Pen-Palling With the Ayatollah

Only ideologues and the ignorant don't understand that Obama's letter to Khamenei is just pragmatic politics.

• BY TRITA PARSI-NOVEMBER 7, 2014

If wearing a tan suit at a press conference is enough to bring on adeluge of criticism, President Barack Obama probably shouldn't be surprised that sending a letter to Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has made some heads spin. That's too bad. Obama's letter to Khamenei just points out the obvious: that Iran and the United States share a common interest in defeating the Islamic State and that real cooperation cannot take place until the nuclear issue is resolved.
Pen-Palling With the Ayatollah by Thavam

Insight: Indian intelligence agency on the cheap hampers war on militants

Police escort Yasin Bhatkal (head covered), the key operative of the Indian Mujahideen militant group, outside a court in New Delhi August 30, 2013.

BY ANDREW MACASKILL AND SANJEEV MIGLANI-NEW DELHI Fri Nov 7, 2014

(Reuters) - When a bomb went off last month in West Bengal, police at India's leading counterterrorism organisation had to hail taxis to get to the scene because they did not have enough cars.

Insight Indian Intelligence Agency on the Cheap Hampers War on Militants by Thavam

Vietnamese blogger Dieu Cay released!

• VIet Nam
• Journalist/Bloggers
• Prisoner of Conscience

October 27, 2014

Nguyen Van Hai, better known by his pen name Dieu Cay (“peasant’s pipe”), was released from prison, having served four years of a 12-year prison sentence.

His reportedly deteriorating health and the harsh prison conditions in Vietnam makes his release even more welcome.

Immediately after his release he was taken to the airport and put on a plane, bound for the USA. Nguyen Van Hai’s sudden release shows how the passion and persistence of Amnesty International members can help in the struggle for human rights in Vietnam.

He was jailed for writing an online blog that called for an end to injustice and corruption in Vietnam.  Amnesty International declared him a prisoner of conscience and campaigned tirelessly for four years demanding his release.

Thank you to Amnesty supporters who took action on his case and helped us win his freedom!

Read press release

Asia-Pacific ministers endorse trade, graft pacts

APEC in 2013. Pic: AP.

By AP News Nov 08, 2014

BEIJING (AP) — Ministers from Pacific Rim countries have endorsed a call to formally start work on a free-trade initiative seen as an effort by China to raise its influence in trade policy.

Chinese officials say ministers meeting ahead of next week’s gathering of leaders from the United States, China, Japan and other countries at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit also endorsed a proposal to cooperate on fighting official corruption.

The trade initiative — the Free-Trade Area of the Asia Pacific — comes out of earlier promises by APEC governments to liberalize trade. It is being promoted by Beijing in what analysts see as a Chinese effort to gain influence in U.S.-dominated global trade and financial regulation.

Snack Ideas for People With Diabetes

By M Tyler, Jun 16, 2014

When it comes to diabetes, keeping your blood sugar stable and avoiding excess carbohydrates are the two main goals of a snack.

Snacks will keep you full and help prevent cravings, and they're also important to have on hand when you're traveling or on-the-go to provide healthy alternatives to fast food.
Snack Ideas for People With Diabetes by Thavam

UN Human Rights Chief blasts Sri Lanka's ‘extraordinary lengths to sabotage’ inquiry

Zeid condemns persistent disinformation designed to discredit UN investigation on Sri Lanka

GENEVA (7 November 2014) – UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein on Friday criticized the continuing attacks by the Sri Lankan Government on the integrity of the UN Human Rights Office’s ongoing investigation into alleged grave human rights violations and abuses in Sri Lanka, and condemned the intimidation of human rights defenders and individuals who may wish to cooperate with the investigation.

“This continuing campaign of distortion and disinformation about the investigation, as well as the insidious attempts to prevent possible bona fide witnesses from submitting information to the investigating team, is an affront to the United Nations Human Rights Council which mandated* the investigation,” High Commissioner Zeid said.

“The Government of Sri Lanka has refused point blank to cooperate with the investigation despite being explicitly requested by the Human Rights Council to do so,” Zeid said. “Such a refusal does not, however, undermine the integrity of an investigation set up by the Council – instead it raises concerns about the integrity of the government in question. Why would governments with nothing to hide go to such extraordinary lengths to sabotage an impartial international investigation?” he added.
“The Government’s attempts to deter and intimidate individuals from submitting evidence to a UN investigation team is unacceptable conduct for any Member State of the United Nations which has committed to uphold the UN Charter,” the High Commissioner said. “Since the end of the conflict in 2009, Sri Lanka has continued to obstruct any independent investigation despite the persistent, compelling and widespread allegations that possible serious international crimes were committed by both sides during the conflict in Sri Lanka.”

The High Commissioner noted that Sri Lankan civil society organizations and human rights defenders have continued to be subjected to surveillance, harassment and other forms of intimidation. “A wall of fear has been created that has undoubtedly served to deter people from submitting evidence,” Zeid said.

The High Commissioner rejected this week’s “false and unsubstantiated accusations by the Sri Lankan Government that the conduct of the investigation has been ‘unprofessional’ and that its approach is ‘selective and biased.’”

He also rejected as “absurd” the accusation that the investigation was somehow compromised by the arrest of a man who was allegedly in possession of blank signed forms that would then be fraudulently filled in and submitted to the investigation.

“We don’t accept anything at face value. UN human rights investigators are trained to spot fraudulent submissions. The process of analysis and corroboration of information and evidence is well defined, refined and codified on the basis of many years’ experience,” Zeid said. “We have been directly involved with more than 40 Commissions of Inquiry, Fact-Finding Missions and similar inquiries. It is a false equation to suggest that because someone may have been trying to submit false submissions, the inquiry is discredited. In addition, the submissions form only a part of the investigation.”

The High Commissioner stressed that the UN had not formatted or distributed any forms for people to fill in, nor had the investigation team requested any individual or organization to go out and collect information on its behalf.  He also rejected the imputation that the United Nations would ever provide monetary compensation in exchange for information.

“The methodology of the investigation has been made public through its terms of reference. It is based on standard methodology for such investigations aimed at ensuring the integrity of the process through the application of the principles of independence, impartiality, objectivity and protection of witnesses,” Zeid said.

“On the issue of transparency, we will not be releasing information on the interviews we are conducting, or where, or when they take place. This is, again, standard procedure for protecting sources of information especially where there is a clear risk that people providing information may suffer reprisals,” the High Commissioner said.

He urged the Government to “focus on the substantive issues under investigation instead of obscuring them by the constant questioning of procedures which – while not unimportant – are not the heart of the matter.”  He encouraged the Government to begin engaging with the investigation.
The investigation team confirmed that the call for submissions ended on 30 October and that the submissions email address has ceased to exist.

ENDS

* The Human Rights Council adopted a resolution in March 2014 requesting the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights “to undertake a comprehensive investigation into alleged serious violations and abuses of human rights and related crimes by both parties in Sri Lanka”. The Council requested the High Commissioner to present a comprehensive report, resulting from that investigation, to its 28th session in March 2015.

See resolution A/HRC/25/L.1/Rev.1 at:  
http://daccess-ods.un.org/access.nsf/Get?Open&DS=A/HRC/25/L.1/Rev.1&Lang=E
UN Human Rights, country page – Sri Lanka: http://www.ohchr.org/EN/countries/AsiaRegion/Pages/LKIndex.aspx
For more information and media requests, please contact Rupert Colville (+41 22 917 9767 /rcolville@ohchr.org )

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Websites attacked after exposure of Lyca news manipulation

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 05 November 2014, 23:14 GMT]
Two UK-based websites have been subjected to DDoS attacks and vulnerability exploitation attempts on Tuesday, following their news stories exposing the Rajapaksa connections of a Diaspora Tamil-owned multinational business establishment, Lyca Mobiles group, and a recent media twist on an incident that took place in Colombo airport involving the group, said the editors of Inioru.com and Lankanewsweb.com to TamilNet on Wednesday. 

Earlier, a Lyca-owned Tamil media gave an image-manipulation twist stating that the owner of the multinational group, Subaskaran Allirajah, was arrested in Colombo. The intention behind the news was to influence the people of Tamil Nadu with a story telling that the Lyca owner was subjected to investigation by the Rajapaksa establishment in Colombo and thus there was no nexus between the owner and the Rajapaksa establishment as the protesters in Tamil Nadu had alleged. The Lyca twist was also disseminated by a number of Tamil-language websites either having sponsorship influence from the business group or that suffer from copy-paste reporting syndrome. 

The current controversy started with Lyca producing a Tamil movie called “Kaththi” in Tamil Nadu and students in Tamil Nadu protesting the release of the movie produced by Lyca having Rajapaksa connections. 

After successful protests by the Tamil Nadu students amidst arrests and harassments, the film was released in Tamil Nadu only after deleting the name of the producer and the tag Lyca Productions. 

Later, the news came that the Lyca chief was arrested and investigated in Colombo, while transiting on his way to London from the Maldives.

However, within a few days, the real story broke out and Inioru.com and Lankanewsweb.com were writing investigative pieces on what seemed to have transpired at the Colombo airport, when the Lyca group was returning after having a party in the Maldives with a group of people involved in the production of the box office hit film. 

The group of more than 80 persons had their festivities at an Indian hotel-chain run tourist resort in the Maldives. A part of the group returned to India. But the other part of the partying group, including the owner of Lyca, got into a controversy with the pilot and the crew, and the group was ordered to leave the aircraft at Colombo. 

“We have been following the political involvement of the multinational corporate since 2008 when Sunday Leader, then edited by the late Lasantha Wickramatunga, exposed a scandal involving the nexus between the mobile business group and Rajapaksa family,” said UK-based Saba Navalan, the editor of Tamil-language website Inioru.com. 

Especially, when Tamil activists found out that the Lyca Mobile group was a significant sponsor of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in Colombo, the scrutiny became a necessity, Mr Navalan added. 

Lyca’s conspicuously emphasized usage of ‘Sri Lanka’ in its post-war media advertisements has also raised eyebrows among Tamils, when the term introduced in 1972 and the genocidal State concept behind the term were long rejected by them. 

Inioru was targeted with DDoS attacks and virus attacks that attempted to exploit the vulnerabilities of the word press publishing system. 

The editor of Lankanewsweb.com, Chandima Withana, an exiled Sinhalese based in UK, also gave a similar account. 

Chandima Withana had published a piece on 02 November with the title ‘Secret of Lyca Mobile owner suddenly becoming anti-Rajapaksa!’ The piece was also translated to Tamil and published by Lankanewsweb. The site is now having its stories in its Facebook page. 

In the meantime, Inioru editor Navalan said he was deploying the site with DDoS protection to resume the operation. 

Meanwhile, on 23 October, the Police in Tamil Nadu, under ‘influence’ to suppress the student protests, had detained three student leaders in Tamil Nadu, Chempiyan, Prabhakaran and Piratheep. Several other students and Periayar Dravidar Kazhakaam activists also faced the harassment by the police. 

The protests by the students caused an impact, despite the stand taken by Tamil activists coming from the cinema industry in favour of their influential sponsor from London.

The New Delhi Establishment adopting the ‘genocidal route’ and Rajapaksa-supporting route for its entry into the island and the Establishment’s arrogant disregard for public opinion have intensified sensitivity in Tamil Nadu for anything coming with Rajapaksa connections. The students in Tamil Nadu admiringly show vigilance necessary for a righteous struggle, commented Tamil activists for alternative politics in Eezham. 

Mohan Peiris (CJ) reaches another ignominious milestone – creates world record by becoming part time fund collector

(Lanka-e-News- 06.Nov.2014, 11.30PM) In the whole history of the world and the universe never ever has an ex chairman of a bank who is a retired government servant been appointed as a chief justice . Yet in Sri Lanka in the ‘miracle (debacle) in the making of Sri Lanka (SL)’ under the present despotic regime it is all happening right before its shocked , brutally silenced and oppressed people !

This universal record achievement was made possible for Mohan Peris when he was appointed to the post of new chief justice (CJ) after his Medamaulana baiya (mentor) chased away the former CJ employing dubious and devious methods. Mohan Peiris who was earlier the attorney general (AG) was appointed chairman of the Seylan bank , which post he held until he was made the chief justice.

Now , Mohan Peiris is set for another world record breaking feat. Something that has never taken place anywhere in the world let alone the Universe!......

In view of holy Pope’s visit to SL, the SL Bishops and the Christian council has appointed four organizing committees .

One of the committees concerns fund collecting to meet the expenses relating to the impending functions and celebrations. According to calculations the estimated expenditure is Rs. 390 million. It is the responsibility of the fund collecting committee to raise these funds. Mohan Peiris CJ (cheat justice) who is the theme of our report being a devout Christian, has hence been made a member of the fund collecting committee.

A multimillionaire businessman Sumal Perera is also a member of this committee. So ,this ‘cheat justice’ Mohan Peiris is now deeply in his toils engaged in the task of collecting Rs. 39 million . He is devoting his time to this after his daily official duties .He is now phoning all the millionaires of SL and requesting monies. Interestingly , many millionaires under the Rajapakse vice culture are having court cases against them, so this is a wonderful opportunity to be grabbed by them to make cheat justice Peiris their tool when necessary, even to eat their stool.

Hence , these millionaires are not hesitating to make donations because this is the chief justice alias cheat justice they were waiting for who is the highest in the judicial hierarchy and all the courts in which their cases are heard are under him. On the other hand , this is the first time in the whole world , a chief justice is also performing the role of a part time fund collector – that is taking place only in SL – the one and only Asia’s miracle (debacle) in the making of the Rajapakses!

Needless to mention these miracles or rather debacles are possible because it is carpet bagging justices and officials eager to prostitute their positions are now in the majority manning the top posts in the government controlled sectors including the so called independent judiciary of the present regime.

Mohan Pieris Circulates Ceylinco Case Draft Order Through Eva Wanasundera

November 7, 2014 

A draft order has been circulated by Justice Eva Wanasundera through her secretary pertaining to the highly controversial Golden Key case, the Colombo Telegraph reliably learns.

Eva and Pieris

Upon hearing the submission made by parties on November 3rd, Justice Wanasundera has circulated a “draft judgment/order” regarding the initial objections made by Respondents including former Ceylinco Chairman Lalith Kothelawala.

The usual precedence is for the judge presiding to write the said “order or judgement” and to circulate it among his colleagues. Justice S. Sripavan is the presiding judge of the 5 judge bench.

Justice Wanasundera has sent hard copies of the said order through her secretary to the other judges despite Written Submissions called for regarding the preliminary objections yet to be filed by the parties. Two judges have raised the question how she had drafted the judgement without even receiving the written submissions of the parties.

Earlier, on November 3rd, Counsel representing Lalith Kothelawala and other Golden Key Directors took preliminary objections against the Petition filed by Depositors saying that it had the President named as a Respondent and was therefore void ab initio.

Responding Counsel for the Petitioners said that the deposed Chairman and Directors are seeking to hide behind the immunity of the President instead by raising up the Preliminary objection.

Written Submissions were called for by the Court regarding the above objections. The court is to make an order on the above before proceeding to hear the case.

The Golden Key case has been at the centre of controversy with most recently, Mohan Pieris stepping down from the bench citing a “defaming letter being circulated around”.

The Golden Key depositors who seek to claim innocence played a mega role in the media blitz leading to the ousting of former Chief Justice Shirani Bandaranayke and the assumption of the office by Mohan Peiris.

Despite the above drama, both Lalith Kothelawala and his wife are yet to be tried by any court for the crimes committed.

JVP files motion to say ‘Mahinda cannot’

FRIDAY, 07 NOVEMBER 2014

The JVP filed a motion in the Supreme Court today (7th) requesting Supreme Court to hold the hearing regarding the request by President Mahinda Rajapaksa asking for a determination from the Supreme Court whether he could contest for a third term and whether a presidential election could be called before his second term ends justly and requesting an opportunity to the party to make submissions.
The Registrar of the Supreme Court accepting the motion had said the hearing had already ended.
Attorney-at-Law Sunil Watagala, who presented the motion on behalf of the JVP, says if the hearing had been ended already informing to submit written submissions before 3.00 p.m. today is nothing but a joke.

SC seeks Bar Association opinion on Presidential third term

November 5, 2014  04:15 pm

The Supreme Court has referred two questions to the Bar Association of Sri Lanka to get its consideration and for an opinion in order to elucidate whether President Mahinda Rajapaksa have any impediment to be elected for as further term.

In a letter addressed to the Bar Association, the Chief Registrar of the SC has requested that the membership of the BASL be informed that written submissions with regard to the mentioned questions will be entertained at the registry of SC until 3 p.m. of the 7 November.

Questions submitted to the SC by President:

(a) Whether he, in terms of article 31 (3A) (a) (1) of the Constitution, as amended in the 18th Amendment, I, as the incumbent President, serving my second term as President, have any impediment, after the expiration of four years from the date of commencement of his second term of office as President on 19th of November 2010, to declare by Proclamation his intention of appealing to the people for a mandate to hold office as President by election, for a further term, and

(b) Whether in terms of the provisions of the constitution, as amended by the 18th Amendment, I, as the incumbent President, serving my second term as President of office as President, and was functioning as such on the date 18th Amendment was enacted, has any impediment to be elected for a further term of office.

SC seeks Bar Association opinion on Presidential third term.pdf by Thavam

BASL to move Supreme Court today opposing President’s third term bid 

by Zacki Jabbar-November 6, 2014, 10:30 pm

The Bar Association of Sri Lanka (BASL) is to move the Supreme Court today, in respect of President Mahinda Rajapaksa seeking a ruling on his third term bid.

Informed sources said that the objection would be based on the opinion expressed by law Professor Suri Ratnapala that the 18th Amendment to the Constitution could not have been enacted without the approval of the people at a referendum if it had the effect of retrospectively extinguishing the two term limit on the basis of which the 2010 presidential election was held.

President of the BASL Upul Jayasuriya replying to a communication from the Supreme Court that written submissions on the Presidents November 4, reference would be entertained until 3 p.m. today, has said that since the matter under reference was of grave national Importance, he would be obliged to know as to when the open hearing will be listed, permitting the associations counsel to be heard in person.

Ratnapala, a Professor of Law at the University of Queensland, Australia, Fellow of the Australian Academy of Law and Attorney at Law of the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka, has in his opinion conveyed to the BASL, said there was no doubt that President Rajapaksa was disqualified from seeking a third term during the period January 26, 2010 to September 9, 2010 when the Eighteenth Amendment became law.

The question of law was whether the disqualification was removed by the 18th Amendment. The answer, he has noted, depends on the further question whether the repeal of Article 31(2) and Article 92(c) operates in relation to those who are elected as President in  the future or operates in relation to any President elected before or after the enactment of the Eighteenth Amendment.

"The 18th Amendment could not have been enacted without the approval of the people at a referendum if it had the effect of retrospectively extinguishing the two term limit on which the 2010 Presidential Election was held. The Bill to amend the 18th Amendment was considered by the Supreme Court in SC (Special Amendment Determination) No 1/2010. Justices Shirani Bandaranayake, K Sripavan, P. A. Ratnayake, S. I. Imam and R. K. S. Suresh Chandra held that the Bill could be enacted without a referendum. However, the Court did not consider the possibility of the retrospective operation of the Amendment, as that question was not raised in argument. Hence, the presumption of constitutionality that requires the 18th Amendment to be given prospective effect is unaffected by the courts judgment. It is fully consistent with the position that the 18th Amendment does not extinguish the disqualification of the incumbent President that was incurred before the Amendment was enacted."

In terms of Article 129 (1) of the Constitution, President Rajapaksa on Thursday referred the following questions for determination by the Supreme Court.

(A) Whether in terms of Article 31 (3A)(a)(i) of the Constitution, as amended by the 18th Amendment, I, as the incumbent President, serving my second term of office would have any impediment after the expiration of four years from the date of commencement of my second term of office on November 19, 2010, to declare by Proclamation my intention of appealing to the people for a mandate to hold office as President by election for a further term.

(B) Whether in terms of the provisions of the Constitution as amended by the 18th Amendment, I as the incumbent President, serving my second term of office was functioning as such on the date the 18th Amendment was enacted would have any impediment to being elected for a further term of office."

How To Pick The Common Candidate

By Dayan Jayatilleka -November 7, 2014

Dr. Dayan Jayatilleka

A common opposition candidate is commonly regarded as a good idea but on second glance isn’t necessarily so. It can be a good idea but only in one set of circumstances. That is if the common candidate is capable of securing the largest number of votes against the incumbent, thereby ensuring a real race for the presidency, which can restore some balance to the political system also by acting as a springboard for an opposition victory at the parliamentary election or a referendum.

Thus the real question that should be posed is who the candidate would be who can get the most votes. On the surface it would seem that this would be the candidate who can secure the endorsement of the largest number of political parties and civil society organizations. But this isn’t necessarily true.

The best Opposition candidate would be a common candidate if he/she can draw on the support of opposition parties and groupings which can really bring in votes. If these parties, organizations and personalities are mere factions they will not add much to the vote bank of the opposition candidate.

Moreover an Opposition candidate who cannot secure the main vote base of the opposition  while he/she can draw in smaller vote bases, would be losing on the roundabouts what he /gains on the swings.

Simply put, the selection of a common opposition candidate should not depend on how long the list of endorsements is but on how accurately he represents the actual ratios and balances of strength in the opposition ranks.                                                                     Read More      

Are The Commoners The Tea Baggers Of Sri Lanka?

By Sudat Pasqual -November 7, 2014 

Sudat Pasqual

By Commoners, I mean the lunatic fringe in Sri Lanka who are forever (well, since Mahinda Rajapaksa became President forever that is) in the lookout for a “common” candidate to oppose Mahinda Rajapaksa. Almost ten years of Mahinda Rajapaksa must feel like an eternity to these Commoners.

Tea Baggers, more formerly known as members of the Tea Party are the American gun loving, missionary position loving, all things Obama hating, gay people hating, black people hating, brown people hating, immigrant hating and fence around the USA advocating lunatic fringe. Oh, the Baggers are pro-life. Phew, that’s a relief. In the case of the Baggers, their hatred is multi-faceted and rainbow colored. They are a group of flexible and malleable haters. Mostly the Tea Baggers have acted as a negative force in the Republican circles of the US by playing the spoiler.

In the case of the Commoners, their hatred is more concentrated. One could say that the Commoners are a single issue hate group. They hate the Rajapaksa family, pure and simple. Many of the Commoners likely got their initiation into the hate business when the Bandaranaike clan were in power. It is likely that the real hate started when the original Madam B brought in the Land Reform Act of 1972 which drastically reduced the amount of land that could be owned by individuals. In spite of the foundation of the Commoner hatred to all things Bandaranaike first and Rajapaksa now, one of the Bandaranaike’s have been cozying up to the Commoner camp recently. Maybe not so surprising when one factors that the political ascension of Mahinda Rajapaksa started when the Bandaranaike in question was the President. However, the two parties were not exactly bosom buddies. In addition, the Commoners have also embraced a former legalist with the scruples of a charlatan as an advisor/strategist. Embracing this legalist got to be like getting tongued by a Golubella. Remember the phrase from the original Ghostbusters movie, “He slimed me!”? That just about sums my take on this partnership. Hatred coupled with desperation has obviously triumphed common sense. Just imagine Barack Obama courting Sarah Palin for a prom date.                                             Read More    

Katunayake airport employees stage lightning strike crippling activities totally : Government dazed and clueless

(Lanka-e-News- 06.Nov.2014, 11.30PM) About 4000 employees of the Katunayake international airport staged a lightning strike last forenoon.

This strike was staged by the Sri Lanka freedom workers union branch of the airport affiliated to the government. Their demand was an allowance of Rs. 10,000.00, medical insurance ,4 % disaster relief loan , father to children related employment , and set up a probe into the activities of the security chief.

Following the commencement of the strike , the airport power supply was terminated at 10.00 a.m. , and by 10..45 a.m. the areas of power generators were brought under the control of the strikers . Subsequently , even the telephone communication system of the airport was disrupted. Consequently , the activities at the entire airport came to a standstill. Even the checking out and checking in of passengers at the airport were rendered impossible so much so that the international airport was instantly transformed into a local Pettah vegetable vendors’ market .

Flights too were delayed . Sri Lankan Airline Flight scheduled to carry passengers to Shanghai as well as flight to London leaving here at 2.00 p.m. was also held up. The Government having no clue about the whole calamity was in a turmoil . Immediately , representatives from the Presidential palace , namely Ministers Sarath Gunaratne and Priyankara Jayaratne and a team of high officials were dispatched to meet and negotiate with the strikers.

Following negotiations , it was agreed to grant a monthly allowance of Rs. 8000.00 instead of Rs. 10,000.00 demanded. Rs. 16,000.00 representing two months allowances , that is last month and this month was decided to be granted. The government had agreed to settle all the other demands within a week . The strikers then decided to call off the strike .

The strike that totally crippled the airport finally ended at 12.45 p.m. today with the strikers having emerged victorious. Based on reports reaching Lanka e news, Gota’s espionage service had begun investigating who are those of the union who secretly instigated the strike .

A similar lightning strike was staged at the Colombo prisons too recently driving the government into severe trauma and tension . On that occasion , all the jailors struck work suddenly at once. It is now learnt that the houses of these jailors are being threatened and their houses subjected to search