Prasanna Ranatunge UPFA chief minister and wife appear in court over Rs. 64 million swindle – 7 million credited to wife ‘s account

(Lanka-e-News -15.July.2015, 5.45PM) Western province chief minister   Prasanna Ranatunge who is the UPFA group leader for Gampaha at the upcoming General  elections and his wife Maureen Ranatunge who were noticed to be present in court yesterday (14) were released on bail by the Fort magistrate Priyantha Liyanage . They were charged with requesting a payment of Rs. 64 million from a Moratuwa businessman , and collecting Rs. 7 million out of it , on an undertaking given by the accused to evict the unauthorised residents on a land 2 acres 8 perches in extent located at 251/ 9 , Meetotamulla , Kolonnawa , with the assistance of the western provicial council , to enable the businessman  to build   a container yard and warehouse complex on it , and to take  that same warehouse complex on lease to the provincial council.

Both suspects were enlarged each on two personal bails in sums of Rs. 50,000.00 , and were ordered to be present in court on 7 th October.

There were also charges filed against Prasanna Ranatunge that the businessman was threatened , and monies were credited to his wife’s account by force.

The Magistrate also ordered Prasanna to report to the FCID on 20 th to give a statement. Warrants were issued on  Kohuwala Naresh and  Shivanthi Wanigasekera who are also implicated in this fraud

---------------------------
by     (2015-07-15 12:19:14)

A year after Gaza attack, the world must stop supporting Israel’s crimes

Shahd Abusalama Rights and Accountability 13 July 2015

My late uncle Muhammed Abu Louz and his 2-year-old son. My uncle was killed during the 51-day attack on Gaza in 2014.

I can almost hear my dad’s voice breaking in tears and echoing in my ears when I called him on 13 August 2014 following the murder of our neighbor Hazem Abu Murad. 

A Year After Gaza Attack, The World Must Stop Supporting Israel’s Crimes by Thavam Ratna

Pakistan says it shot down Indian drone near LoC

An Indian army soldier stands guard while patrolling near the Line of Control, a ceasefire line dividing Kashmir between India and Pakistan, in Poonch district August 7, 2013.

 BY KATHARINE HOURELD-Wed Jul 15, 2015

The Pakistani military said it shot down an Indian spy drone on Wednesday in Kashmir, in a new sign of the decades-old tension between the nuclear-armed rivals in the disputed region.

Industry experts said the small, unarmed model was sold commercially for aerial filming and would contain no secret military technology.

"An Indian spy drone was shot down by Pakistani troops which intruded into Pakistan along (the Line of Control) near Bhimber today. The spy drone is used for aerial photography," a statement from the Pakistani military said.

The Indian military was not available for comment.

Bhimber is in Kashmir, the Himalayan region claimed by both Pakistan and India. The two sides regularly exchange fire along Kashmir's heavily-militarised Line of Control.

A photo supplied by the Pakistani military appeared to show a Chinese-made DJI Phantom 3, said Huw Williams, the Unmanned Systems Editor at IHS Jane's International Defence Review.

"Due to its limited operating range - about two km - if the Indian military is using the system it would most likely be for close reconnaissance or security work," Williams said.

"Our Middle East editor believes that Islamic State are using similar systems."

Pakistan is plagued by a Taliban insurgency that has killed hundreds of thousands of civilians. It has fought three wars against India since the two nations became separate in 1947.

Since 2004, the United States has conducted 419 drone strikes in Pakistan, targeting suspected members of the Taliban and al Qaeda. The missiles have killed thousands of suspected militants and hundreds of civilians, according to media reports collated by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism.

Pakistan often protests that the U.S. strikes are an infringement of its national sovereignty and has been pushing for its own lethal drones.

In March, the Pakistani military announced it had test-fired its own drone equipped with a laser-guided missile. Analysts said the video showed a drone similar to models produced by Pakistan's close ally China.

(Reporting by Katharine Houreld; editing by Andrew Roche)

China releases 11 foreigners accused of watching ‘terror video'; 9 still detained

Pic: AP.

By Asian Correspondent Staff Jul 15, 2015

China has agreed to release 11 of the 20 people detained this week for watching what has been described as a propaganda video for a banned group.

The group,  comprising nine Britons, 10 South Africans and one Indian, was detained in Ordos, Inner Mongolia in northern China Friday where they were on a trip sponsored by a South Africa-based religious organization Gift of the Givers. No reason was given for their detention at the time.

The organization said that “some members were linked to a terror group, to a banned organization, to watching propaganda videos in their hotel room”.

“It was agreed that 11 will be ‘released’, meaning that they will be held in detention until flights have been finalized for them out of China,” the group said in a statement on Facebook Wednesday.

It added: “We still have the problem of the other 5 South Africans, 3 British and 1 Indian national who are not free to leave and till yet [sic] have not been charged… No charges have been put to the group but the Chinese have been very vague saying that someone in the group has some links to a suspected terror group and that someone has some links to a banned group and that the real reason for the incarceration is that someone was watching propaganda videos in the hotel.”

The British Embassy in Beijing earlier confirmed that some of its citizens were detained in northern China and that it is trying to find out why.

The embassy cited a British Foreign Office statement that said nine Britons and two dual British-South African nationals had been detained in northern China and that it was “seeking further clarification” on the reason.

A press officer at the Ordos police bureau said the case was under investigation and declined to give any details.

Additional reporting from Associated Press

Iran achieved all long-sought objectives in nuclear talks: Rouhani

Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani delivers a televised address from Tehran on July 14, 2015, the day of the conclusion of nuclear talks between Iran and the P5+1 group of countries. (IRNA)

Tue Jul 14, 2015

Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani says the Islamic Republic achieved all four objectives it was seeking throughout intensive nuclear talks with six world powers.

"We were following four objectives in these negotiations. As part of today's agreement and under this Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, all the four objectives have been achieved," Rouhani said in a televised address on Tuesday after the conclusion of talks between Iran and the P5+1 countries.

Iran Achieved All Long-sought Objectives in Nuclear Talks Rouhani by Thavam Ratna

Taliban peace talks with Afghan government 'endorsed' by Mullah Omar

Eid message attributed to reclusive Taliban leader expected to increase support for militants’ role in Afghan civil society, amid threat from Islamic State

 An Afghan policeman searches a man at a checkpoint in Herat province, after recent heavy fighting between Taliban militants and security forces. Photograph: Xinhua /Landov / Barcroft Media

Sune Engel Rasmussen in Kabul-Wednesday 15 July 2015

A message claimed to be from Taliban leader Mullah Omar has endorsed recent talks between Taliban and Afghan government officials, saying that negotiating with the enemy is not prohibited in Islam.

The message was released on Wednesday to mark the upcoming Muslim festival of Eid, the end of the fasting month of Ramadan, and comes a week after an official government delegation met with senior members of the Taliban outside the Pakistani capital, Islamabad. The meeting was the first time in several years that the two sides have had an official sit-down. It has followed a series of informal meetings since May in China, Qatar and Norway.

The veracity of Mullah Omar’s Eid message, which appeared on an official Taliban website, has not been confirmed. Indeed, Omar’s name has appeared on similar messages in the past, with no proof he actually wrote them.

Bette Dam, the author behind an upcoming biography about the reclusive Taliban leader, said the message was most likely written by people from the political arm of the movement based in Karachi, where many have speculated Pakistani authorities are keeping Omar himself under house arrest.

She added it should not come as a surprise that people speaking for Mullah Omar would support peace talks. The declaration could yet help solidify support for negotiations.

“There is already a lot of enthusiasm among the Taliban for the peace talks, but this will help, especially among the younger fighters,” Dam said.

Omar, who was the Taliban’s head of state from 1996, has not been seen in public since the US-led coalition toppled his government in 2001. As a sign of growing discontent within the Taliban, some commanders have begun to openly doubt whether the mythical leader is still alive.

Some have created their own splinter factions and pledged allegiance to Islamic State (Isis). Though their presence in Afghanistan is still limited, the Taliban found it pertinent last month to issue a warning to Isis not to expand operations into Afghanistan.

Deepening these divisions, certain Taliban factions have in recent weeks publicly questioned the legitimacy of the delegations meeting with government officials.

Last week, senior Taliban representatives met with members of the Afghan High Peace Council in Murree, a resort town outside Islamabad. According to presidential spokesman Zafar Hashemi, the two sides exchanged views in a “brainstorming session” and agreed to meet again after Ramadan.

The meeting drew support from both Washington and Beijing, but was denounced by members of the Taliban’s political office in Qatar, who said the Taliban delegation was not authorised to represent the movement.

The purported Mullah Omar message sought to iron out those divisions. “All mujahideen and countrymen should be confident that in this process, I will unwaveringly defend our legal rights and viewpoints everywhere,” read the statement.

It is not just the Taliban who disagree internally on the issue of negotiations. The so-called national unity government is fragmented, a jumbled coalition of political rivals. The government’s power is split between president Ashraf Ghani who, like the Taliban, is Pashtun, and its chief executive, Abdullah Abdullah, a Tajik whose supporters from former Northern Alliance forces will be strongly opposed to shifting ethnic balances caused by granting the Taliban any form of political role in Afghanistan.

The tentative talks also come at a time of intensifying violence. Earlier this week, more than 100 civilians were killed and injured in attacks in 48 hours. Consequently, reconciliation will be a lengthy process.

“Fighting is the easiest thing to do. Peace talks is an extremely delicate thing,” said Dam, who encouraged western governments to give as much technical support as possible to potential negotiations.

“Instead of sending a battalion of soldiers, send a battalion of diplomats and experts. Make it as serious as the Iran negotiations,” she said.

Europe’s dirty little secret is Greece will never pay back its debt

(Louisa Gouliamaki/AFP/Getty Images)

A specter is haunting Europe — the specter of Greece's debt.

By Matt O'Brien-July 15

For a long time, the fact that Greece is basically bankrupt was the truth that dared not speak its name. But now it's become the truth that can speak its name as long as long as it doesn't do anything else. Even German finance minister Wolfgang Schäuble has admitted that Greek "debt sustainability is not feasible without a haircut," before less-than-helpfully concluding that "there cannot be a haircut" because it's against the rules. And that seemed to be that — until Tuesday night.

Europe’s Dirty Little Secret is Greece Will Never Pay Back Its Debt by Thavam Ratna

My Friend Fred

Rwanda's persecution of a key reformer shows what it really thinks about freedom of the press.

BY CHRISTIAN CARYL-JULY 14, 2015

Rwandan President Paul Kagame has a vision. He believes that he can boost the prosperity of his country by transforming it into a linchpin of Africa’s information economy. In his efforts to attract banks and tech companies, he has covered Rwanda with a fiber optic network aimed at bringing broadband Internet into its remotest corners. His efforts to foster a new educational elite and to create a low-corruption, business-friendly environment are all part of the same plan.

It’s an ambitious agenda, and there’s little reason to doubt that Kagame believes in it. (Why would he keep on repeating it otherwise?) Yet his government actively pursues policies that contradict these aims. If you really want to build an information economy, you have to insure that people and companies can create, own, and trade information as they see fit. Yet Rwandan officials retain tight control over what their people say and think, usually citing the country’s dark past of ethnic conflict as a rationale for doing so. Over the past few years, many of the government’s critics — including some journalists — have been silenced, arrested, driven into exile — or killed.

So which one is it going to be — a Google-friendly Rwanda or one firmly in the grip of the thought police?The idea that there’s a tension between these two images of the country doesn’t come from me. A few years ago, implicitly acknowledging the paradox, the Rwandan government itself approved a series of reformsaimed at opening up space for the media. “In Rwanda, in spite of what outsiders might say, we regard the media as an important partner in our country’s development,” Kagame himself said in 2012. “That is why we have made reform of the media a priority.”

One of the key figures in the reform project was a journalist by the name of Fred Muvunyi, who headed a new body that was supposed to shield reporters from the heavy hand of government.

In 2013, as part of the reforms, the government created the Rwanda Media Commission (RMC). This body, to be staffed primarily by journalists, was supposed to ensure media “self-regulation” based on a professional code of conduct. The idea was to get the government out of the business of micromanaging (and effectively censoring) the media.

For a while it seemed to be working. Last year, when I came to Rwanda to research a think tank paper analyzing the reforms, Fred had much to boast about. He explained how the RMC had helped journalists cover a corruption scandal without fear of official retribution, and how it had dissuaded police from throwing other reporters in jail simply for doing their jobs. Though he acknowledged how far Rwanda still had to go, Fred insisted that government officials were beginning to understand that they didn’t have to crack down on every expression of even mildly critical opinion.

I liked Fred from the start. In a country where people tend to stick closely to the official line, he stood out for his willingness to speak frankly. Rwanda’s problems with the media, he explained, were the products of generations of war and bloodshed. “Our leaders have been the result of conflict,” he told me. “There’s no way they’re going to understand the freedom of speech. From where? It’s not something they were brought up in.” But he firmly believed that he could help to press for positive change, however long that might take.

How much can happen in just a few months.fled the country." style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: Tiempos, Georgia, serif; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 32.7999992370606px; font-size: 17px; vertical-align: baseline;">A few weeks ago, fearing arrest, Fred fled the country. Now he’s living in exile in Europe. And the reform project in which he placed so much hope has been dealt a blow from which it may not recover soon, if ever.

Fred’s problems started last fall, when he criticized the government for cracking down on the British Broadcasting Corporation, which runs a radio news service in the local language of Kinyarwanda. Compared with Rwanda’s pliant state-run media, the BBC Great Lakes service made for a refreshing change, often airing stories that never would have made it onto the airwaves of official broadcasters.

In October, the government announced that it was suspending the BBC’s license to broadcast in Rwanda. Officials were incensed by a documentary film broadcast in the United Kingdom by the domestic BBC2 network. The documentary presented a highly controversial account of the Rwandan genocide in 1994. The Rwandan government denounced the BBC for indulging in genocide denial — a serious crime within Rwandan itself — and shut down its local broadcasts in retribution.

Fred criticized the decision. He pointed out that the BBC Great Lakes service had nothing to do with BBC2, and suggested that wholesale censorship of an entire news outlet wasn’t exactly the way to show that Rwanda was serious about giving greater latitude to the media. He was right on both counts. But that didn’t stop senior officials from coming after him.

When Fred persisted in opposing the BBC ban, the bureaucracy made a move to strip the RMC of its powers and give them to a body more easily controlled by the government. When Fred resisted, officials promised him money and other favors in return for going along. He declined. Then a friend told himthat there was a plan to have him killed. Someone sent him copies of text messages about his “removal,” phrased in a way that could have referred to his firing or his physical elimination. At a meeting, a minister accused him of “working for foreign forces.”

Fred took the hint. In May, as soon as he got the chance, he resigned his position and left the country. Not long after his departure, the authoritiesdeclared that they were suspending the BBC’s operating license in Rwanda “indefinitely” (rather than “temporarily,” as announced back in the fall). The move sends a clear signal to Rwandan journalists, who will now understandthat even the limited space for free expression opened up by the recent reforms is vanishing once again.

None of this can be viewed in isolation from larger political developments in Rwanda. The next presidential election is set for 2017. Kagame will soon be nearing the end of his second term, and even though the constitution prohibits him from running for a third, the country is currently in the grip of a frantic “public campaign” to persuade him to stay in power. Few Rwanda-watchers doubt that Kagame will ultimately allow himself to be persuaded.

When I spoke with Fred about his predicament recently, he stressed to me that he’s no dissident, and doesn’t see himself as one. “I’m not a politician,” he said. “I’m not an opposition figure. My job was to make a contribution to the development of the country by working in the media sector.” He stressed that he remains a supporter of the government, though he disagrees with it on media policy. And the future? He conceded that it’s hard to be optimistic. “You never know. After 2017, 2018, things might get better again. Maybe then we’ll have an environment more conducive to the media.” He sighed.

President Kagame has repeatedly stated that, in his country, development should take priority over democracy. Perhaps he’s right. But I doubt if it’s really that simple. If this is how Rwanda insists on treating its best people, I find it hard to look on the future with hope.

Pluto: from Planet X to ex-planet

TUESDAY 14 JULY 2015
Pluto suffered one of the biggest demotions in history when it was downgraded from the solar system's ninth planet to a lowly Kuiper Belt Object. If it's not a planet, what is it? And who decides?

Pluto From Planet X to Ex-planet by Thavam Ratna

New surgical technique preserves kidney function following tumour removal

New surgical technique preserves kidney function following tumour removal

July 13, 2015

Renal cell carcinomas are one of the most common types of cancer. In order to preserve its wide range of functions, every effort is made not to remove the entire kidney, but rather just a portion of it. A surgical method that preserves long-term renal function has now been carried out successfully for the first time in the Department of Urology at the MedUni Vienna and Vienna General Hospital.

A surgical ultrasound device is used that was previously used for liver cell carcinomas. In the pilot study, recently published in the highly respected World Journal of Urology, this method has now been applied successfully at the Department of Urology at the Medical University of Vienna for the first time to the surgical treatment of complex renal tumours.

Patients benefit twice from the new technique: during the operation itself, the risk of bleeding and complications is lower. In the long term, renal function is preserved and there are no long-term consequences of renal impairment.

Until now, "cold ischaemia" has been used during the removal of renal tumours. With this method, the blood vessels supplying the kidney are clamped and the kidney is cooled. This is essential since the kidney bleeds very heavily when incised - and in humans, around 15 to 20 per cent of the entire blood supply is located in the two kidneys. "Cold ischaemia", however, has a serious disadvantage: the clamping of the vessels damages the renal vessels, significantly increasing the long-term risk of renal impairment.

Solution for a major surgical problem

This does not happen in procedures using the CUSA (Cavitron Ultrasonic Surgical Aspirator) ultrasound device, as study leader Shahrokh Shariat, Head of the  University Department of Urology at the MedUni Vienna and Vienna General Hospital, explains: "With the CUSA ultrasound device, the kidney continues to be perfused with blood during the surgical procedure. As our study shows, the new surgical technique allows renal function to be fully maintained, even though we can achieve the same oncological and surgical results as we do with clamping the organ. This has enabled us to resolve one of the major surgical problems of the last two decades."

Important renal functions remain intact

The problem of clamping and associated long-term damage only became apparent with the advances achieved in imaging with ultrasound and computed tomography. As a result of these advances, around 80 per cent of renal tumours are now detected so early that kidney-sparing treatment is possible without removal of the entire organ. The preservation of ideally both kidneys is important because the kidney performs a range of vital functions which diminish with age and as a result ofkidney-damaging conditions such as diabetes and high blood pressure.

The American Stake in Myanmar and Sri Lanka

Reformers in both countries deserve the continued support of the United States.

By Admiral Dennis C. Blair-

July 14, 2015

Although many Americans would have a hard time finding Sri Lanka or Myanmar on a map, these two Asian countries are in the midst of major political transformations with important and uncertain outcomes.

The American Stake in Myanmar and Sri Lanka by Thavam Ratna

Is Good Governance A Myth? Some Lessons From Greece

By Sumanasiri Liyanage –July 14, 2015

Sumanasiri Liyanage

Events unfolded in Greece after Syriza coalition came to power in the Parliamentary election held on January 15 provides, in my view, interesting and useful lessons to small countries living under the domination of global finance capital. Syriza experience led us to contest some of the propositions advocated by the Sri Lankan so-called civil society. Many people belonging to Colombo civil society appear to think that every one, rich and poor, old and young, urban and rural wish to have good governance (yaha palanaya). Having mesmerized by the term and its anticipated popularity, new political coalition was formed to face the next Parliamentary election that is scheduled to be held in August 17, 2015. I have always been suspicious of these terms, especially they are being included in the lexicon of international financial institutions. I am aware that many civil society professionals love the term just because it is being widely used by the so-called international community and the international financial institutions. Recently, the European Union, European Central Bank and the IMF used a much improved phrase ‘better governance’. Had Hela Urumaya waited for a few more days they would have suggested this new phrase and called the new political formation, United National Front for Better Governance (UNFBG). Alternatively, their opponents would have renamed their coalition United Peoples Freedom Alliance for Better Governance (UPFABG). Since these days we are not much concerned about the content and substance, it is imperative to have long names.

My leanings towards Anarcho-Marxism invariably compels me to see a huge contradiction in the phrase good governance (or its improved European version “better governance”). Can governance be good? Can it be democratic? Well I will bracket these two related questions for a while as raising them may take us into a kind of philosophical muddle.

Greece economy was badly affected in the 2008 financial crisis. Around one million people lost their jobs. 30 per cent of business were forced to close down. Salaries have been reduced by 35 per cent while pensions was cut by 45 per cent. With that the gross domestic products decreased by 25 per cent and the country’s total debt has reached 180 percent of the GDP. This decline has also been reflected in human development indices. Child mortality rate increased by 42 per cent. The level of unemployment of young people is around 50 per cent. This abysmal situation arose as a direct corollary of economic prescription proposed by Troika that includes the European Union, European Central Bank and the IMF. They pumped money to Greece asking them to adopt more and more austerity measures affecting adversely the Greece economy and its people, especially lower classes. It was in this context and in the situation of the failure of two governments adopting policies prescribed by the Troika led Greece people to elect radical left coalition –Syriza- on anti-austerity platform at the Parliamentary election held on January 25, 2015.

                                                                               Read More

Sri Lanka’s Ex-leader Mahinda Ditches Muslims

14/07/2015

ECONOMYNEXT – Former president Mahinda Rajapaksa who is opposition United People’s Freedom Alliance in Kurunegala has dropped minority Tamils and Muslims from his list of candidates to head a Sinhala-only team.

The former leader was not present at the Kurunegala district secretariat to submit nomination forms leaving the menial task to his deputy and former energy minister Anura Priyadharshana Yapa.

Kurunegala, the third largest electoral district with a vote base of 1.26 million has a seven percent Muslim population.

Political analysts see the total absence of minority candidates in the UPFA list as a sign that Rajapaksa will capitalise on his war credentials to corner votes in a district that would otherwise have no strong links to his family.

In the district of Galle too, the UPFA did not field a single minority candidate even though the town of Galle has a considerable Muslim population.

However, the UPFA national list had A. H. M. Fowzie topping the list with no guarantee that he will be given a seat after the August 17 election.

Almost all the key figures who came out to support Maithripala Sirisena for his presidential election bid in January have joined a broad coalition with the ruling United National Party (UNP).

While the joining of the JHU, or the party of Buddhist monks, would boost the UNP’s electoral hopes, the lestist anti-Rajapaksa JVP and Fielf Marshall sarath Fonseka’s party contesting separately could hurt both the two main parties.

Over 6,000 candidates are in the running for the 225-member parliament where a minimum of 113 seats must be won to form a majority government.

Analysts do not expect the UNP to secure 113 seats, unless there is a major upset. However, the party with the largest number of seats can make a claim to form the next government.

The UPFA enters the fray as underdogs, but the shortest campaign period in Sri Lanka’s parliamentary election history could still produce surprises.

Political parties will have just over a month to campaign. According to Sri Lanka’s bizarre parliamentary elections act of 1981, it is an offence for a candidate to go from house to house canvassing votes for himself. Candidates are also not allowed to put up posters, banners or flags at public places, a regulation that is often observed in the breach.

Under the 19th amendment to the constitution, the president will not have powers to sack the assembly and call snap elections until the assembly completes four and a half years out of its five year term.

The UNP launches its election campaign from Kandy on Tuesday while the UPFA is starting off on Friday from Anuradhapura, the same place from where Rajapaksa launched his unsuccessful bid for the January 2015 presidential election. (Colombo/July13/2015)

By Our Political Correspondent ENS

Maithri mauls Mahinda!

Wednesday, 15 July 2015

• President breaks his silence; gives an earful to critics with sharp and strong emphasis
• Vows he still stands against Rajapaksa; Predicts Rajapaksa will be defeated in August poll
• Pledges to remain neutral, support conduct of free and fair election
• Rejects idea of giving Rajapaksa premiership; says many better SLFP leaders

President Maithripala Sirisena

By Dharisha Bastians
President Maithripala Sirisena yesterday broke a 10-day silence in a special address, saying he was strongly opposed to his predecessor contesting in the 17 August parliamentary election and hailing democratic conditions prevailing in the country that allowed stinging criticism against a head of state that he had endured over the past week.
 “I strongly disagreed with giving Mahinda Rajapaksa nominations for the election,” Sirisena said in his address.
Making his address at the Presidential Secretariat late last evening, Sirisena predicted that Mahinda Rajapaksa would lose the election next month.
“Mahinda Rajapaksa, who was defeated on 8 January, will be defeated again,” President Sirisena said.
“I don’t need to read the stars to know that, the future can be predicted based on history,” he said.
The remarks appeared to be a slap in the face of the former President, who told Reuters on Monday that he and President Sirisena would be leading the election campaign to form a SLFP-led Government after the poll.
President Sirisena also rejected Rajapaksa’s bid to be appointed Premier after the election. “There are plenty of SLFP leaders more suitable to be Prime Minister than Mahinda Rajapaksa,” the President charged during his speech.

The address was also the first time President Sirisena also publicly admitted that he had been battling former President Rajapaksa internally for control of the party.
 “If I had resigned as party leader, anyone Mahinda Rajapaksa wanted could have been included as candidates of the UPFA. If I had resigned as party leader over the nomination issues Mahinda Rajapaksa would have taken back control of both the SLFP and the UPFA within seconds,” the President said.
Sirisena admitted that he was in the minority within the political alliance that constitutes the UPFA. “Every other party leader in the alliance was supporting Mahinda Rajapaksa’s candidacy. Only I stood against it. But if I quit the party chairmanship, Mahinda Rajapaksa would have taken the party back within seconds, persecuted my loyalists and filled the candidate list with his cronies,” President Sirisena charged.
The President said that he had tried to explain to the party that if it fields Rajapaksa, the SLFP would be unable to command the votes of Tamil and Muslim communities.
President Sirisena also revealed a plot to bring Mahinda Rajapaksa to Parliament on the national list after Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe who was heading a minority government which was defeated through a no faith motion. “I managed to stop that. I dissolved parliament to prevent the Government from collapsing,” Sirisena said.
His minority Government had been like the Titanic, President Sirisena quipped.
“The Titanic sank. I did not allow the Government to sink. I dissolved Parliament,” he said.
Public outrage directed at him for granting the nomination to Rajapaksa, appeared to have wounded the President.
 “No other President has been attacked the way I have in the past two weeks – today they call me traitor and villain. This is a sign that democracy’s floodgates have been open,” President Sirisena said.
Emphasising the new freedoms the press was enjoying under his six-month rule President Sirisena said if the attacks had taken place before 8 January, the whole country would know what would have happened to those expressing the views.
«Criticism is an important an important aspect of a democracy. I applaud those who criticise me» the President said.
 “My opposition to Mahinda Rajapaksa stands,” Sirisena said in answer to his critics who have accused the President of striking a ‘deal’ with his predecessor. “There are no dealings between Mahinda Rajapaksa and I. I will not rollback the January 8 mandate,” he pledged.
He also defended his decision to take over the reins of his party. If Mahinda Rajapaksa had continued to lead the SLFP after the presidential elections, his constitutional reforms to curb the powers of the presidency and restore independence to state sector appointments would, President Sirisena said.
Sirisena said he had no interest in which party won the August poll. 
“My only hope is to have a majority of MPs in the new Parliament will support his 8 January mandate for reform,” the President said.
He pledged to remain neutral at the August election. “I will support the elections commissioner, the police force and public officials to conduct a free and fair election,” the President promised.
Mahinda Rajapaksa handed in nominations on Monday to contest in the Kurunegala District north west of the island, Sri Lanka’s third most populous district to raise his claim for Prime Minister if the UPFA wins the polls.

Timely message by Maithri

“Sirisena delivered a timely message and neutralised the campaign of the corrupt Rajapaksa,” Keerthi Tennakoon, the executive director of Campaign for Free and Fair Election told Reuters. “Now most of Rajapaksa’s supporters will try to dissociate from him.”