Strong message to region’s countries from India on Republic Day!

 Monday, 27 January 2014 

India marked her 65th Republic Day in New Delhi yesterday (26) with Japanese premier Shinzo Abe as the chief guest at the main official celebration. According to international political commentators, India gave a strong message at that event to other countries in South Asia who have become stooges of China, the new world super power, by getting the Japanese PM to participate in her Republic Day celebration as the chief guest. 

India is strengthening her diplomatic ties with Japan to counter the string of pearls built by China to centre India both commercially and militarily, and to ease threats to her security. By now, Japan is at odds with China diplomatically over its disputed islets. The recent visit by the Japanese PM to a controversial shrine has sent her ties with China to a lower depth.

In light of such a situation, an Indo-Japan friendship could have an immense impact on China, according to international political commentators. It was an indirect slap on China’s face when India got the Japanese PM to participate in the Republic Day celebration as the chief guest.

During his recent visit to the island, Japanese special envoy Yashushi Akasi made it clear to Sri Lankan government authorities that more attention should be paid to safeguarding human rights and that it cannot defend Sri Lanka internationally if it delays implementing the LLRC proposals any further. At a meeting with minister Champika Ranawaka, the Japanese envoy has said that Japan has decided to work together diplomatically with India in the future. And, therefore, Japan will have to agree with India whenever it makes a request regarding Sri Lanka.

Minister Ranawaka has told the president all what he had been told by the Japanese envoy, but a smiling president has discarded all that. However, in view of the arising situation, Sri Lanka will definitely have to face a very unfavourable plight internationally, according to expert opinion.

Family of Sri Lankan man wanted for 'rape' of Australian woman is held as police hunt suspect

• AMANDA HODGE
• THE AUSTRALIAN
• JANUARY 29, 2014 12:00AM

THE family of a Sri Lankan man wanted for the alleged weekend rape of an Australian tourist in the southern coastal town of Ambalangoda was being held by police yesterday as a manhunt continued for the 22-year-old fisherman.

The man, known as Rumesh, has been missing since Sunday night when the 20-year-old Australian woman reported she had been attacked during a visit to an island just off the coast of Ambalangoda, a tourist town 100km south of the capital, Colombo.

The Australian National University student had been volunteering with a local turtle rescue home for at least a week when she joined a group of eight fellow volunteers - five Australians and three Swedes - together with several young fisherman on a Sunday boat trip to a nearby island.

The student, who had been working with injured turtles, told police she was attacked by Rumesh when he allegedly lured her to another part of the island on the pretext of showing her local features.

The nearby Balapitiya Hospital confirmed the woman had been treated there but would give no details about her condition.

She is understood to have been admitted on Sunday night but has since been released.

Jeevan Kasthuri, the owner of the Captain Place turtle hatchery where the woman had been volunteering, told The Australian yesterday she had been part of an intake of 35 volunteers working on various projects, including teaching local preschoolers.

Sri Lanka's southern coastline is a well-known hatching ground for some of the world's most critically-endangered sea turtles including the Olive Ridley, Leatherback and Hawksbill turtles and hatcheries there attract student volunteers from across the globe.

Mr Kasthuri said police were now holding Rumesh's mother, father and brothers at the Ambalangoda police station in order to compel him to surrender.

"The police, me, my friends, we are all looking to catch this boy who is very afraid to go to the police because there will be big punishment for him," he said yesterday.

"We know this boy. He was friendly with (the woman) and other volunteers. This is normally a very safe place with very good families. This is just one boy who goes and does this problem.

"Some rabbits have a tiger inside," he added.

Mr Kasthuri said Rumesh's family had appealed to the Australian woman before their detention for mercy on behalf of her attacker, and that the young student had agreed to write a letter appealing to the police to show leniency, though The Australian was unable to verify that claim.

"They said, 'Please Madam, do not make problem for my son. He's the only son in my family and the only fisherman'," he said.

"She did not want to make too much problem for this boy and after the family came to her she said it would be enough if he was jailed for two weeks."

'The latest attack is yet another blight on the tourism reputation of the subcontinent and South Asian region, coming in the wake of a series of brutal assaults in neighbouring India in recent weeks and months.

Earlier this month a Danish tourist was gang raped in New Delhi's famous Paharganj backpacker district. It was the most recent in a series of sexual assaults on foreign tourists, including the gang rape of a Swiss woman in Madhya Pradesh and the late-night attempted assault on a British tourist by a hotel owner in Rajasthan.

While Sri Lanka is considered a safer destination for Australian and European travellers, there have been a growing number of sexual assaults on foreign tourists.

Mobile CCTV Surveillance; Police Van Films Anti-Government Protesters

January 28, 2014 

Sri Lankan Police deployed a mobile CCTV van around the mass protest organised by the opposition parties. The mass protest march and demonstration is organised against state oppression, social degradation and corruption and to push for the abolishment of the Executive Presidential system. A picture captured by journalist Dinidu de Alwis shows a mobile CCTV van to record footage of anti-government protesters in Slave Island. Image courtesy Twitter / @dinidu

Financial services for small businesses and low income households

 January 28, 2014

India’s RBI’s Mor Committee Report and ‘consolidation’
At a time when we are ‘consolidating ‘ our financial services sector, it is noteworthy that Sri Lanka has been battling for years on this vexed issue of providing an efficient and responsive system of financial services to small businesses and low income households.

Financial Services for Small Businesses and Low Income Households by nelvely

Rajapakse demons haunt Hulugalla former Media spokesman of National Security: Shouts ‘Rajapakses trying to kill me’ after taking sleeping pills

(Lanka-e-News -28.Jan.2014, 4.00PM) Former defense media spokesman Lakshman Hulugalla after consuming sleeping pills had behaved like a mad man and screamed in a state of delirium, ‘Rajapakses are trying to kill me yakko, but they cannot kill me alone. I shall kill myself and them before I die yakko,’ according to reports reaching Lanka e news inside information division.

Details of the incident are as follows :

Hulugalla had along with a woman and his driver gone into the Swiss Hotel near the Kandy Lake in his car on 26th night about 10.00 PM. . There had been no security detail. The couple had reserved a room in the second floor of the hotel. Later some others have visited him, and they have taken him to the room reserved by them . . 

Subsequently, a hotel employee had arrived at the reception and reported , somebody in the second floor is screaming. The employees who were obviously rattled had rushed to the second floor when they saw a tall individual coming out opening the door of the room in the second floor shouting, ‘ don’t stop me , I have taken poison.’ When the manager of the hotel too arrived , and the employees were trying to hold him , he had screamed, ‘do you know who I am. I am Lakshman Hulugalla.’ Only then the employees had identified him.

‘If I die , it is the family of Rajapakse who should answer. I cannot stay in this country. I cannot even go out of the country too. Even if you save me , I shall kill myself. In any case they will kill me,’ Hulugalla had yelled out at the top of his voice. 

The employees of the hotel had taken Hulugalla to hospital after informing the police . The hospital police who arrived had discovered that he has taken sleeping pills when they found 27 pills in his pocket. By that time Hulugalla was struggling beyond control. ’I want to die otherwise Rajapakses will kill me yakko. They just cannot kill me alone. I shall kill them too and die yakko’, he had continuously yelled out. 

After he was identified as Hulugalla , a number of doctors have rushed to the scene to provide treatment . and was admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU).By that time it was 27 th early morning.

Because he was uncontrollable , his arms and legs were tied to the bed when treatment was being given to him. Following medicines given to him to vomit out the poison , his condition improved , and was admitted to ward 28 and bed 11 of the hospital after taking him out of the ICU.

This noon , Sudharma Neththikumar paramour of Hulugalla cum wife of Gamini Neththikumar the Senkada governor had arrived and met Hulugalla . Naveen Dissanayake too had arrived to meet him. Hulugalla however had been unfit to speak to them. Though the police tried to obtain a statement that too was not possible.

By noon , on orders of the criminal defense secretary Gotabaya , Hulugalla’s hospital ticket was canceled and forcibly brought to Colombo. He is now admitted to the Lanka hospital, Colombo (earlier Apollo hospital) of which Gotabaya is the chairman.

It is noteworthy that this admission to Lanka hospital is a most unlawful action because, while Hulugalla has been shouting and screaming before all that he took poison since his life was at stake because of the Rajapakses, he being admitted forcibly to the hospital of which the chairman is Gotabaya Rajapakse. This in other words means that the Rajapakses by bringing him into the hospital within their control is imperiling his life. Moreover admitting an individual who consumed poison with a view to commit suicide being admitted to a private hospital is illegal.

It is well to recall that when the raid was conducted on Regino Casino, the Rajapakse regime transferred all the police officers who conducted the raid and washed their hands of it by blaming it on Hulugalla , and dismissing him from his official post. At the same time after exposing Hulugalla’s personal life via the media made Hulugalla to do a hula hoop dance like a lunatic in the street.

Anyway, it cannot be forgotten that this same Hulugalla prior to falling into this trap did all the sordid biddings of the Rajapakses disregarding laws and discarding national interests. He did not hesitate even to strip nude shamelessly public in public to perform hula hoop dance only to cheer up the criminal Rajapakses.

January Incident Report: Threats To Religious Freedom Continues

January 28, 2014

Mattegoda Church attack / File photo

The threats to religious freedom continues around the island with several incidents reported against Christian places of worship in this month. A report compiled by the National Christian Evangelical Alliance of Sri Lanka based on information received from member churches and affiliates counts 8 incidents of threats to religious freedom and outright attacks on Christian places of worship and religious leaders.

Following is the January incident report:

State Officials Claim the Assemblies of God Church in Hikkaduwa as an Unauthorized Place of Worship and Demand its Closure

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Maha Nayakas take PM to task 

By Ravi Ladduwahetty- January 28, 2014
 
The Malwatte and Asgiriya Maha Nayakas have been taking Prime Minister, D.M. Jayaratne, to task for some time now, over the delay in the implementation of the six proposed Buddhist Acts of Parliament, deemed as being beneficial for Buddhists and Buddhism.
 
Leading Buddhist organizations have also joined the fray in pressing Prime Minister Jayaratne for the implementation of these laws which have been long overdue, political sources told Ceylon Today, last night.
Buddhist clergy and Buddhist organizations have also demanded to know from the Prime Minister the reason for the delay, and the Prime Minister, in turn, has asked officials for a written explanation.
 
The six acts are amendments to the Buddhist Temporalities Act and five other new acts relating to the maintenance of the Buddha Sasana, regulations of Buddhist monks, dasa sil mathas and the formation of Chapters such as Malwatte and Asgiriya. However, Buddha Sasana Ministry Secretary, M.K.B. Dissanayake, said the English names of the proposed pieces of Law have not been formulated as yet.
He said these Acts were to provide legal impetus to those who violate the Constitutional provision which states that Buddhism should be given the pride of place in the country.
 
He also said that some of the other Acts would also regulate the operations of the dasa sil mathas and Dhamma schools. "There will also be regulations on publication of Buddhist and Buddhism-related material," he said.
The Sinhala names are Sasanarakshaka Panatha, the Dasa Sil Matha Panatha, the Dasa Sil Meni Arama Panatha and Kathikawath Panatha. There is also the Buddhist Publications and Regulations Act.
Dissanayake said that there was no deliberate delay in the implementation of these pieces of law, but procedural delays due to the need to obtain approval from all stakeholders which process was time consuming.
 
As for the amendments to the Buddhist Temporalities Act, Dissanayake said that the procedure was to submit a concept paper to the Cabinet and on approval, the papers had to go to the Legal Draftsman and then the Attorney-General's Department, and once again to the Cabinet. He said that once it went to the Cabinet, the paper had to be reviewed and observed by a three-member Cabinet sub-committee and it was then that the Draft Bill was presented to Parliament.
He added that the implementation of the other laws also require the overall consensus of all stakeholders such as the Maha Sangha, Buddhist organizations, the Attorney-General's Department and the Legal Draftsman's Department, which was the real reason for the operational delays.

FIX OUR ROAD OR WE BLOCK YOURS…

January 28, 2014

Residents have blocked the Rajanganaya-Galgamuwa Road at Giribawa protesting against the dilapidated condition of the Nirawiya-Sole Weva Road. The protestors have blocked the road using tree trunks and according to our correspondent vehicular traffic along the road have come to a standstill. Pic by Sanjeewa Ratnayaka

Sri Lanka’s Former National Security Spokesman In A Second Suicide Attempt

January 27, 2014

Former Director General of the Media Centre for National Security and close associate of Secretary to the Ministry of Defence Gotabaya Rajapaksa, Lakshman Hulugalle has been re-admitted to hospital after a second failed suicide attempt by overdose, sources told Colombo Telegraph.

Lakshman Hulugalle

Hulugalle, who was staying in a hotel in Kandy was admitted to the Kandy General Hospital in the early hours of Monday morning.

Last month, Hulugalle was rushed to Lanka Hospitals in Colombo, for treatment after he walked in to the hospital claiming to have swallowed nearly 20 anti depression pills.  However, sources told Colombo Telegraph that doctors at the hospital had failed to find any traces of the drug in Hulugalle’s system. The top security official later denied allegations that he had overdosed.

He is said to be in recovery now.

Hulugalle has been embroiled in controversy after he ordered the transfer of 23 policemen responsible for the raid of a casino belonging to his alleged lover, Sudharma Netticumara, wife of Salaka Chairman, Gamini Nettikumara. President Mahinda Rajapaksa dissolved the MCNS retroactively from November 1st after racy details about Hulugalle’s liaison with businessman Gamini Nethikumara’s spouse came to light and he was found to have abused his power in a bid to rescue his paramour.

In Sri Lanka suicides rates, although down compared to the 90’s, are still high enough to cause concern, as at least one case is reported in newspapers every week. According to experts mental health literacy is very poor in Sri Lanka. To seek advice from suicide prevention experts please contact ;

Sri Lanka  Sumithrayo                                                      Read More

No Plans To Be Presidential Nominee – CBK

Former President Chandrika Kumaratunga dispelled rumours earlier today that she would be the common candidate fielded by the opposition alliance at an impending presidential election.

Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga

“Others are proposing that I contest but I have no such plans,” Kumaratunga told media personnel at the conclusion of a SAPRI event to unveil recommendations made by an interfaith dialogue forum on building harmony between religious communities earlier Tuesday (28).

Asked if she was likely to change her mind about this, the former President said according to the Buddhist philosophy nothing is permanent in life. “But this is not likely to change,” she said.

SAPRI the think tank chaired by the Former President is spearheading a campaign to promote peace between religious communities and alleviate tensions arising from recent acts of intolerance and violence against Muslims and Christians.

Speaking about why her organisation took the issue head on, President Kumaratunga said while only extremist discourse was reigning in the country, it was no longer possible to remain silent.

“The moderates were shocked about what was taking place, but they feared speaking out against it, because of the atmosphere of intimidation,`she explained to media personnel after the SAPRI event. “Someone said to me that as the only living ex-president and prime minister, I also had a responsibility to do something about this,`Kumaratunga added.                                                 January 28, 2014 

Future UNP govt. to probe misuse of public property since 1948 

by Zacki Jabbar-January 27, 2014, 10:09 pm

The misuse of public property and funds since Independence would be probed by a future UNP government, General Secretary of the party Tissa Attanayake said yesterday.

Accepting the challenge thrown at the UNP by the JVP’s Lal Kantha, he told a news conference in Colombo that as a party which extended its fullest support to enact the 17th Amendment to the Constitution which established all the Independent Commissions including the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption (CIABOC), it would not shy away from its national responsibilities. "Our answer to the JVP and Lal Kantha is ‘Yes’, a future UNP administration will not hesitate to investigate concrete allegations presented against anyone who had robbed the country’s resources since 1948. It was due to our commitment to good governance that we voted for the establishment of the 17th Amendment in 1994," Attanayake said.

He expressed concern about the Chairman of the Bribery and Corruption Commission who had to investigate hundreds of complaints against Government Ministers and MPs, being harassed."How can the Chairman do his job, when all sorts of allegations are being leveled against him? That is why we have been agitating for the 17th Amendment to be revived."

Attanayake said that the former Chief Justice Shirani Bandaranayake had been impeached on allegations of bribery and corruption, but similar accusations against ruling party politicians were investigated.

Corruption in the Rajapaksa regime was unprecedented, MP Attanayake said. A classic example was that three square metres of the Katunayake-Colombo Expressway had cost Rs.1.7 million. It was a national crime for which the people and not the rulers would have to pay, he noted.

Electricity prices had been jacked up at frequent intervals due to the massive losses suffered by the Ceylon Electricity Board, resulting from incompetence and implementation of short sighted policies. Here, too, no one had been held accountable for their sins, he observed.

Parents take principal, teachers hostage 



Parents take principal, teachers hostage

  January 28, 2014  
Parents of the students attending Orugodapola Maha Vidyalaya in Ridiyagama are preventing the principal and the teachers of the school from leaving the school.

Reportedly, this incident had started around 1:30 p.m., after the students had left the school premises.

Nearly 28 teachers are inside the school premises at the moment, while nearly 100 parents are guarding the main gate, keeping the teachers inside.

Attempts by the Ridiyagama Police to rescue the teachers have been in vain.

Comparable Times, Contrasting Figures: India And China

By S. Sivathasan -January 28, 2014

S. Sivathasan

One cannot easily say how best to describe India and China. Two countries, nations both ancient and great, civilizations that have led the world or powers to dazzle the future and illumine the path to humanity. Their mission to the peoples of the world is certainly unmistakable.

However great the idealistic side is as a fount of the future, the material base has to be in place. The struggle in the last century was to capture the opportunity. The titanic effort to secure it engages much of the energies of the two nations now. Through sheer size and weight they are going to rank first and second in the world by 2050. But how close are they going to be? Unlikely to be anywhere near is what performance of the recent past suggests for an assessment of the future.

By what criteria one may ask. Through incontrovertible figures is what the writer would urge. To set a discussion moving, some helpful data are provided.

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Sri Lanka: Literary Essays And Sketches

By Elmo Jayawardena -January 28, 2014 

Capt Elmo Jayawardena

Sri Lanka: Literary Essays and 

Sketches- By Prof Charles Sarvan - A review 

Sri Lankan-created literature in the English language is limited. Of course the medium is not our mother tongue and the post- colonial years have steadily reduced the usage and decreased the numbers who read which has directly resulted in the downturn of the books published in English.

That is a clearly visible fact. It is also an accepted actuality that among the limited works that came through the publishers’ purgatory, there certainly were ‘good’ to ‘excellent’ books. Some could have easily stood on the same pedestal of fame of the renowned had they too been lucky in the winners’ lottery among the world’s literati.

But, it did not happen, sad and so true.                       Read More      

China: For Freedom, Justice And Love — My Closing Statement To The Court

 by Xu Zhiyong

This is Xu Zhiyong’s closing statement on January 22, 2014, at the end of his trial. According to his lawyer, he had only been able to read “about 10 minutes of it before the presiding judge stopped him, saying it was irrelevant to the case.”

( January 28, 2014, Beijing, Sri Lanka Guardian) You have accused me of disrupting public order for my efforts to push for rights to equal access to education, to allow children of migrant workers to sit for university entrance examinations where they reside, and for my calls that officials publicly declare their assets.

While on the face of it, this appears to be an issue of the boundary between a citizen’s right to free speech and public order, what this is, in fact, is the issue of whether or not you recognize a citizen’s constitutional rights.

China for Freedom, Justice and Love- My Closing Statement to the Court by nelvely

Eco-warrior or eco-terrorist? Mongolia jails environmentalist for 21 years

Tsetsegee Munkhbayar in Mongolia. Pic: Goldman Environmental Prize.

By Michelle Tolson Jan 28, 2014

One week ago, the courts of Mongolia sentenced environmental activist and former herder Tsetsegee Munkhbayar and four other members of the “Fire Nation” group to 21-and-a-half years in prison each for “acts of terrorism.” He had come to deliver a petition to Parliament to stop the amendment of a 2009 law, called “the Long Name Law,” created to ban mineral exploration near river heads, reservoirs and water sources so as to guard against pollution.  Activists say the amendment would have weakened the law he had fought so hard for.  According to local media reports, he had brought fire arms and (inactive) grenades to his protest.

Eco-Warrior or Eco-terrorist Mongolia Jails Environmentalist for 21 Years by nelvely

Mass killing of Muslims underway in full swing in 

Central African Republic

No effective measure to stop the carnage

By Latheef Farook-January 28, 2014  

Men carry the body of a lynched Muslim man through a street in Bangui, Central African Republic, on Sunday

It appears it is now Central African Republic Muslims’ turn in Africa to pay the price under the ongoing global campaign against Islam and Muslims. According to reports massacre of fleeing Muslims continues unabated ever since violence   erupted on 5 December 2013 between well equipped Christian majority and ill equipped Muslim minority.  

Mass killing of Muslims underway in full swing in Central African Republic by nelvely