Sri Lanka rally to protest against disappearances

By Charles HavilandBBC News, Colombo

Hundreds of Sri Lankans have held a demonstration in Colombo, demanding to know the whereabouts of two activists who disappeared two years ago.

By Charles Haviland-10 December 2013 

Lalith Kumar Weeraraju organised demonstrations on behalf of the families of missing people

Lalith Weeraraj and Kugan Muruganathan organised rallies against political disappearances before being apparently abducted in the north of the country.

The rally was held on the second anniversary of their disappearance.

The crowd blamed the government and security forces, but they have always denied involvement.

Another demonstration on human rights, in the east of the country, was attacked by government supporters leaving one of its organisers injured: he was admitted to hospital.

Sri Lanka has one of the world's highest tallies of disappeared people - the United Nations says there are more than 5,000 cases, and that number refers only to those that have been registered.

Many of these date from the 1980s and 1990s but activists say hundreds of people, mostly ethnic minority Tamils, disappeared at the time of the government's war victory against the Tamil Tigers in 2009, including many who apparently vanished after surrendering to government forces or crossing to government-held territory.

'My only son'

"Release Lalith and Kugan and stop abductions and torture," the crowd shouted at Tuesday's demonstration outside the main railway station.

Lalith Weeraraj and Kugan Muruganathan vanished near Jaffna while preparing a demonstration to mark World Human Rights Day in 2011.

Among placards held by the 500-odd protesters were depictions of white vans - a type of vehicle regularly associated with shadowy abductors - with the word "DON'T!" underneath.

"Lalith is my only son. I believe he is still alive," his father, Arumugam Weeraraj, told the BBC.

"He did nothing wrong. He was helping suffering parents."

He said his son, half-Tamil and half-Sinhalese, was well placed to help in such situations being fluent in both languages.

Pubudu Jayagoda, a spokesperson for a leftist group under which the two men were working, said that because the two had been abducted in a high-security zone "we believe the government should be responsible for this and the security forces are responsible for this".

He alleged that their motorbike had later been found in a police station and added "Stop all the abductions".

But the police spokesman, Ajith Rohana, denied the men had ever been taken into custody.

"We don't know what happened. No one saw it," he said, adding that a team of investigators was still operating.

In the eastern town of Trincomalee, which was severely affected by the war, another demonstration against disappearances was attacked by a pro-government crowd.

One of its organisers was admitted to hospital after sustaining injuries. Mr Rohana said a search for the culprit or culprits was going on.

In Jaffna members of the newly elected Northern Province council, controlled by the opposition Tamil National Alliance, held a protest inside the council premises to mark Human Rights Day.

They held placards and shouted demands including justice for what they described as the genocide of Tamils during the final stage of the civil war; progress on tracing missing former Tamil Tigers; and an inquiry into alleged war crimes.

The province's Chief Minister, CV Wigneswaran, took part as a silent protester.

JHU demands PM’s arrest but refuses to quit govt. over issue  PM’s office threatens to sue JHU monk

By Dasun Edirisinghe-December 10, 2013

The Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU) leader Ven. Omalpe Sobitha Thera, on Sunday, demanded the immediate arrest of Prime Minister D. M. Jayaratne, over the issuing of a letter to the Customs, from his office, to obtain the release of a container which was subsequently found to contain heroin. But, the JHU will not pull out of the government even if its demand is not granted.

JHU Spokesman Nishantha Sri Warnasinghe confirmed that Ven. Sobitha Thera’s call for the PM’s arrest and the responsible official was consistent with his party’s stand.

"We ask the government to reveal the name of the secretary who issued the letter on the Prime Minister’s letterhead and sack him," he said.

Addressing the Ven. Gangodawila Soma Thera Commemoration Ceremony on Sunday, JHU leader Ven. Dr. Omalpe Sobitha Thera said that the Prime Minister, who did not know how a letter, on his behalf, had been sent to the Customs, requesting the release of a container containing 261Kgs of heroin, inside 1259 cans of grease, was not fit to function in that high post.

Asked whether the JHU had officially informed the government of its demand, as a constituent of the ruling UPFA coalition, Warnasinghe said there was no need to inform government of it separately as the party had announced it publicly through the media. "There is no need to pull out from the government over this issue, but we demand that the government punish the smugglers and condemn those protecting them," he said.

The spokesman said that the government should accelerate the investigations into the incident as the culprits were still at large, according to media reports.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister’s Secretary Sirisena Amarasekera yesterday said that the Prime Minister’s office would institute legal action against Ven. Omalpe Sobitha Thera for making an unwarranted call for the arrest of the Prime Minister.

Budget and Opposition under attack as Lalkantha opens fire

 December 11, 2013 

Despite all the hardship and misery people go through, they will vote for Mahinda Rajapaksa if he decides to contest tomorrow, says K.D. Lalkantha, Chief Ministerial Candidate for the Western Province.
Lalkantha admits that due to the failure of the Opposition to win over voters, people continue to hail the Rajapaksa administration. While pointing out there is a mismatch between the actual desires of the people and policies of the JVP, he claims that if his party had a massive vote base like the UNP, it would have toppled the present regime by now. 
Lalkantha is a member of the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna Political Wing and also functions as President of the National Trade Union Centre (NTUC) and National Organiser of Socialist Labour Association.
Following are excerpts of the interview:

Q: What do you think about the Budget?

Budget and Opposition Under Attack as Lalkantha Opens Fire by nelvely

TGTE Adopts Resolution Calling For Prosecution Of Sri Lankan Military And Political Leaders

December 11, 2013 

The Transnational Government of Tamil Eelam has unanimously adopted the resolution passed by an ‘Assembly of Persons Concerned with the Genocide of the People of Tamil Eelam’ that called for the prosecution of Sri Lankan “military and political actors responsible for genocide and crimes against humanity.”

At the ceremonial first sitting of its second Parliament in the State of New Jersey, USA on 8 December 2013, theTGTE parliament accepted in full the resolution passed earlier on the 29 September, 2013 in London, England by this  specially constituted ‘Assembly of Persons’ who in their “plan of action” declared among other that “accountability mechanisms” should be established so that these military and political actors are prosecuted, “under all available means in international law.”

The resolution under Clause 13 stipulated the “accountability mechanisms” that should be pursued:

“We request that the United Nations Security Council refer the high level political and military leaders of Sri Lanka to the International Criminal Court for prosecution. If that does not prove feasible, we request that the United Nations General Assembly establish an International Criminal Tribunal for Sri Lanka pursuant to its power under Article 22 of the United Nations Charter that is modeled upon the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda.”

The resolution under clause 14 further called for “the people of Tamil Nadu to bring pressure on the Government of India to sue Sri Lanka before the International Court of Justice for genocide under the Genocide Convention of 1948.”

Some of the legal luminaries and eminent persons present endorsing the resolution passed in the London Conference were Geoffrey Robertson QC, Prof. Francis Boyle, David Matas,  S V Kirupaharan, Robert Evans,  Ali Beydou  and Prof Sornarajah.

The Resolution in full accepted and adopted  by the TGTE parliament reads as follows:

ASSEMBLY OF PERSONS CONCERNED WITH THE GENOCIDE OF THE PEOPLE OF TAMIL EELAM BY THE GOVERNMENT OF SRI LANKA

RESOLUTION ON A PLAN OF ACTION                     Read More

Basil-Chidambaram Spat Over Prabhakaran’s Death

 by Upul Joseph Fernando

( December 11, 2013, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) ”It is only we who can solve our issues. This is our country’s problem. It is a national problem. Foreigners have no feelings for us. I know that if they wanted to, they could have intervened in our crisis. But they had no interest to do so. Some countries had their own reasons for wanting us to kill Prabhakaran, and those reasons were not in the interest of our people. Now they are shedding crocodile tears. I appeal to the Tamil people and the Tamil National Alliance (TNA), let us, being citizens of this country, solve the problem on our own. We treat all people of this country equally. Hence, let us consider this as our problem which we have to solve on our own.” (An excerpt of Basil Rajapaksa’s speech during the 2014 Budget debate in Parliament – Courtesy: Sunday Observer)

Sometime before, the President’s brother, Basil, had made the foregoing remarks when Chidambaram had commented that if the Government of Sri Lanka had listened to India, Prabhakran’s life could have been saved. When Basil had referred to some countries in his remarks, he was clearly pointing his finger at India, causing much embarrassment to Chidambaram in view of the remarks he had made earlier, vis-a-vis Prabhakaran’s death.

Hit the nail on the head

There is no denying the fact that Basil, in his remarks, had hit the nail on the head. Prabhakran’s destruction was at the top of India’s agenda during this period. It was more specifically the burning desire of Sonia Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi to extract revenge from Prabhakaran who had killed the husband of one and the father of the other.

From 1991 to 1996, India was ruled by the Congress Party Government. When Chandrika came into power in 1994, she made peace overtures to Prabhakaran, much to India’s chagrin. The then Leader of the Opposition, Gamini Dissanayake, who was a close personal friend of Rajiv Gandhi, had warned Chandrika to exercise caution in dealing with Rajiv Gandhi’s murderer. He was giving voice to India’s misgivings about Chandrika’s peace overtures to Prabhakaran. In 1994, with the Presidential election looming on the horizon, Gamini had visited India. However, soon after his return to the country, one of Prabhakaran’s suicide bomber’s blew him to bits. Subsequently, Chandrika visited India after becoming the President of the country. Interestingly, on her return from India, she started preparing for a military solution to the terrorism unleashed by Prabhakaran, with India’s tacit approval.

The fall of the Congress Government in 1996 brought about a reversal of fortunes for Chandrika and the war against the Tigers. The BJP Government installed in Delhi did not help Chandrika’s war effort. Instead, it wanted her to come to a negotiated settlement with the LTTE terrorists. She did not adhere to the advice of the BJP Government and continued with the war effort, at the cost of heavy losses. Later, in 2001, when Ranil won the Parliamentary election and came into power, he negotiated a peace deal in February 2002 with the Tigers, mediated by Norway.

The Congress Party coming into power in 2004, reposing vast governmental powers in the hands of Sonia Gandhi, was an extremely fateful happening in so far as the LTTE’s then (future) fortunes were concerned. Sonia, single-mindedly, wanted Prabhakaran totally annihilated. Her resolve received a renewed boost after her daughter, Priyanka, visited the then pregnant Nalini, who was serving a prison sentence for Rajiv Gandhi’s assassination. She had a prolonged one-to-one meeting with Nalini, which had lasted several hours. Most political commentators dismissed the meeting then as yet another media show. However, the fact remains that it was a much more important matter than what was portrayed to be. Priyanka was looking for a conclusive and unequivocal answer to the question as to who had given the order to kill her father. Was it Prabhakaran or was any other government involved in Rajiv’s murder? Nalini confirmed to Priyanka that it was Prabhakaran himself who had given that infamous order to kill her father. Having established without a shadow of doubt that Prabhakran was Rajiv’s murderer, India was prepared to pay any price to get rid of Prabhakran, and encouraged Sri Lanka to fight the war to a finish.

It was Basil who brought the news from India, in this regard, to Mahinda. When there was international pressure to stop the war, Basil went to India and got the probable spoilers of the war efforts silenced. After Mahinda, Sonia was the only leader from the international community who was informed of Prabhakaran’s death, no sooner it had happened.

The proverbial bull…

It was because of these developments that I asserted at the outset that what Basil had said was true, in response to Chidambaram’s remarks. What had now transpired from the (above) stated series of events was that, ironically, Mahinda had scored victory after victory in elections by the magical power of the war victory whereas the Gandhi family was losing elections, especially in Tamil Nadu, for the same reason. Chidambaram is a very senior Congress member who is fit even to become the Prime Minister of India. But now he is facing the danger of losing even his parliamentary seat in Tamil Nadu as an outcome of the Congress Government’s help to defeat the LTTE. He had to shout himself hoarse, urging Manmohan Singh to refrain from attending CHOGM because of that. The Rajapaksas and the Gandhis are muddying the water they had shared so far. In that context, Basil’s remarks can be construed as the proverbial bull ramming a man who had fallen from a tree.

At the time Basil came out with those remarks, Mahinda’s other brother, Gotabhaya, was in India. It was understood that Gotabhaya’s mission to India was successful. Previously, when there were problems to be sorted out with India, Mahinda had invariably sent Basil there to trouble-shoot while Gotabhaya was allowed to shoot off his month criticizing India. This time, he had acted differently. With Singh’s CHOGM boycott, Basil was entrusted with the onerous task of nettling India, which reminds one of how JR had used Gamini in friendly engagements with India, while he had used Lalith and Premadasa to joust contests with it.

However, provoking Asia’s big brother would not bode well for the government or the country.

Ravi K. says Govt. can’t pay back Sooriyawewa stadium loans

By Ashwin Hemmathagama Our Lobby Correspondent- December 11, 2013 
The Mahinda Rajap-aksa International Cricket Stadium at Sooriyawewa became the subject of heated debate in Parliament yesterday after the United National Party charged that the Government had stopped repaying loans borrowed to construct what he called a white elephant stadium.
UNP MP Ravi Karunanayake said four mega development projects in Hambantota opened amid much fanfare had provided Sri Lanka very little benefit.
Karunanayake named the Magampura Mahinda Rajapaksa Port, Mattala Rajapaksa International Airport, Magampura Ruhuna International Convention Centre Hall and the Mahinda Rajapaksa stadium as being constructed with high interest loans that the Government was now having trouble paying back.
“What you need in Hambantota is tanks, not stadiums. You are trying to repay these loans with the taxes collected by taxing people’s essential items. The stadium is one more in the list of Hambantota white elephants. The district now has a port that has no ships calling in, an airport without flights, a convention centre that was built for CHOGM, and finally the Sooriyawewa Stadium that has held only 10 cricket matches from the day it was built,” he charged.
Karunanayake charged that the Government was using the money of innocent taxpayers to pay for ill-advised, unsuccessful projects.
The Sooriyawewa Mahinda Rajapaksa stadium had been built at a cost of Rs. 700 million on a 47-acre land providing 32,000 seating facilities for the spectators.
According to Minister of Sports Mahindananda Aluthgamage, the capital cost of borrowing is LIBOR (three months) + 6% per annum and US$ 8 million out of the loan will be settled by the end of 2015 and the remaining US$8 million by February 2017.
“We haven’t used the money from the Ports Authority but have obtained a loan from a different party. This stadium was built to accommodate the matches during the 2006 World Cup. Part of the borrowings were paid by the Cricket Board and we have requested the Government assistance to settle the remainder. All investments need time to flourish and provide a return,” said Minister Aluthgamage.

UNP seeks adoption of Latimar House principles-Removal of judges and CJ 

By Shamindra Ferdinando-December 10, 2013, 9:50 pm

UNP MP Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe told The Island that he would move a private member’s motion in Parliament today (11) seeking consensus on the removal of the judges of the Supreme Court and Court of Appeal in accordance with the Latimar House Principles already adopted by several leading member states of the Commonwealth.

Having taken over the leadership of the Commonwealth for a period of two years, Sri Lanka couldn’t afford to reject the Latimar House principles, Rajapakshe, PC, said. "In fact, I delayed my move until President Mahinda Rajapaksa assumed the Commonwealth leadership amidst protests by a section of the Commonwealth community."

Responding to a query, the former President of the Bar Association of Sri Lanka (BASL) pointed out that nothing could be as embarrassing as the incumbent head of the Commonwealth having to reject the association’s proposals.

The MP said: "The Principles provide an effective framework for the implementation of the Commonwealth’s fundamental values of democracy, good governance, human rights and the rule of law."

Commenting on the controversial removal of Shirani Bandaranayake from the post of Chief Justice at the behest of the political leadership, MP Rajapakshe said that there was provision in the Constitution for the removal of judges of the Supreme Court as well as Court of Appeal, including the CJ and the President of the Court of Appeal. The bid to oust Dr. Bandaranayake caused a major tussle between the government and a section of the judiciary, the MP said, adding that the government could avoid a future crisis by adopting the Latimar House Principles.

Rajapakshe said that the Latimar House Principles envisaged the appointment of a three-member panel consisting of three judges representing Superior Courts of the Commonwealth, other than the country where the move to impeach CJ was made, to examine the allegations .

Asked whether he was trying to cause political instability ahead of the next session of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) session in March, 2014, Rajapakshe said that the appointment of the panel was subjected to consensus among the Speaker and Prime Minister representing the ruling party of any Commonwealth nation and the leader of the Opposition.

The UNPer said that in case allegations were brought against other judges or President of Court of Appeal, a panel consisting of three sitting or retired judges of the Supreme Court would have to be appointed to go into the issue.

Rajapakshe said that unless the government would take a decision within the next six months, he would move for a vote on the issue.

Nature will one day punish these injustices -Karu warns to Mawbima paper

(Lanka-e-News- 11.Dec.2103, 8.30PM) This is the Speech by Karu Jayasuriya MP in Parliament on the occasion of the debate on the Budget at the Committee Stage on the expenditure of the Ministry of Mass Media on today. Karu has seriously criticized the Mawbima paper and its journalists and the owner of the paper Tiran Allus MP. The full speech as follows,

Nature Will One Day Punish These Injustices -Karu Warns to Mawbima Paper by nelvely

Will Shri Mahinda Rajapaksa Take Criminal Responsibility?

by L.Annadoure

“If Somebody from the Army had done that, I must take responsibility!” swore the Sri Lankan President Shri Mahinda Rajapakshe.

( December 11, 2013, Chennai, Sri Lanka Guardian) While being interviewed by ‘The Hindu’ the Sri Lankan President has denied the killing of LTTE Chief Prabakaran’s 12 year old son Balachandran by the Army and he has owned criminal responsibility categorically if some body from the Army had killed the boy and we may hope that the Sri Lankan President would keep his words and bear responsibility in the event of there being sufficient proof that the boy was executed without a formal pronouncement of judgment for the crime for which he would be indicted and prosecuted before the Sri Lankan Criminal court and before he was killed he was given water and biscuits as goats and other animals would be fed on rich fodder before they would be slaughtered. Having Fed the boy with biscuits and given water to drink before he was shot to death was purely an humanitarian work on the part of Sri Lankan Army and the stark reality is, as everybody is aware, the Eelam Tamils were herded into as droves of cattle would be driven, rounded up and cornered in short space and then showered with proscribed weapons like cluster bombs, chemical and incendiary bombs including napalm so as to annihilate them which act was said to be a piece of humanitarian work done by the Sri Lankan Army.

Will Shri Mahinda Rajapaksa Take Criminal Responsibility by nelvely

Petty warlords shake Govt. as it faces the crucial Geneva sessions

By Our Political Editor

Add caption

Sunday, December 08, 2013:

• Scandalous sex-and-crime allegations against Kamalendran and Hulugalle cause embarrassment to President
• Gotabaya holds secret talks in New Delhi, possibility of deal with India and Manmohan Singh’s visit to Jaffna

A pre-emptive strike by President Mahinda Rajapaksa appears to have saved his Government from one more accusation before the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva — last week’s murder of Daniel Rexian (42), Chairman of the Pradeshiya Sabha (PS) in Delft, the furthest inhabited island off the northern Jaffna peninsula.

Kandasamy Kamalendran, Leader of the Opposition of the Northern Provincial Council when he was an EPRLF guerrilla cadre

Petty Warlords Shake Govt. as It Faces the Crucial Geneva Sessions by nelvely

Never were so much public funds wasted to secure so few ! 6852 PSD police personnel alone for security of MaRa and family

(Lanka-e-News- 11.Dec.2013, 6.00PM) A contingent of over 10,000 security personnel of the Presidential security division (PSD) comprised of various divisions of the forces are detailed for duty to provide security to MaRa and his clan. Among them as many as 6852 are police officers according to Lanka e news inside information reports.

Never were so much public funds wasted to secure so few ! 6852 PSD police personnel alone for security of M... by nelvely

No more Foreign Service in Sri Lanka

 Friday, 06 December 2013 

Imminent dissolution of the Foreign Ministry and Foreign Service

As revealed by this website on 23 October 2013 Mahinda Rajapaksa has secretly appointed a committee to devise a methodology to dissolve the Foreign Ministry. This secret committee consists of the following officials:

1. Mr. Sajin de Vsaa Gunawardana, Monitoring MP of the Foreign Ministry
2. Mr. Lalith Weeratunga, Presidential Secretary
3. Mr. Gamini Senarath, Additional Secretary/President
4. Mr. P B Abeykoon, Secretary, Ministry of Public Administration
5. Mr. Wijerathna, Secretary, Salaries and Cadre Commission
6. Mrs. Kshenuka Senewirathna, Additional Secretary, Foreign Ministry

In this process, as a first step Mrs. Kshenuka Senewirathna will be appointed as Secretary to the Foreign Ministry very soon and Mr. Sajin Vass Gunawardana has already recommended this appointment to the President. Part of the deal is that Senewirathna to support amalgamation of the Foreign Service with other services like SLAS, SLPS, SLAcctS etc. and also to permanently absorb children of politicians and other cronies Rajapaksa family who are now appointed in number of Sri Lanka embassies.

Consequently, the “children” who are serving as so called “consultants” at the CHOGM Secretariat will be given diplomatic postings soon and later they will also absorbed to the Foreign Ministry Cadre. Some of these children have already been given diplomatic postings. Details of these appointments will be published later. Currently, they are being paid Rs. 70, 000/- month for doing nothing. All these “children” including daughter of Rosy Senanayake have been selected by Sajin Vass Gunawardana.

To express gratitude to Mrs. Kshenuka Senewirathna, she will be given the Secretary position of the Foreign Ministry in due course. This change will be effected after the budget debate of the Foreign Ministry vote which will be held on 07 December 2013 at the Parliament.
On the condition of anonymity, some senior officials of the Foreign Ministry told this website that Mrs. Senewirathna openly supports the proposal to dissolve the Foreign Service and also absorption of sons and daughters of politicians and corrupt individuals who are supporters of Rajapaksa regime to the Foreign Ministry. Mr. Amunugama, present Secretary to the Foreign Ministry has declined to agree with Rajapaksa plan and therefore he will be removed from his post soon. According to our sources in Colombo Mr. Amunugama has vehemently opposed the plan to dissolve the Foreign Ministry and Foreign Service. He has repeatedly told the regime that as he is a part of the Foreign Service and the Ministry he cannot agree with anything which is designed to destroy both institutions.

After discussing future operation in detail with Mrs. Senewirathna at a secret location, Sajin Vass has arranged for her a “Kottu Rotty” party at “Pilawoos Restaurant” Bambalapitiya, last week.

2014 Budget In Focus: Impact And Expectations

By Dhanusha Pathirana –December 11, 2013 

Dhanusha Pathirana

The 2014 fiscal proposals place significant emphasis on fiscal consolidation mainly by tightening tax policy measures while continuing the pattern of relatively high growth of state expenses witnessed in the past eight fiscal agendas of the incumbent government. A development framework upheld by the state was set in motion through four consecutive post war budgets from 2010 to 2013. Its basic approach was grounded on raising the growth of the economy through infrastructure centred government expenditure while simultaneously assisting the services led growth of private investments through sharply loosening the tax framework of the economy. The monetary policy stance provided a catalyst for this process by maintaining more or less lower interest rates and stable currency through improving avenues to attract foreign savings/debt. In Sri Lankan Treasury’s terms this is expected to achieve “a real financial development of the economy” which is believed to automatically lead to a sustainable economic growth of nearly 8%. It is our view that the latter framework encouraged the growth in private sector investments which led to higher economic growth centred on services and construction activity. It however suggests that higher economic growth following the war was achieved without a fundamental shift in the economy’s growth pattern and hence, it continued the expansion of nonindustrial type investments as the dominant mode of economic growth.

However, this particular development strategy adopted by the government although accelerated the pace of economic growth, weighed on the tax revenue position and hence the stability of the fiscal sector. The 8.6% YoY reduction in tax revenue in 1H2013 despite the economy growing as much as 6.9% YoY during the first three quarters of 2013 indicates that the broad relaxation of the tax regime in previous years although facilitated higher economic growth, it undermined the financial stability of the government. This is further indicated by the significant increase in public debt despite real growth in the economy beating regional peers. On the other hand, the higher economic growth in the face of falling government revenue further indicates that the economic growth was fundamentally based on expanding government expenditure and the growth in public investments did not in turn generate taxable incomes through increase in the formal sector employment of the economy. This is indicated by unemployment rate increasing to 4.4% in 2Q2013 from 3.9% in 2012 and 87.8% of the labour force being employed in informal sector (62.7%), public sector (16.1%) and as unpaid family workers (9%) despite economy growing at one of the highest rates in the world. Under this backdrop it is our view that the 2014 fiscal proposals are largely aimed at realigning the tax structure to improve the financial position of the government while maintaining economic growth and government expenditure without a structural transformation in the economy.                                                       Read More

Church warns of 'foreign intervention' in Sri Lanka
 Church warns of 'foreign intervention' in Sri Lanka

December 11, 2013 2:55 pm 
The Catholic church Wednesday warned Sri Lanka's government of foreign intervention unless it worked towards reconciliation and addressed allegations of war crimes during the war against Tamil separatists.


Malcolm Ranjith, the archbishop of Colombo, said he was urging President Mahinda Rajapakse and the main ethnic Tamil party to hammer out a political settlement or risk an international probe.

"Foreigners should not tell us what to do... We are not a pack of fools," the cardinal said. "But if we do not resolve these issues, then we open ourselves to foreign intervention."

Sri Lanka has resisted international calls to investigate allegations that up to 40,000 ethnic Tamil civilians were killed by security forces in the final months of fighting in 2009.

At a Commonwealth summit hosted by Colombo last month, Britain's Prime Minister David Cameron warned that he would push for an international inquiry under the auspices of the UN unless Sri Lanka ensures accountability by March.

In a pastoral letter, the church warned that failure on the part of Colombo to ensure accountability for alleged war crimes could trigger international investigations that will be a "serious threat to the sovereignty of the country".

Christians are a small minority in the mainly Buddhist country, but the Catholic church wields considerable influence over the government and Ranjith is regarded as close to Rajapakse.

Since the 37-year separatist war ended in May 2009, there have been no attacks blamed on the defeated Tamil Tiger guerrillas who fought for independence for the island's ethnic Tamil minority.

The cardinal said the majority Sinhalese and Tamils should ensure reconciliation and politicians on both sides should be flexible and hammer out a political power sharing deal.

In its 24-page letter, the church also asked the government to ensure accountability for politically-motivated killings going back four decades.

Up to 40,000 people were said to have been killed when the then government crushed a political uprising by mainly Sinhalese Marxists rebels in 1971. A second uprising by the Marxists between 1987 and 1990 is said to have claimed up to 60,000 lives.

The UN estimates that the Tamil conflict, which is unrelated to the two Sinhalese uprisings, had cost at least 100,000 lives between 1972 and 2009. (AFP)
Omalpe Sobhitha Thera preaches absolute lies 

Omalpe Sobhitha Thera preaches absolute lies-December 11, 2013
Secretary to the Prime Minister, S. Amarasekera, in a letter to Ven. Omalpe Sobhitha Thera, said that he was deeply disappointed that the Thera had preached an absolute falsehood without bothering to check the facts.

The letter, sent yesterday, addressed issues pertaining to Sobhitha Thera's intervention made through the media, highlighting falsely the fact that the Prime Minister's Secretary had issued a letter stating that the container that was later found to contain 262 kg of heroin, not be charged any taxes and questioning why the Prime Minister's Secretary had still not been punished nor removed from his position. The letter clearly stated that neither the Prime Minister's Secretary nor any official in the Prime Minister's office had issued such a letter.

While stating that he was deeply hurt by Sobhitha Thera's grave accusation and insult, Amarasekera also requested that Sobhitha Thera rectifies this grievously misleading statement through the same media institutions he had highlighted the issue. However, the letter in question had been issued by the Prime Minister's Coordinating Secretary, Keerthi Sri Weerasinghe.

Sri Lanka: DG of the Media Centre for National Security has abused power to safeguard his secrete private life life and corruption

Sri Lanka: DG of the Media Centre for National Security has abused power to safeguard his secrete private life life and corruption

Tuesday, December 10, 2013

Hulugalle: war for secrete life

Businessman claims Hula’s affair with wifeAnother event of significant embarrassment to the UPFA Government was the sudden closure of the Media Centre for National Security (MCNS) retrospectively from November 1, thus evicting, unceremoniously, its Director General Lakshman Hulugalle. He was, however, adamant that his position still remains though the MCNS was wound up. The claim is similar to a chauffeur saying I am still the driver when his boss had sold the vehicle. There was only a two line terse announcement in a news alert of the Government – news.lk – about the closure.

Sri Lanka DG of the Media Centre for National Security Has Abused Power to Safeguard His Secrete Private Li... by nelvely

Brutal crimes on the rise

By Leon Berenger and Damith Wickramasekera-Sunday, December 01, 2013

Police spokesman says the involvement of army deserters and ex-servicemen was minimum

It was a grey morning that promised rain later on when the 49-year-old housewife-Anula Herath along with her 10-year-old daughter left their home in Kahatuduwa and headed for the Dhaham Pasala at the local temple last IL Poya Day little realizing that it would be her final moments. The woman dropped her daughter at the Dhaham Pasala and began her return journey home when she was confronted by her estranged husband.

Brutal Crimes on the Rise by nelvely