19 gunny sacks filled with documents found inside abandoned well

January 24, 2015

Police today recovered 19 gunny sacks filled with various documents hidden inside an abandoned well at a residence in Watinapaha, Minuwangoda occupied by an individual, who is allegedly a Coordinating Secretary of former Prime Minister D.M. Jayaratne. 

Police spokesman SSP Ajith Rohana stated that the gunny sacks contained file covers, documents and other papers. 

The suspect, Kuruppu Arachchilage Dharmasena, had been living at the residence which is owned by an individual known as Ivan George.

The Minuwangoda Police Station had received an phone call at around 7.15am today claiming that several suspicious gunny sacks were inside the well of the house, located at No.58, Welapola, Watinapaha. 

Police officers searched the premises and recovered the gunny sacks at around 11.00am today. 

Investigations are ongoing while no suspects have been arrested so far. 

Making sense of presidential election

By Izeth Hussain-January 23, 2015, 8:04 pm 

Say not the struggle naught availeth.

– Arthur Hugh Clough

Nothing straight can ever be made out of the crooked timber of humanity.

– Immanuel Kant

After the Presidential elections which are widely regarded as having been "stunning", most Sri Lankans are now engaged in trying to appraise their significance. We have to begin by trying to establish why exactly Mahinda Rajapakse lost. In my article "After the elections", published on January 10 but sent to the Editor well before the election results were announced, I wrote, "If Maithripala Sirisena squeaks through, or wins with a substantial majority as I have been confidently expecting, the prospects will be much brighter for a restoration of a fully functioning democracy". 

Making Sense of Presidential Election by Thavam Ratna

Sirisena Can Take The Cue From Obama

By C P Thiagarajah -January 24, 2015 

Dr. C P Thiagarajah

Sirisena can Take the cue from Obama to build Two Nations in Sri Lanka

Mr Barak Obama is an epitome of modern democracy. In would have been a sheer impossibility for a person of a mixed race from African American to become the president of USA about a decade ago. But he did it in 20 January 2009. He won a second time on 20 January 2013 also showing that Americans really are a true democratic nation above race religion and all petty classification and groupings that appear in tick boxes in a census survey form.

Obama in his sixth address, on the State of the Union on January 20^th 2015 emphasised that a state should work for the liberty and economic freedom of its citizens. He was eloquent when he said “a better politics unites us”.

Picture of Children Victims of War- Picture courtesy Amantha Perera IPS

The gist of his ‘better politics’ relevant to Sri Lankans at the moment when a nepotistic dictatorial regime ofMahinda Rajapaksa (MR), had been voted out by the entire Sri-Lankan citizens, are the following.

Obama’s oratory was at best when he said “As Americans, we cherish our civil liberties, and we need to uphold that commitment if we want maximum cooperation from other countries.

That’s a better politics. That’s how we start rebuilding trust. That’s how we move this country forward. That’s what the American people want. And that’s what they deserve”.

He went on “We need to do more than just do no harm. Tonight, together, let’s do more to restore the link between hard work and growing opportunity for every American”.

“A better politics is one where we appeal to each other’s basic decency instead of our basest fears. A better politics is one where we debate without demonizing each other; where we talk issues and values, and principles and facts, rather than “gotcha” moments, or trivial gaffes, or fake controversies that have nothing to do with people’s daily lives”. There was great applause from the dignified audience.Read More

Obama’s ‘State of the Union’ Address: What could it mean?

President Obama’s 2015 State of the Union Address – Source: The White House
by Laksiri Fernando
( January 23, 2015, Sydney, Sri Lanka Guardian) Barack Obama broke the tradition this time. Previously, the text of the ‘State of the Union’ address was sent to the press, but with an embargo. This time there was no embargo and people could read the ‘address’ before, or while they listened to it. The purpose was to attract more attention and solicit public reactions. Obama was confident of his oratory or rhetoric. He has two more years to go and with a hostile Senate. He needs public support perhaps to counter the odds.

Obama’s ‘State of the Union’ Address What Could It Mean by Thavam Ratna

The people voted for good governance to ignore conventions and rewrite the constitution

by Rajan Philips-January 24, 2015, 6:58 pm 

"Lions and Foxes reconcile, the Pope becalms, and all seem well but for neo-constitutional nit pickers" –that was going to be the title of my column last week, which was interrupted by the death of my father, and the news of which was most kindly inserted by the Editor in the editorial page of last week’s Sunday Island. I thank him for that. As the title would indicate, I was going to write about two events of significance that were not included in the new President’s 100-day timetable, but dominated President Sirisena’s and his government’s first week in office. The first event was the pre-scheduled three day visit of the universally popular Pope Francis, which produced a calming effect on the country coming out of a momentous but mercifully less violent presidential election. The Pope came, he saw, he blessed, and he left after visiting Madhu and canonizing Sri Lanka’s first Catholic Saint – Joseph Vaz, the Oratorian Missionary from Goa who ministered the island’s early generations of Sinhalese and Tamil Catholics, in the 18th century, defying Dutch persecution and winning the protection of the Sinhalese Kings of Kandy.

The People Voted for Good Governance to Ignore Conventions and Rewrite the Constitution by Thavam Ratna

SLT loses Rs. 2.5 m from Anusha’s bogus election office!

 Saturday, 24 January 2015 

The Sri Lanka Telecom is set to lose Rs. 2.5 million due to the bogus election office set up near the Narahenpita public fair by Telecommunications Regulatory Authority director general Anusha Pelpita to change results of the presidential election.

This place was run also with the involvement of Maj. Gen. Prasad Piyasagara Samarasinghe, media director of Dalada Maligawa Krishantha Hissella, known to his friends as Sulu Diyawadana Nilame. The money is due to SLT for 25 telephone lines and one lease line.

All the telephones had been obtained to the name of Strategic Enterprises Management Agency (SEMA), and the agreements reached through K.D.K. Parakrama of SEMA. Following Mahinda Rajapaksa’s defeat the place was closed down and those who ran it went missing. Pelpita is due to be summoned to the Colombo Fraud Detection Bureau to be questioned regarding this.

We will keep a watch regarding the action the new SLT chairman takes to ensure that the payment is collected.

Requests Made For Exiled Journos To Return But No Action Taken

January 24, 2015

The absence of a formal request for the exiled journalists to return to Sri Lanka, has cast a shadow over their return despite several government Ministers’ invitation for them to return.

Gayantha Karunatilake – Minister Media

Although informal invitations have been extended by Ministers of the new government including Rajitha Senaratne and Gayantha Karunatilake, a formal request is yet to be made through the parliament by either the Prime Minister or the President concerning this matter.

Considering the circumstances in which these journalists fled the country during the previous regime, such a formal request has become vital as fabricated court cases have been filed against some of the journalists living in exile.

Journalists who bore dissenting views or criticized the Rajapaksa regime were labelled as ‘LTTE supporters’ and ‘traitors’ and files were opened by the Terrorist Investigation Department on some of the exiled journalists including the Colombo Telegraph editor.

However, despite the regime change the Attorney General has not made any promise so far with concern to any possibility of withdrawing such cases. Neither has any promise been made by the new government to expunge such intimidating inquiries or withdraw Airport surveillance.

Although the Colombo Telegraph made several attempts to contact those responsible for a comment on the situation, none of them have been reachable.

Sri Lanka To Appoint New Local Commission To Probe War

[Sri Lanka war refugees; file photo]-23/01/2015

Sri Lanka’s new government will appoint an independent domestic commission to probe the last stages of the country’s civil war that ended in 2009, a minister said on Friday.

Cabinet Spokesperson and Health Minister Rajitha Senaratne told Xinhua that the commission will consist of professionals who will launch a full inquiry into alleged human rights violations in the last months of the war against the Tamil Tiger rebels in 2009.

He said discussions with all political party leaders will also be held regarding the appointment of the commission.

“We will consult other party leaders as well. The commission will comprise of professionals who are capable of conducting the inquiry. We will appoint the commission soon,” Senaratne said.

Following the Jan. 8 presidential election, newly-elected President Maithripala Sirisena’s government had pledged to investigate the alleged rights violations in the final stages of the civil war.

Former President Mahinda Rajapakse and his government had been under repeated pressure from the UN and international human rights watchdogs to conduct an international probe into the end of the three-decade war.

Rajapakse’s government had stood firm that it would not allow any international probe, assuring that no human rights violations had taken place.

However in a run-up to the presidential poll, Rajapakse promised a judicial inquiry into allegations that his troops had killed thousands of Tamil civilians at the end of the war as pressure mounted from his opponent.

He reiterated that he would not cooperate with a UN-mandated investigation.

COLOMBO, Jan. 23 (Xinhua)

Sri Lanka scraps military training for teachers, students

Sri Lankan school children cheer as they welcome Sri Lankan president Mahinda Rajapakse to the rebuilt Jaffna railway station in October 2014. PHOTO: AFP

By AFP

Published: January 24, 2015

COLOMBO: Sri Lanka’s new government said Saturday it is scrapping compulsory military training for school teachers and undergraduates.

The three-week army training, mandatory under ousted leader Mahinda Rajapakse’s administration, had resulted in at least three deaths in recent years and was deeply unpopular among student and teacher unions.

The new government that came to power following the January 8 presidential election, won by Maithripala Sirisena, has vowed to reduce the role of the military in Sri Lankan society.

Education Minister Akila Viraj Kariyawasam said the government had “concluded that military training is not necessary for school teachers”.

The government has decided to remove the military ranks given to school principals, the minister told reporters.

Sri Lanka’s security forces wielded huge influence in civil society after they crushed Tamil rebels in May 2009 and declared an end to decades of ethnic conflict that had claimed 100,000 lives between 1972 and 2009.

After the war ended, the military was deployed to run even the country’s main performing arts centre, while army officers replaced civil servants at key institutions.

The previous government also used the military in retail trade, including the sale of vegetables and fish and in the operation of hotels, travel companies and even barber saloons.

Former president Rajapakse and his immediate family members, including his retired colonel brother Gotabhaya Rajapakse who was the then defence secretary, face allegations of abuse of power and huge corruption.

Gotabhaya Rajapakse has been accused of killing dissidents, including a prominent editor of a publication that was highly critical of the then ruling family.

Sri Lanka seizes car fleet 'not returned by Rajapaksa'

Among the 53 vehicles found were several bullet-proof limousines

23 January 2015

Sri Lankan police say they have seized more than 50 state-owned vehicles not returned after former President Mahinda Rajapaksa was toppled in elections.

The 53 vehicles, said to include bullet-proof limousines, are thought to be among 128 missing vehicles.

Mr Rajapaksa's decade in power came to an abrupt end in polls on 8 January.

On Thursday, the new government pledged to trace billions of dollars allegedly siphoned off by Mr Rajapaksa and his powerful family.

Various figures in his former ruling clan face accusations ranging from corruption to murder.

The vehicles, which belong to the presidential secretariat, were found on land in the capital Colombo, a police spokesman said.

"We are conducting investigations on how these 53 vehicles ended up at this yard," Ajith Rohana told the AFP news agency.

Among the vehicles was an armour-plated BMW destroyed in a mine attack in Colombo in 2006. Inside was the then defence secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, the president's younger brother, but he escaped without injury.

'Black money'

The discovery was announced a day after the new government of President Maithripala Sirisena said it would investigate all financial deals struck by Mr Rajapaksa and his brothers during his time in office.

"Black money invested in various foreign countries is going to be investigated," said cabinet spokesman Rajitha Senarathne, referring to illegal capital flight, according to the Reuters news agency.

Mr Sirisena delivered his shock defeat of Mr Rajapaksa in part on pledges to root out abuses of public money and power by the Rajapaksas, and state television has shown pictures of the presidential residence furnished in opulent style at state expense.

Mr Rajapaksa has strongly denied claims that he summoned the military to discuss ways of halting the presidential poll count and declare a state of emergency when it appeared he might lose, and says his family is being victimised.

No formal charges have yet been filed against the family.

Doctorate claimed by the Director General of the Tourism Board

 

Saturday, 24 January 2015 

The tourist Board is anxiously waiting to know if the present DG at the tourist Boa​rd ​is actually carrying the PHD degree for him to claim ‘ Doctor’  before his name.

There have been much talk on this subject in the past  including the article carried by the Island 13 January 2012. He is yet to produce the certificate to Authorities in which case this matter will not arise.

Under the present Government ‘Doctor; Jayaweera’s presence has been questioned after having  served his masters namely Former Minister Basil Rajapaksa and Dr Jayasundera whose ways of managing the instructions was implemented by Jayaweera and yet has come under serious questioning for the purposes they served.

Delayed Recalling Of Rajapaksa DPL Henchmen Begins

January 24, 2015 

Some 30 Rajapaksa henchmen and close associates appointed as diplomats during the previous regime have been recalled with immediate effect.

Ambassador to Russia Udaynada, Ex- President and Ex-FM

Among those who have been recalled are non-career diplomats who have been appointed to the service without fulfilling the required criteria as well as those who have been serving in a single station for a prolonged period.

Among those who have been recalled is the Sri Lankan Ambassador to Russia who has been serving in the station for close to eight years now.

One of the pledges made by the President during the campaigning period was to free the diplomatic service of political influences.

The process was due to begin just a few days after the election of the new President. However, it was delayed due to the arrival of the Pope and the External Affairs Minister’s visit to India.

Religious minorities feared BBS rampage, if Mahinda was re-elected President

Extremism led to Mahinda Rajapaksas defeat – Ex-Deputy Foreign  Minister

by Zacki Jabbar-

Sinhala Buddhist extremism had led to the defeat of Mahinda Rajapaksa at the last Presidential Election, one of his former Ministers said yesterday.

Former Deputy Foreign Minister Neomal Perera told The Sunday Island that the religious minorities feared that if  President Rajapaksa was re-elected for a third term the Bodu Bala Sena (BBS) and other extremists in the UPFA government, whom he had failed to   discipline, would have created further havoc in the country leading to another ethnic conflict.

"The religious minorities, just like other all other peace-loving citizens, who were expecting a better life with the end of the war, were shell-shocked when the BBS started attacking Hindu Kovils, Muslim Mosques and Christian and Catholic Churches. They who expected freedom of speech and association to flourish in the post-war era had to watch helplessly while BBS thugs took the law into their hands and the President  of the day  did nothing to prevent a section of Sri Lankans from being violently targeted," he noted.

The former Minister said the BBS attacks on the Aluthgama Muslims, their properties, Mosques and  economic interests was the final nail in Mahinda’s coffin.

Perera said that the Muslims and other religious minorities knew very well that the BBS had been created, nurtured and protected by some very powerful UPFA personalities close to Mahinda, who had unfortunately abdicated his duties as Head of State.

When reminded that a considerable number of Muslims, Burghers and Sinhala Christians had voted for Mahinda Rajapaksa at the 2010 Presidential poll, he replied "Yes, he lost all that this time. It was a tragic and  shameful act to be destroying their religious places of worship. The Muslims who have  never supported a division of this country had to suffer immensely at the hands of the LTTE due to their stance. I am from Puttalam and  we all know how the Puttalam Muslims were also harassed by the BBS."

China stung by Sri Lanka’s election

By Miles Yu - - Thursday, January 22, 2015

Sri Lanka’s presidential election earlier this month dealt China a major blow as opposition leader Maithripala Sirisena, who had made curtailing excessive Chinese influence the main focus of his campaign, won a surprise victory over the Beijing-friendly incumbent President Mahinda Rajapaksa.
China Stung by Sri Lanka’s Election by Thavam Ratna

Japan says web clip claiming death of IS hostage "outrageous"

A man watches a news program about an Islamic State video purporting to show two Japanese captives at an electronics store in Tokyo January 20, 2015.4

TOKYO Sat Jan 24, 2015 

(Reuters) - Japan early on Sunday strongly criticised a recording purporting to announce the execution of a Japanese citizen held by Islamic State militants and demanded the immediate release of another captive depicted as appearing on the image.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, in a brief televised statement, said the recording appeared to show captive Haruna Yukawa being killed.

"This is an outrageous and unacceptable act," Suga said. "We strongly demand the prompt release of the remaining Mr. Kenji Goto, without harm."

Suga read the statement and declined to take questions.

(Reporting by William Mallard, editing by David Evans)

At least 20 dead as rebels 'launch attack' on Mariupol

SATURDAY 24 JANUARY 2015
At least 20 people are killed in heavy shelling by pro-Russian separatists in the eastern Ukrainian port city of Mariupol, as the leader of rebel fighters says an offensive is "launched".

The leader of pro-Russian separatists in east Ukraine, Alexander Zakharchenko, was quoted as saying that his rebel fighters had launched the attack on Mariupol.

"Today an offensive was launched on Mariupol. This will be the best possible monument to all our dead," he was quoted as saying at a memorial ceremony in the rebel-held city of Donetsk.

Mariupol city council said that rebels had fired rockets from long-range missile systems, killing at least 20 and injuring at least 83.

"The world needs to stop the Russian aggressor threatening Ukraine, Europe and global security .. The problem is in the hero-town of Moscow - Kremlin, Vladimir Putin," said Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseny Yatseniuk at a meeting of security and defence chiefs.

Rebels had previously denied responsibility for the attacks on the Kiev-controlled city, which lies on a coastal route from the Russian border to Crimea, the peninsula which was annexed by Russia from Ukraine last March.

Earlier the pro-western police chief Vyacheslav Abroskin blamed pro-Russian fighters for the shelling. "As a result of shelling by rebels of a residential sector of Mariupol ... 10 people have been killed," he wrote in a Facebook post.

Oleksander Turchynov, secretary of Ukraine's national defence council, described the incident as "another bloody crime against humanity committed by the Russian military and the bands of terrorists under their complete control," in an online statement.

'5,000 dead'

Fighting between government forces and separatist rebels has surged in the past two weeks to its "most deadly period since the declaration of a ceasefire on 5 September," according to the United Nations.

The OHCHR said that at least 262 people have been killed in the last nine days alone, whilst the death toll since the beginning of the conflict in Ukraine in mid-April last year stands at more than 5,000, although the UN fears the real figure may be "considerably higher".

Last week, Ukrainian troops claimed to have retaken almost all of the territory of Donetsk airport, before later withdrawing troops from the area.

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said last week Russia had 9,000 troops inside Ukraine and called on Moscow to withdraw them, blaming it for an armed aggression. Moscow denies sending forces and weapons to east Ukraine, despite what the West says is irrefutable proof.

On Friday Russian President Vladimir Putin blamed "criminal orders" by Ukrainian leaders on Friday for the surge in the conflict.

Ukraine says its troops are holding the line against the separatists after suffering a symbolic and morale-sapping setback last week when they withdrew from the main terminal at the airport in Donetsk, the biggest city in the east.

US-led task force launches 26 air strikes in 24-hour period against Isis

• According to coalition statement, 13 targets hit in Syria as well as 13 hit in Iraq
• Secretary of state John Kerry says prolonged campaign is working

Smoke rises from the Syrian border town of Kobani (Ayn al-Arab) following the US-led coalition air strikes against the Islamic State targets near Mursitpinar border crossing on Friday in Suruc, Turkey. Photograph: The Asahi Shimbun via Getty Images

Guardian staff and agencies-Saturday 24 January 2015

The US and its coalition partners have launched another round of air strikes against Islamic State (Isis) militants in Iraq and Syria, conducting 26 strikes since early on Friday.

In a statement released on Saturday from the Combined Joint Task Force leading the military operation, officials said 13 strikes hit in Syria and also 13 hit in Iraq.

In Syria, 12 air strikes targeted Isis positions near Kobani. In Iraq, five strikes hit near Mosul and five near Tal Afar, the statement said.

Strikes against Isis began in Iraq on 8 August and Syria on 23 September, and have been carried out by a multinational coalition, including Arab countries and under US leadership.

Related: John Kerry: tide beginning to turn against Islamic State

Amidst questions about the efficacy of such a prolonged campaign, the US secretary of state, John Kerry, said on Thursday the strikes were working.

At a meeting in London of more than 20 countries who last year formed the coalition to fight Isis, Kerry acknowledged the fight would be “neither short nor easy”, but insisted the tide was beginning to turn.

“In recent months we have seen, definitively, Daesh’s momentum was halted in Iraq,” he said, using another name for the group, “and in some cases reversed. Ground forces supported by nearly 2,000 air strikes now, have reclaimed more than 700 square kilometres.”

Related: Mother of Japanese Isis hostage Kenji Goto makes tearful appeal

Isis militants conquered large swathes of Iraq and Syria last year, in a brutal campaign to establish an Islamic caliphate.

On Saturday, western powers were still working to verify the condition of two Japanese hostages held by Isis, who were shown in a video released this week.