5 years today - 2000 killed in Mullivaikal, govt declares military victory, LTTE call for international community to take responsibility for future welfare of Tamils

16 May 2014

16 May 2009 - 2000 killed in Mullivaikal shelling, govt declares military victory, LTTE call for international community to take responsibility for future welfare of Tamils

Over 2,000 bodies lay in Mullivaikal said a medical volunteer in the No Fire Zone.

“Sri Lanka Army has destroyed all medical facilities by targeted attacks, and the SLA was continuing inhuman and indiscriminate attacks on civilians providing only two options, death or surrender,” the doctor told TamilNet over a the phone. 

5 Years Today - 2000 Killed in Mullivaikal, Govt Declares Military Victory, LTTE Call for International Com... by Thavam Ratna

Never Glad Confident Morning Again? The Decline Of The Last Five Years

By Rajiva Wijesinha -May 16, 2014

Prof. Rajiva Wijesinha MP

Five years ago, I spent the week of my 55^th birthday in Geneva. I had been summoned there urgently, because some Western nations had been trying to get sufficient signatures to hold a Special Session of the Human Rights Council in an attempt to stop our imminent conquest of the Tigers. By the time I got to Geneva though, the danger was over, and there was much to celebrate. The superb diplomacy of Dayan Jayatilleka, our Representative in Geneva, supported admirably by the international coalition he had built up, had ensured that the West did not get the required number of signatures, and the danger passed.

By the time I got back to Colombo, we had registered an even more remarkable victory, in that the Tigers were finally destroyed. The last 100,000 civilians who had been held hostage were rescued, and it was reported too that Prabhakaran had been killed. The terrorism that had held Sri Lanka in thrall for 20 years had finally been destroyed.

But there was a postscript, for the West, or rather its more intransigent elements, did not let up, and they used all their muscle to get the missing signatures. I gathered that Bosnia was told that their bid for EU membership would be in jeopardy if they did not toe the line, and Azerbaijan was pursued with carrots and sticks like Edward Lear’s Snark. They succumbed, and once again I had to head back to Geneva for the Special Session, which took place on May 27^th and 28^th.

Read More

90,000 Lankans still internally displaced

By Dilrukshi Handunnetti-May 16, 2014


Five years after the war, Sri Lanka's level of internal displacement is estimated to be around 90,000 persons, according to the Annual Global Review of the Norway based Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC).


Based on data gathered from January to December 2013, the IDMC's latest assessment has recorded up to 90,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Sri Lanka by end 2013.
It also records that over 480,000 IDPs have returned to the Northern and Eastern Provinces – after the war end– though specific measures were considered necessary to facilitate the returnees.


The report released on 14 May, further records that the State occupation of land prevented the return of at least 30,000 IDPs living in protracted displacement during the assessment year (2013). It noted that out... ...of the 30,000; about 20,000 IDPS lived with host communities, another 7,000 in camps while the rest have been relocated, not always voluntarily.


The report adds that tens of thousands of Muslims expelled from the North by the LTTE in 1990 have registered as having returned, though in reality, most of them were still living in their places of refuge in Puttalam or alternating between Puttalam and the North, largely for the want of adequate assistance.
With regard to policy, IDMC noted the absence of comprehensive legislation on IDPs in Sri Lanka and identified the need to have a 2013 draft policy by the Resettlement Ministry revised, in order to bring it in line with international standards.


It also identified the need for long-term funding to rebuild IDPs' lives, which has suffered also due to the shifting of focus by international organizations from humanitarian to development work.
IDMC has also acknowledged positive developments in South and South-East Asia in dealing with internal displacement. Recording a 50% decline, the report noted at least 3.2 million people were still displaced in the region and that they were concentrated in seven countries – Pakistan, Myanmar, Afghanistan, India, Philippines, Indonesia and Sri Lanka.


IDMC has monitored internal displacement since 1998 and its Annual Global Overview covers people internally displaced by international and internal armed conflict, generalized violence – communal, ethnic, political and criminal violence and human rights violations.

Canada to boycott Victory Day parade

‘Such events won’t help post-war reconciliation’

May 15, 2014, 9:10 pm 

Canadian High Commissioner Shelley Whiting yesterday said that her country wouldn’t be represented at the Victory Day parade in Matara on Sunday (May 18). The Canadian envoy said that the annual military parade wouldn’t help post-war national reconciliation, therefore she wouldn’t accept the government invitation.

The following is the text of a statement issued by High Commissioner Whiting toThe Island yesterday: "As in past years, heads of mission resident in Sri Lanka have recently received invitations to participate in this year’s Victory Parade scheduled to be held in Matara on May 18. As Canadian High Commissioner to Sri Lanka, part of my role includes celebrating the successes of the country alongside the Sri Lankan people. However, I will not be attending the Victory Day Parade on May 18. Some commentators will no doubt rush to judge and erroneously conclude that I am doing so out of some misplaced nostalgia for the LTTE. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Let me be clear: The LTTE was a scourge that brought untold suffering to this island nation and all its people.

Prior to arriving in Sri Lanka, my previous assignment was in Afghanistan where I saw first-hand the terrorist tactics (use of suicide bombers, IEDs) that are sadly the LTTE’s legacy to the world. The LTTE and its supporters were ruthless and single-minded, and did not faithfully represent the political aspirations of the communities they purported to represent. Canada joined the world in welcoming the defeat of the LTTE in 2009. In fact, the LTTE has been proscribed as a terrorist entity in Canada since 2006. To help stop the flow of funding to the LTTE, Canada further proscribed the World Tamil Movement (WTM) in 2008. Both of these organizations remain banned in Canada today.

However, five years after the end of the conflict, the time has arrived for Sri Lanka to move past wartime discourse and to start working seriously towards reconciliation. It is time to mend relations between communities and to ensure that all Sri Lankans can live in dignity and free from discrimination based on ethnic, religious or linguistic identities. Fathers and daughters, sons and mothers, all were victims, who were killed or never returned home at the end of the conflict. No community here - whether Sinhalese or Tamil, Muslim or Burgher – was spared during the conflict. In this vein, Canada has encouraged the Government of Sri Lanka to retire its annual Victory Day Parade, which perpetuates roles of victors and vanquished within the country, for a day of remembrance for all those who suffered as a result of the conflict. Indeed, Sri Lanka’s own homegrown Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission report recommends that a solemn day of remembrance for all victims of the war would be more conducive to sustaining peace here. Such a gesture would go a long way towards putting wartime posturing behind Sri Lanka.

I will not be in Matara, but I will be thinking and remembering all those who lost loved ones over the thirty year conflict."

Sri Lanka: A Sorry State

Following statement issued by the Asian Human Rights Commission, a rights group based in Hong Kong.

A man is thrown into a barrel with a cobra and left to die

Photo Courtesy of the BBC

( May 16, 2014, Colombo / Hong Kong, Sri Lanka Guardian) A man was bitten four times by a venomous cobra after being forced into a barrel with the snake by a criminal gang operating a baby elephant stealing racket in Sri Lanka

This story was reported in several news channels.

Sri Lanka a Sorry State by Thavam Ratna

UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention: CPA Dr. P. Saravanamuttu has applied for the position of the Asia-Pacific member

UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention: CPA Dr. P. Saravanamuttu has applied for the position of the Asia-Pacific member

Dr. Saravanamuttu

SLB 

Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, member from Asia-Pacific States

Executive Director of the Centre of Policy Alternatives of Sri Lanka Dr. Paikiasothy Saravanamuttu has applied to the position of Asia-Pacific member of the United  Nationas Working Group on Arbitrary Detention. There are 10 candidates for the position, and members will be selected  by June 2014.There are five members in the working group selected to represent all parts of the world.

Dr.Saravanamuttu has stated his qualification in his application thus:

Having devoted my career to ensuring democratic governance in my country and to the establishment of a civilized and decent society as defined by Avishai Margalit, in which people do not humiliate each other and institutions do not humiliate people, I fully appreciate and recognize the pivotal importance of human rights protection, accountability and the rule of law to this endeavor.  Politics and governance is about people and their rights, which in turn have to be protected through robust and transparent institutions and processes that check and balance the exercise of executive power and authority.  Without rights -based governance, embedded in institutions and processes, conflict, alienation and anomie will result with considerable cost to human life and livelihoods.

I am acutely aware of all of this through the experience of my own country where even after the end of a protracted thirty-year war, the sources of conflict are not being addressed but rather sustained and even reproduced. The annual resolutions in the Council on Sri Lanka since 2012, attest to this.  Consequently movement towards a post-conflict situation with meaningful reconciliation and national unity is impeded.  In particular, the cancer of impunity in respect of disappearances and detentions, extra-judicial killings and torture, corrodes public faith and confidence in the agencies of the state, especially in the impartiality of the executive, the effectiveness of the legislature and the independence of the judiciary – the key elements of democratic governance. 

Moreover, for the sustenance and stability of non- violent international relations, it is of crucial importance that governments meet their obligations that arise from common membership of the international community, obligations that complement rights and which are enshrined in a number of conventions and declarations of the United Nations.  The gains wrought by generations of activists, opinion and policy-makers in gaining acceptance and adoption of in turn, generations of human rights as fundamental to international relations must not be reversed.  The United Nations, through the Special Mechanisms of the Council, has a special responsibility to ensure that states uphold the very values and principles in their internal governance, which they agree to and endorse in their international relations. Raison d’etat and the imperatives of the national security state and its anti- terrorist doctrine must not be allowed to ride roughshod over the classic, liberal understanding of the raison d’etre of the state in the first instance as protector, provider and partner, facilitating an enabling environment for the realization of human potential rather than as a predator in respect of fundamental rights and freedoms.

Arbitrary detention, unrestrained by reference to international human rights instruments and the rule of law, goes to the heart of the challenge of democratic governance in the twenty-first century. Rooted as it is in a narrow notion of the obligation of the citizen to the higher authority of the state, it strikes directly at the rights of the person.  It leads to hopelessness and despair of the victims and their families, as the best years of their lives are lost to suffering and uncertainty. It sustains conflict and democratic deficit perniciously eroding both the legitimacy and legality of the state.

I firmly believe in the roles and responsibilities of the Special Procedures and Mechanisms of the UN Human Rights Council in facilitating and defending the enjoyment of human rights for all the peoples of the world.  I believe too that my demonstrable commitment to human rights throughout my career and the experience and expertise I have obtained, equip me to make a contribution at this level of international relations and human rights protection.   

The current candidates for the position of  the member from Asia-Pacific States are: DAS Samir -India (M), EL HAJJE Osman -Lebanon (M), HASAN Ali Dayan, -Pakistan (M), HONG Seong-Phil,-Republic of Korea (M), KIM Jong Chul -Republic of Korea (M), RANGANATHAN Surabhi -India (F), SARAVANAMUTTU Paikiasothy -Sri Lanka (M), SHAMEEM Shaista -Fiji (F)SUNGA Ricardo III Philippines (M), THAMBURAN Ramavarma, -India (M)

‘Why?.... there’s only 49’ call from Temple Trees says

 Friday, 16 May 2014 

He is the owner of a well-known media institution in Sri Lanka. He has been a close friend of the president since the past. Under the perks and privileges given by the government to owners and heads of media institutions, this media institution owner has been given by the president, without tender calling, a certain project in the eastern province. The project is to take place under three phases. The agreement between the two is that the president gets Rs. 50 million from each phase as his share.

On that agreement, the media institution owner recently met the president personally and handed over 50 bundles of cash, each worth Rs. 01 million. With a smile, the president accepted the money with both hands, and after a short chat, the media institution owner said good bye to the president and left for home.

No sooner than he set foot at home, he got a call to his mobile phone from the president, who asked, “Why?..... There’s only 49. Didn’t you bring after counting?’ shocked by the call, the media institution owner responded, “No sir. I brought directly from the bank. Two persons counted there while I watched. Please count again…”

Without changing his clothes, the media institution owner waited for another call from the president. After about 10 minutes, the president called and said, “OK. The 50 is there. Don’t you know, my wife is not good at maths.”

Our president will be 69 this November. Without a doubt, he is amassing this wealth for his next generation. Two other world leaders who had amassed wealth for their next seven generations come to mind. One is Saddam Hussein of Iraq. His sons Uday and Qusay pre-deceased him. The other is Libya’s Muammar Al Qaddaffi. Most of his family members are buried underground or are incarcerated in prisons. Many others have become helpless in foreign countries. History books are there to read and to learn from them, not to fill book shelves.

WikiLeaks: US Expressed Condolences To Gota After 2008 Vesak Suicide Attack

May 16, 2014

“A suicide bomber on a motorbike detonated himself next to a police bus in downtown Colombo on May 16 at 12:00 noon. According to Defense Ministry spokesman Keheliya Rambukwella, six policemen and two civilians were killed and 75 to 80 persons were injured. Subsequent media reports put the figure at seven police and two civilians killed. Rambukwella attributed the attack to the LTTE. The blast took place on Lotus Road, approximately a mile and a half from the Embassy and 100 yards from the rear entrance of the Hilton Hotel.” the US Embassy Colombo informed Washington.

The Colombo Telegraph found the related leaked cable from the WikiLeaks database. The cable was signed by the US Ambassador to Colombo,Robert O. Blake on May 16, 2008.

The Embassy wrote; “Ambassador expressed condolences to Defense Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa for the loss of life. The Defense Secretary said the police bus was likely a target of opportunity for the suicide bomber since the incident occurred on a route not normally traveled by police buses. He speculated that the bomber may have been en route to another target. The attack took place the day before a long weekend leading up to the celebration on May 19 of Vesak, the most important Buddhist holiday of the year.”

President pressed to hold referendum

Published on Thursday, 15 May 2014 14:59

Several advisers to the President have requested the President hold a referendum immediately, government internal sources say.

Sources add that the advisers had requested the President to hold a referendum with regard to extending the tenure of parliamentarians by another 06 years as well as bringing about a constitutional amendment aimed at abolishing Executive Presidency and establish an office of Executive Prime Minister.

Pointing out the risk of certain groups within the UPFA coalition government itself pledging their support if the opposition fielded a common candidate to abolish the Executive Presidency, the advisers have urged that the President should acquire  the honour of abolishing the Executive Presidency while preventing the opposition from uniting by taking opposition's slogan to his own hand.

The advisers have also stressed the necessity of ensuring an extension of parliament term to MPs in order to gain two-thirds majority for such a constitutional amendment.

Suggestion from govt. party

Noting that the two- thirds majority vote in Parliament is not sufficient to bring such a constitutional amendment, the advisers have also pointed out the necessity of holding a referendum.

They have also explained as to why the call for such a constitutional amendment needed to come from the government party itself, reports say.

Under a backdrop where a proper guidance is absent, the discipline of UPFA MPs within the parliament has also fallen, the advisers have said, further emphasising the necessity of Mahinda Rajapaksa prevailing in the parliament as Executive Prime Minister in order to achieve future political objectives.

However, the President has not positively responded towards extending the parliamentary term , sources add.

Govt. servants’ pension comes under close scrutiny

By Sanath Nanayakkare-May 15, 2014, 12:00 pm 

'About 70% of government servants vote for the government, but the government has hit them below the belt by tampering with their pension benefits, Transparency International Sri Lanka Executive Director S.Ranugge said during a panel discussion titled 'Pension-What Next?', held at the auditorium of the Organization of Professional Associations of Sri Lanka last Tuesday.

"Pension benefits are the only means government employees have to depend on after retirement. For authorities it’s a gratuity, but for pensioners it’s life. What is the point of government authorities telling pensioners to get their pension gratuity as loans from the banks? The government should directly obtain loans from the banks without asking us to do so".

"There are 1.1 million government servants in service at present. There are about 300 state sector trade unions in the country. Are they awake to these realities? Do they at least know that their life after retirement is at risk just like the ones who have retired? Today’s society is surprisingly ‘anaesthetized’ to these harsh realities, so right-thinking people should be able to bring the people together to mount pressure on the government to win their inalienable rights." Ranugge said.

Ravaya editor K.W. Janaranjana who was the moderator of the event said, "Clearly, there is a crisis as government employees’ pension fund is in chaos, and at the same time private sector EPF funds are involved in transactions at the Stock Exchange producing harmful effects in terms of expected returns.

"Not only are the pension gratuity payments chaotic, but also there are discrepancies in the gratuity payment structure. The government’s 2012 budget pledged to address this issue, but no action has yet been taken. Citizens of the country should be able to put together a broader public forum to correctly understand these issues, and build an influential movement to push the government to address them fairly and squarely."

JVP Provincial Councillor Wasantha Samarasinghe speaking on the occasion said:'The government has made arrangements to pay government employees' gratuity in two ways when they retire from service. They say that pensioners can obtain their gratuity from the Pensions Department or through state banks as loans, subject to various conditions. This two-way pension gratuity payment is a violation of rights. How can they issue circulars like that without amending the Pensions Act?"

"The government doesn’t have Rs.12,000 million to pay annual pensions, but it can bear the annual loss of Rs. 16,000 million incurred by SriLankan Airways. Also, mammoth funds are spent on Mihin Lanka which is a loss making venture. On top of that is the enormous expenditure lavishly spent on ‘Deyata Kirula", but funnily enough they don’t have money to pay pension payments. The government which is in a massive fiscal crisis has no other alternative than cutting back people’s welfare." he said.

Joseph Stalin, secretary, Ceylon Teachers Union said: "The government has set its sights on fixed funds to plunder them, so it is introducing various methods to achieve that ulterior motive."

UNP parliamentarian Dr. Harsha de Silva said: "I think all has already been said about the pension issue. So I would like to draw your attention to EPF investments on the Colombo Stock Exchange".

"This fund has 2.5 million people’s lifetime investments. Three or four people are managing, controlling and handling it as they deem fit. I strongly urge the government to appoint several employees from the public sector and the private sector to monitor the operations of the Pension Fund and the EPF respectively. This is very pertinent as the Central Bank hasn’t published accounts related to EPF investments from 2010 to date, and the pension fund has not been audited according to accepted standards."

World Bank cancels funding to Sri Lanka

Friday, 16 May 2014 

The World Bank has reportedly cancelled a Rs. 2 billion (US$ 16 million) tourism development project.

The cancellation has reportedly taken place following a government request.

The Sunday Times has reported that small time hoteliers — many of whom went through an application and a selection process – are bewildered by the move.

Funds from the much-publicised “World Bank Matching Grant for Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) in Tourism” have now been diverted to a dam safety project in the North and East.

But representatives for hundreds of small time tourist entrepreneurs have said they had no idea the proposed funding had been cancelled.

“We don’t know what has happened and that’s part of the problem,” Suresh de Mel, Immediate Past President of the Association of Small and Medium Tourism Enterprises (ASMET) has been quoted in The Sunday Times as saying. “We need some information on the status of the project.” De Mel was not aware that the initiative had been cancelled. “We did a campaign around the country,” he has said.
“We had 17 meetings and there were about 900 participants. This has been a big blow to our Association because its credibility is at stake. Many people don’t even talk to us anymore. I must have had more than 100 phone calls.”
Entrepreneurs were promised “matching grants” under the project. That is, if a hotelier invested Rs 1 million in his business, a corresponding Rs. 1 million would be disbursed to him as a grant. The figure could go up to a maximum of Rs. 10 million. The funds’ terms and conditions had been negotiated by the Ministry of Economic Development.

Information available on the World Bank website now states, “The Government has requested that the remaining unutilized project funds be cancelled as the priorities of the Government have changed”.

The funds have subsequently been reallocated to the Dam Safety Project. Lack of information about the project has angered the industry. A copy of a letter addressed to World Bank Country Director Francoise Clottes was received in the post by the Sunday Times. It has said that based on the World Bank’s assurance of a matching grant, entrepreneurs had borrowed money from banks, financial institutions and money lenders in villages. Some had mortgaged houses and properties.

“This was done in order to fulfil certain requirements to qualify for the grant,” it has stated. “Two people have already committed suicide, some have gone bankrupt and others wait hopelessly. When business collapses family and children suffer and the World Bank is aware of this situation.”

INDIA: Will the new government prioritise the rule of law?

May 16, 2014

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) congratulates the people of India and the Election Commission for successfully concluding a free and fair national election. This election has shown once again that the people of India value their ballot and are capable of changing governments through democratic and peaceful means.

The task now falls upon the political parties that will form a new government to ensure that the vibrancy of this democratic process is preserved. The new government will have the responsibility of resolving issues concerning justice, equality, dignity and opportunity in the country. The AHRC hopes that the new government will deliver on its promises, on the basis of which Indians have voted it to power.

Emphasis must be placed on improving the quality of life of all Indians. Despite all claims of economic achievement, 60% of the population live in poverty. The government will be judged, domestically and internationally, on how it tackles child malnutrition. Public expenditure on health and education will also be of vital interest.

Establishing a stable regime of the rule of law will be fundamental to the government being able to address such issues. The AHRC has been communicating with the Government of India about its failures in establishing the rule of law. Often, the people have had to take to the streets to demonstrate their anger against the government for its failure to address crime, particularly concerning sexual violence.

The impact of corruption on India has yet to be addressed. Will the new government continue business as usual or will it implement structural changes to end the culture of corruption? Policing policy, and the radical changes needed to reform primitive policing in India, is a related matter. Torture and extrajudicial executions in India must end. Development, as promised, is impossible without a rule of law regime; and establishment of the rule of law necessitates that India be unchained from the corruption, violence, and impunity that prevails.

ISSUES [for the purpose of website tagging]: democracy; rule of law; torture; equality; dignity; extrajudicial executions

# # #

For details contact in Hong Kong: Mr. Bijo Francis, india@ahrc.asia

Reflections On Lok Sabha Election 2014

By S. Sivathasan -May 16, 2014

S. Sivathasan

Nature of Results

A total of 543 million voters have exercised their franchise to send 543 members to Lok Sabha. The BJP juggernaut with Modi at the helm has swept India clean. Over half a billion voters acting in one mind have expressed their voice loud and clear. The mandate at around 335 seats is the highest ever for BJP. Endorsement by voters at a very high percentage is unprecedented.

The grand old Congress stands devastated. State parties which ruled their brief roost beyond their states are now relegated to limbo and have lost their bargaining edge. The emerging scene is decidedly in favour of national parties for the nation and state parties for the states. India a big power is on the threshold of bringing its act together. At sight is resoluteness casting away indecisiveness in foreign and domestic policy alike.

Influencing the nation’s course apart, is the impact on neighbours and perhaps a wholesome fall out for the region. The benighted Tamils of Sri Lanka suppressed for long, look forward to seeing  the big power lifting the oppressive hand. Preceding it their voice needs to be listened to, fears assuaged, aspirations responded to and their dignity redeemed. For thirty years engagement of India had been to raise the hopes of the Tamils and then to dash them. This was done in unerring sequence causing loss of trust. Expectation now is for that confidence to be restored, multi form marginalistion to be halted and their future placed on a new trajectory.

                                                                                      Read More

Wigneswaran Congratulates Modi

( May 16 2014, Jaffna, Sri Lanka Guardian) Northern Chief Minister C.V.Wigneswaran congratulates new Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi for achieving historical victory in India.

Barathiya Janatha Party headed by Narendra Modi achieved historical victory in the election.

Tamil people in SriLanka believe new Indian government will pay much more interest to grant political solution in SriLanka.

We believe Indian government will follow healthy stance against SriLanka, Wigneswaran said.

Election Results 2014: Jayalalithaa Has a Whopping 37 Seats That Narendra Modi Does Not Need

Edited by Sanchari Bhattacharya | Updated: May 16, 2014 

Chennai: Tamil Nadu has been an absolute walk-over for Jayalalithaa, the Chief Minister.  Leads show her party, the AIADMK, will get 37 of the state's 39 parliamentary seats, giving her the biggest chunk of the Lok Sabha after the BJP and the Congress.

Jayalalithaa had said yesterday that she "will wait for the results" to decide whether to ally with the BJP, which is headed for a decisive majority with its existing partners in the National Democratic Alliance. (BJP+ Set for More Than 300 Seats, Congress Admits Defeat)

Today, she said, "I wish the new Prime Minister well" and stressed  that her own party's result is  "historic, unparalleled in history" because it has swept the state without an ally.

With the BJP's national coalition poised to cross the 300-seat mark in Parliament, a collaboration with Jayalalithaa is no longer essential for the party, whose prime ministerial candidate, Narendra Modi, has often referred to his good friendship with the Tamil Nadu chief minister.

Both leaders attended each other's swearing-in ceremonies as head of the governments in Tamil Nadu and Gujarat. In this election campaign, the criticism they exchanged was far milder than the vitriolic personal attacks that became the norm among top leaders in the final weeks of canvassing for votes. (Now trending, Jayalalithaa vs Narendra Modi)

Mr Modi and other BJP leaders have said that they will welcome any party that seeks an association with them after the results are known. (Jayalalithaa Expels Partyman Who Suggested She Would Ally With Modi)

Premier says monks’ robes being misused

Friday, 16 May 2014

Prime Minister D.M Jayaratne has said that the robes worn by Buddhist monks are being misused at present.

He has said that the robes are being misused by some including beggars who collect money wearing robes.
Jayaratne has reportedly said at a public event that some people had been arrested while posing as monks to obtain assistance.

He has added that there was a need to protect the Buddhist clergy and Buddhism in the country.
According to the Prime Minister, if more and more people pose as Buddhist clergy, it could be harmful to Buddhism in Sri Lanka.

Police remove Ranja’s cutouts

Published on Wednesday, 14 May 2014 22:03

On an order by the political authorities, police have removed the big cuouts erected in front of Ritz Cinema in Borella to announce the commencement of the screening of the film ‘Ranja’ on May 28.

The reason for their removal is that the cutouts carried wordings to the effect of a call to ‘Expose Rathupaswala Ranja and kings of anarchy.’

Borella police have refused to record a complaint by the cinema’s manager against the removal of the cutouts.

Ratnapura district UNP MP Ranjan Ramanayake plays the main role in ‘Ranja’, directed by Sadesh Wasantha Peiris, the son of Sunilsoma Peiris, and produced by Sunil T. Fernando, his 55th film.

The cast also includes Tennison Cooray, Piumi Boteju, Himali Siriwardena, Srimal Wedisinghe, Robin Fernando, Rex Kodippily, Nilmini Kottegoda, Sandun Wijesiri, Vinoja Nilanthi and Rohani Weerasinghe

Lankan linked to Al-Qaeda arrested in Malaysia

May 16, 2014 

The Malaysian Bukit Aman Special Branch counter-terrorism division has helped thwart a planned attack on foreign consulates in India with the arrest of four suspected terrorists including a Sri Lankan.

One of them, a Sri Lankan man, was detained at a house in Kepong at about 11.15am on Wednesday. The other three suspects were arrested in Chennai by Indian authorities based on information supplied by the counter-terrorism division.

The Sri Lankan, who has been indirectly linked to al-Qaeda, is on the wanted list for alleged terror activities in Sri Lanka and other countries. Police believe that he had a terrorist network in Malaysia involving foreigners, a source said.

The source said the man had been hiding in Malaysia since 2011. Police began tracking his movements since December last year, monitoring his activities and contacts, the source said.

He had used a fake passport to enter Malaysia. The source said the man had been planning various attacks on foreign soil but Malaysia was not a target. Police would wait for extradition requests from other countries before deporting the suspect. Deputy Inspector-General of Police Datuk Seri Mohd Bakri Zinin confirmed the arrest.

“We will continue to work with foreign agencies to prevent attacks in the region as well as globally,” he said. It is learnt that the arrests in Chennai began with a Sri Lankan national on April 29 following a coordinated operation involving various countries, including Malaysia.

The Sri Lankan is suspected of trying to recruit people for terror activities. He had previous arrests in Bangkok and Singapore, a source said. A day later, two of his accomplices were picked up in Chennai, the Star reports.