa to be the CM candidate. But, he has turned down the offer and named his benefactor Maj. Gen. Shavendra Silva in his place.

The president fears that as astrologers have warned that this internal family dispute could worsen and a key member of the family will leave him in 2014, which will be the beginning of the end of his journey, sources close to him say.

Will Vatican Fall Under The Sri Lankan Politics?

By R. Jeevan -November 22, 2013 

I don’t deny the fact that Defence Secretary Mr. Gotabaya Rajapaksa met Pope Francis. But, the meeting did not take place as it was exaggerated in Sri Lankan media. You may know Pope Francis has attracted a lot of support from all around the world for his simplicity and his newness in his leadership. Thousands and thousands of people flock to see the Pope every Wednesday and Sunday. Every Wednesday, according to the long Papal tradition the Pope holds a “General audience” to the faithful at St. Peter’s square. Nearly 100.000 faithful participates prayerfully during this General Audience which is known as “Wednesday Catechism” in which Pope as the supreme leader of the Church takes time to educate and instruct the faithful on particular themes that are more relevant to the Christian life. Usually when people in diplomatic levels and dignitaries of states (mainly those who are Catholics or believers in the Church) request to meet Pope they are invited to take part in these audiences. Before the audience Pope takes more than a half an hour to greet the pilgrims in the “Piazza”. Then he holds his catechism in different languages which lasts an hour and at the end of the audience he gives his Apostolic blessing and concludes the Audience. Usually Bishops and Cardinals greet the Pope immediately after the audience. Pope Francis takes time to greet and bless the special invitees too. When he greets special invitees and Bishops they usually offer the Pontiff with souvenirs. But he is strictly avoids any formal encounters.

Pope Francis

Mr. Gotabaya and his delegation was such a “special participants” for the weekly “General Audience” on the 20th of November, 2013 as the Sri Lankan Opposition leader Mr. Ranil Wickiramesinghe met Pope Benedict XVI in January this year. Any Vatican officials or diplomats was unaware of such presence as these matters fall directly under the head of the Papal household. The photo which was released to the media portrays that Mr and Mrs Gotabaya Rajapaksa handing over a souvenir to the Pope which Pope receives with much affection at his return to the Papal apartments after his General audience.

Vatican Tradition                                                             Read More                                                   

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

Sri Lanka nationalist

Family of Tamil activist threatened in Mannaar after ‘Sri Lanka CHOGM’

[TamilNet, Friday, 22 November 2013, 14:05 GMT]
Sri Lankan Military Intelligence operatives have threatened the wife of a Tamil activist in Mannaar, while she was at her house with her 2 months old baby and a 5-year-old child on Thursday. Her husband, Jude Bashil Sosai (Sunesh) was at forefront in the demonstration held in Jaffna on 15 November demanding the attention by the visiting British PM David Cameron. The threat by alleged SL military operatives was reported on Thursday when Mr Sunesh was on his way to attend a meeting in Colombo. The president of the Citizens' Committee of Mannaar District, Rev. Fr. E. Sebamalai, in a letter addressed to SL President Mahinda Rajapaksa on behalf of the citizens' committee, on Friday said the Committee suspected Sri Lankan armed forces for the threat issued on Mannaar District Coordinator of National Fisheries Society Organization (NAFSO) Mr Sunesh and his family. 

A few unknown persons, believed to be SL military intelligence operatives, knocked at the door of the house of Mr Sunesh on Thursday and shouted “ado Sunesh come out”. The fear-stricken wife of Mr Sunesh kept herself and the children silent inside the house. After a few minutes, one of the operatives tried to peep through by tearing the canvas over the grill, the letter by the Citizens' Committe said. 

One of the operatives then dialled to Sunesh and asked him to come out saying that they were waiting for him in front of his house. 

On Friday, the Citizens' Committee took up the matter, staging a protest, which went from St. Sebastian Church to the office of the Deputy Inspector General of the SL Police. 

The protestors then proceeded to the District Secretariat and handed over the appeal of the Citizens' Committee to SL Government Agent Ms Stanley de Mel. 

“The security excesses, CID threats and intimidations continue to be the order of the day and civil routine almost daily,” the letter by the Citizens' Committee said adding that the civil organisations and their workers face “threats and intimidations by various types from the Intelligence side varying from warning to telephone threats, extortion and intimidation.”

• Letter by Mannaar Citizens' Committee

The Citizens' Committee also pointed out that the SL military and its ‘security’ forces had blocked the people from attending the Human Rights Festival, which took place in Sri Kotha in Colombo. The people were waylaid at Medawachchiya and Madu Road at Kaddai Adampan and turned back. 

The relatives of missing persons, while peacefully demonstrating and demanding the visiting British PM to witness their plight, were attacked by the Sri Lankan Police, the letter by Fr. E. Sebamalai stated, also noting that Catholic Priests with the civilians too were manhandled. 

Rt. Reverend Rayappu Joseph, the Bishop of Mannaar Diocese, was present at the demonstration, which was also attended by Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarian S. Vino Nokarathalingam, Northern Provincial Council (NPC) minister of health and indigenous medicine P Sathiyalingam, NPC minister of fisheries and transport B. Deniswaran, NPC member Primus Sirayva, President of Missing Persons Association in Mannaar S. Britto, NAFSO Coordinator S. Jesudasan, Catholic priests and the members of Women Rights Group in Mannaar. 

SRI LANKA: A 75-year-old victim of rape and her family seek justice

November 22, 2013

ASIAN HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION-URGENT APPEAL PROGRAMME

Urgent Appeal Case: AHRC-UAC-145-2013

22 November 2013
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SRI LANKA: A 75-year-old victim of rape and her family seek justice

ISSUES: Denial of justice; violence against women; fair trial; witness protection; impunity; rule of law
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Dear friends,

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information that a 75-year-old was raped and the officers of the Thalathuoya police are protecting the perpetrator who, allegedly, has been involved in a prior case. Suppiah Veerai (75), a resident of Kirimatiya Estate, Nugaliyadda, Thalathuoya in the Kandy District was alone in her house when the assailant entered through a window, assaulted and raped her. Veerai and her family reported the matter to the Thalathuoya Police Station but discovered that the officers of that station are shielding the culprit and instead, allowing him to threaten the victim and her family members.

SRI LANKA a 75-Year-old Victim of Rape and Her Family Seek Justice by nelvely

Ministers unite against Gota’s petitions!

 Friday, 22 November 2013 

SLFP seniors have decided to unite and fight the petitions being filed at the Bribery Commission by a group orchestrated by Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa against ministers who raise a voice opposed to the Rajapaksas and who cannot be tamed.

On the instructions of the Defence Secretary, this group has so far filed complaints with the Bribery Commission against ministers Mervyn Silva, Mahindananda Aluthgamage, Rajitha Senaratne and Reginald Cooray. Within the coming weeks, complaints are to be lodged after state intelligence gathers information against Janaka Bandara Tennakoon, Maithripala Sirisena, John Seneviratne, Jagath Pushpakumara, Piyasena Gamage, A.H.M. Fowzie, Thilanga Sumathipala, Mahinda Amaraweera, Sarath Gunaratne, Dayasritha Tissera, S.B. Nawinna, Jayaratne Herath, Salinda Dissanayake and Duminida Dissanayake, according to a very reliable source.

State intelligence has gathered information regarding the moveable and immoveable assets acquired by these government politicians in recent times. The Defence Secretary has ordered the state intelligence to investigate and report back on the three-storey house being built by public relations minister Mervyn Silva at Park Road, Colombo 05 and the luxury apartment at Kinsey Road, Borella bought for Rs. 42 million by minister of sports Mahindananda Aluthgamage.

Rajapaksas hope to keep all ministers obedient to them by way of these complaints to the Bribery Commission. After the Defence Secretary orchestrates a complaint, the president calls the minister in question and tells him, “Do not be afraid. I will take care of it.” After the Bribery Commission summoned minister Mervyn Silva, the president told him “Mervyn, you need not go tomorrow. I will get two more months for you.”

All the ministers who are to be charged before the Bribery Commission have decided to make a common front and oppose it, instead of opposing individually, SLFP sources say.

 Teacher interdicted for sexual assault

By Ruparatna Piyadasa ­– Kalutara-Friday, 22 Nov 2013

A teacher attached to a leading school in Kalutara, who is accused of sexual molestation of a 14-year-old boy, has been interdicted by education authorities.                               

The teacher, who has been absconding police arrest after the incident, has since surrendered to Kalutara Police on 19 November.     

Kalutara Police Children and Women’s Bureau OIC, Malka Thushari, and other officers had produced the suspect in Court.  

Kalutara Chief Magistrate, Aruna Aluthge, released the suspect on personal bail of Rs 100,000 and fixed the case for trial on 23 February 2014.                                       

Kalutara Maha Vidyalaya students carried out a protest against the accused teacher. (Ceylon Today Online)              

Tangalle PS Chairman granted bail

By Ishara Ratnakara-Friday, 22 Nov 2013

Former Chairman of the Tangalle Pradeshiya Sabha (PS), Sampath Chandrapushpa Vidanapathirana and six others accused in the murder of British national Khuram Shaikh and gang rape of his companion, Victoria Alexandra, at a date on or near 24 December 2011, pleaded not guilty to 17 charges under which the Attorney General had indicted them in the Colombo High Court, when the case was called up today.

Charges against the defendants were read to them and they entered pleas of not guilty, to all the charges.

When the case was called up before Colombo Chief High Court Judge, Kumudini Wickramasinghe, all the accused, including former Tangalle PS Chairman Sampath Chandrapushpa Vidanapathirana and Lahiru Kelum, Saman Deshapriya, Praneeth Chaturanga, Mohottige Sarath and Chanaka Chaturanga were present in Court.

President’s Counsel, Kalinga Indatissa, appearing for the accused requested the Court to grant them bail as per previous bail conditions set by the Court. The State Counsel requested Court to order fingerprinting of the accused.

The High Court Judge, after due consideration of the request made by both Counsels, ordered the accused to be finger printed and released on previously set bail conditions by Court. Case will be taken up for trial on 2 December, Judge informed the defendants.

Indictment against defendants contains 17 charges relating to the murder of Khuram Shaikh, a British citizen and gang rape of his companion, Victoria Alexandra, at a date on or near 24 December 2011.

Accused were defended by President Counsel, Kalinga Indatissa, advised by a team of lawyers. (Ceylon Today Online)

Weapons training to Lankan school children

[ Friday, 22 November 2013, 01:44.21 PM GMT +05:30 ]

Lankan government continuously accused LTTE on recruiting and using Child soldiers for their terrorist activities.

However under leadership training programme government provide weapons training to school children. Students above grade 8, teachers and principals were ordered to take part in this leadership programme at the military camps. However government denies this report. Photographs of children with weapons were released in various news websites.

On 50th Death Anniversary Of JFK

 By Asanga Abeyagoonasekera -November 22, 2013 

Asanga Abeygoonasekera

One hundred years from now the world will still remember this remarkable man who inspired his country and rest of the world. At a time when the country needed an inspirational leader -  Kennedy was to deliver this need within 1000 days of his presidency. This was following the difficult period under President Eisenhower. He was a president who averted a nuclear war during the Cuban Missile Crisis; taking 13 days to decide the best possible alternative to avoid a nuclear disaster. This is clearly described by his speech writer Ted Sorenson in his book on decision making in the White House. He was a inspirational leader creating hope amongst young people from his inaugural speech saying, “ask not what your country can do for you but what you can do for your country”; to his final speech and he always spoke of hope to create a better world.

Creating a connection across borders from east to west – he did so by setting up USAID. He also initiated the Peace Corps which allowed school children in the US to travel and explore other countries, learn their cultures and spread democratic values – nothing short of a brilliant initiative. One of the most remarkable speeches he delivered was at Rice University in September 12, 1962 where he explains the importance of the space program and allocated the biggest budget – (US$5.2 billion) that had been allocated by any leader at that time for research and development. He did that envisioning how 50 years from that day the country would benefit from technology.                                                                 Read More

16 Questions On Kennedy Assassination

By Bertrand Russell -November 22, 2013 |

Bertrand Russell

It has been 50 years since the assassination of American President John F. Kennedy (22 November 1963). Very shortly after the assassination, Russell became interested in it. Russell published a highly critical and dissenting article weeks before the Warren Commission Report was published. This article was called “16 Questions on the Assassination” and was published in the September 1964 issue of M.S. Arnoni’s The Minority of One.

By Bertrand Russell

The official version of the assassination of President Kennedy has been so riddled with contradictions that it is been abandoned and rewritten no less than three times. Blatant fabrications have received very widespread coverage by the mass media, but denials of these same lies have gone unpublished. Photographs, evidence and affidavits have been doctored out of recognition. Some of the most important aspects of the case against Lee Harvey Oswald have been completely blacked out. Meanwhile, the F.B.I., the police and the Secret Service have tried to silence key witnesses or instruct them what evidence to give. Others involved have disappeared or died in extraordinary circumstances.

It is facts such as these that demand attention, and which the Warren Commissionshould have regarded as vital. Although I am writing before the publication of the Warren Commission’s report, leaks to the press have made much of its contents predictable. Because of the high office of its members and the fact of its establishment by President Johnson, the Commission has been widely regarded as a body of holy men appointed to pronounce the truth. An impartial examination of the composition and conduct of the Commission suggests quite otherwise.

1: Membership of the Warren Commission                               Read More

Sri Lanka: The time for an international investigation is now

By JS Tissainayagam Nov 21, 2013 11:51AM UTC

British Prime Minister David Cameron’s presence at last week’s Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) facilitated coverage that might not have been possible otherwise for media organisations. But if the human rights and war crimes issues highlighted by the international media are to be redressed and Commonwealth values and international law upheld, the band-aid solution proposed by the Sri Lanka government and aided by the Commonwealth Secretariat has to be dismissed. Instead, what is required is implementing an international investigation into war crimes.

Sri Lankan ethnic Tamil women cry holding portraits of their missing relatives during a protest in Jaffna, Sri Lanka, Friday. Pic: AP.

Sri Lanka the Time for an International Investigation is Now by nelvely

Hail, the emperor!

• Crowned emperor of the new Commonwealth and with a war crimes inquiry in the offing next March, at home President Mahinda Rajapaksa is looking more invincible than ever

 November 21, 2013 

There’s a new emperor  in town
The posters and hoardings to celebrate President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s ascension to the Chair of the Commonwealth, a grouping mostly made up of territories of the former British Empire, must have been ready weeks in advance. By happy coincidence, the President was also celebrating his 68th birthday and his eighth year in office this week.

Locally, the Commonwealth summit, dogged by controversy over Sri Lanka’s human rights record and plagued by eleventh-hour boycotts and embarrassing no-shows, had been President Rajapaksa’s crowning moment. The posters all over the capital summed it up: 

Hail, The Emperor! by nelvely

Mr Abbott falters on crucial leadership test

6,1There was a world of difference in the way British Prime Minister David Cameron managed his visit to the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Sri Lanka and the approach taken by our Prime Minister, Tony Abbott. One was inspirational; the other fawning.

Mr Cameron used his visit to demand the government of Mahinda Rajapaksa investigate allegations of past war crimes in Sri Lanka. While conceding Sri Lanka needed time to reconcile its divided people after almost three decades of civil war, Mr Cameron said Sri Lanka must conduct an inquiry into human rights abuses or Britain will call on the UN Human Rights Council to do so.

The British leader also brought the eyes of the world to Sri Lanka's troubled north. He left the five-star hotels of Colombo and flew his entourage to Jaffna, the centre of Tamil unrest. Trailed by journalists, Mr Cameron talked to families displaced by war, and in so doing helped focus attention on injustices. Mr Cameron said he wanted to give Tamils "a voice that the world needs to listen to".

Turn now to Mr Abbott, who prefers appeasement. He told the CHOGM forum that while Australia "deplores the use of torture, we accept that sometimes in difficult circumstances difficult things happen". In fact, Mr Abbott, Australia does not accept sliding relativism. We ratified the UN Convention against Torture, which states: "No exceptional circumstances whatsoever, whether a state of war or a threat of war, internal political instability or any other public emergency, may be invoked as a justification of torture." Even Mr Cameron suggested Mr Abbott was "gliding over the difficult issues".

Mr Abbott's primary concern, it seems, was people-smuggling, which tops his domestic agenda. To that end, he gave Sri Lanka two patrol boats to intercept asylum seekers who might be headed to Australia. In helping Sri Lanka force back those who want to leave, Australia buys into the pretence that all is well yet fails to levy pressure on the Rajapaksa government to alleviate the conditions those same asylum seekers find so intolerable. Mr Abbott wants to brush aside Sri Lanka's past troubles and failures of the present, and look ahead. To do so, with nothing else, is morally indefensible. A nation does not heal, and it cannot lead with moral authority, if it fails to effect justice.

Xi's ‘Chinese Dream' reveals political blind spot

Announcements after each policy-making plenum of the Chinese Communist Party are notoriously opaque. Last week's plenum was no exception. In his first year as President, Xi Jinping has so rapidly consolidated his power that he is being likened to Deng Xiaoping, whose vision of "capitalism with Chinese characteristics" gave rise to the world's second-biggest economy. However, the central unresolved tension of modern China, between an evolving economy and rigid one-party politics, leaves many policies open to conflicting interpretations.

Several social reforms were a surprise. Relaxing the one-child policy enforced since 1979, abolishing "re-education through labour" camps in use since the '50s, and easing controls on where people live amount to big shifts in the state's power over its citizens' lives. A reduction of crimes subject to the death penalty and a ban on coerced confessions are other human rights advances. On the other hand, it is feared a new state security committee may intensify a recent increase in political repression.

It is encouraging to see promises of land-ownership reform and of competition for state-owned monopolies, allowing "qualified" private capital to set up small to medium banks and to take equity stakes in state-owned projects "to develop a more mixed-ownership economy". Other nations will welcome moves to protect intellectual property rights. In the case of many of the reforms, China's policy hand has been forced by public discontent, widely aired online, with injustice, corruption and disparities in wealth and wellbeing. The Communist Party's fate depends on placating the restless populace.

Mr Xi openly acknowledges the many problems. Yet, as with his predecessors, he is unable or unwilling to apply to political reform the economic lessons of open and efficient information flows and decision-making. "Our country will remain in the preliminary stage of socialism for a long time" means the Communist Party will not permit challenges to its monopoly on power. The core contradiction between social and economic liberalisation and a greater centralisation of power under President Xi compromises his "Chinese Dream" agenda from the start.

 Leadership training programme for Sri Lankan university entrants to begin next week 
Thu, Nov 21, 2013, 11:11 am SL Time, ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.

Nov 21, Colombo: The mandatory leadership training programme for the new students entering Sri Lanka's state universities will commence this Sunday, higher education authorities said.
The three-week program, which is designed to provide leadership training and enhance positive attitude in new university entrants will commence from November 24th.
The training program conducted for the third consecutive year is scheduled to be held for three batches of students in 22 camps island wide.
The program for the first batch will commence on November 25 and continue till December 16, while the session for the second batch will be held from December 21 to January 11 and the third and final batch will receive their training from January 28 to February 18.
The new students will be instructed in Sri Lanka's future vision and global changes, the processing of a strategic living plan and reaching the long term objectives, physical training, first aid, leadership qualities and common law.

Marxist party Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) affiliated students' unions and education sector trade unions have objected to the leadership training programme claiming it is a move to militarize the higher education sector.

China’s Contretemps On Sri Lanka’s Human Rights Issues

By R Hariharan –November 21, 2013 

Col. (retd) R.Hariharan

At the end of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meet (CHOGM) in Colombo on November 17, Sri Lanka President Rajapaksa is probably a happy man having seen through the prestigious event despite global media focus on Sri Lanka’s alleged war crimes issue and its fall out. Whether international community agrees or not, his supporters would claim his stewardship of the CHOGM in Colombo in spite of a strong international campaign against Sri Lanka for alleged war crimes and human rights aberrations as yet another ‘victory’ of their hero.

So it must have come as a mild shock for him when China’s foreign ministry spokesman called upon Sri Lanka to “make efforts to protect and promote human rights” while answering a media question on the issue of Sri Lanka hosting the CHOGM.

The spokesman added that this was an issue within the Commonwealth, “but at the same time I believe that on the human rights issue, dialogue and communication must be enhanced among countries…Due to differences in economic and social development of different countries, there could be differences on human rights protection. So what is important is that the relevant country should make efforts to protect and promote human rights while other countries in the world should provide constructive assistance.”

Though there was nothing spectacular in the statement, they assume significance because China made it at a crucial time when global focus was on Sri Lanka’s human rights record. China had always felt “the Sri Lankan government and people were capable of handling their own affairs,” as China’s foreign ministry spokesman explained in March 2012 when Sri Lanka was hauled up before the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) on concerns over human rights violations. China believed that “dialogue and cooperation” as the fundamental way out for the human rights dispute in Sri Lanka.

China had been the main supporter of a whole lot of countries like Sudan, Myanmar and Sri Lanka when hauled up in UN forums for their poor rights record. Contempt for international opinion on its human rights aberrations is one thing that China had long shared with Sri Lanka. Both countries have a chip on their shoulders about the Western world’s hypocrisy in commenting on human rights record of other countries when they choose to ignore their own gross human rights violations committed during their fight against terrorism and extremism resulting in loss of innocent civilian lives.

Basically, China is opposed using country-specific human rights resolution to apply pressure on erring nations which had generally been India’s stand. In May 2009 at a special session of the UNHRC, China joined hands with India to ensure the defeat of a resolution sponsored by Germany and 17 other nations asking Sri Lanka to ensure rights to minorities in their resolution. Instead China and India ensured the success of a competing Sri Lankan resolution congratulating it for wiping out a major terrorist threat!         Read More

TNA boycotts district meet

November 20, 2013

The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) boycotted the Kilinochchi District development meeting held today.

The party had boycotted the Jaffna District development meeting held yesterday as well while Chief Minister C.V. Wigneswaran was also absent for both meetings.

Government Minister and EPDP leader Douglas Devananda said the TNA boycott was for political gain while there was a debate on the reasons behind Wigneswaran’s absence.

He also said that some important discussions and decisions could have been taken had Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh visited Sri Lanka last week.

Speaking at the Kilinochchi District development meeting today, Devananda said that had the Indian Premier visited Sri Lanka there could have been important discussions held on the Indian housing project.

However he said local politics resulted in the Indian Prime Min