Sunday, May 1, 2016

Supreme Court orders Wigneswaran to appear over NPC resolution
Notice issued on Vigneswaran over NPC proposal

01 May 2016

Sri Lanka's Supreme Court has ordered Chief Minister CV Wigneswaran and other Tamil politicians to appear before it with regards to the resolution calling for a federal solution in a merged North-East passed by the NPC last week.

The chief minister, NPC Chairman CVK Sivagnanam, Chief Secretary A. Paththinathan, and President of the Ilankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi (ITAK) and MP Maavai Senathiraja were asked to submit explanations.

Officials must appear before the court after the 12th of May, according to Mr Sivagnanam.

TNA MP M A Sumanthiran tweeted that the court had not issued a summons or notice as earlier reported, but that it was a "voluntary act of noticing before supporting in court for Leave to Proceed".

Abraham Sumanthiran ‎@MASumanthiran

@nirananketell @TamilGuardian not Court Notice, but Petitioner's voluntary act of noticing before supporting in court for Leave to Proceed

5:37 AM - 1 May 2016

Advocate Aruna Laksiri had filed a petition against the proposal by the NPC in the court last Tuesday, which said that the proposal made by the Northern Provincial Council seeking a individual government within the country in contradiction to the article 152 part IV of the Constitution.

May Day Is D-Day For The SLFP

By Hilmy Ahamed –May 1, 2016

Hilmy Ahamed

President Maithripala Sirisena and Mahinda Rajapaksa’s gamble to show their strengths in Galle and Kirulapone would be the final nail in the coffin of the “united” Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP). Former President Mahinda Rajapaksa would see an avalanche, charging him of destroying the SLFP. It’s yet to be seen how the die-hard SLFPer’s respond. There is no doubt, the split SLFP will need to go in to a long period of hibernation and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, the present day crafty political fox would have been signing all the way to Campbell park. It was just a few years ago that critics labeled Ranil Wickremesinghe as a non-entity? His ability to weather the political storm confirms his maturity as a leader and there is no doubt that under his leadership, Sri Lanka has the best chance of getting out of the debt crisis, political instability, corruption and nepotism.

The welcome concept of President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe in uniting the SLFP and the United National Party (UNP) to address the core development and financial crisis facing Sri Lanka through a coalition that could come to consensus, putting country first before petty political differences is unprecedented. Regretfully, Mahinda Rajapaksa’s shameful foray into electoral politics posed the biggest threat to this noble cause. To save Yahapalanaya, the former undesirables were recruited in to government. The corrupt, leftist and the small Sinhala chauvinistic parties that would have been wiped off from parliamentary in future elections have done well to hoodwink Mahinda Rajapaksa to believe that he still has a role to play in the future of the nation as a leader. (A close friend of mine, aptly responded to this theory “hasn’t Mahinda and Co. made enough to “Rest In Peace”, haven’t they destroy enough of the democratic norms that we were so proud of in the South Asian region”?) Whatever the answer is, President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s refusal to bow down gracefully after the rejection of his leadership by the majority of the voters at the presidential elections in 2015 probably will go down in history as the biggest betrayal of Sri Lanka’s progress. President Sirisena, who still enjoys absolute executive powers, declared through the media his intention to act tough after May Day. Will this take the route of vengeance or just proper governance?

May Day special from two Communist countries

　. . . to Ha Noi

From Ha Long . . .

by Kumar David-April 30, 2016

After a quiet New Year in Colombo I emplaned for Hong Kong in the wee hours of the morning of Apr. 15 and crossed into Guangdong (Canton) Province on a tour through two southern Chinese provinces into northern Vietnam for the next five days. I did it differently, not by air as tourists do, but by coach, train and rides on dilapidated buses. Travelling at the best of times is a stressful but on this occasion I was nursing a right-hand forefinger which an ungrateful horse I was feeding through a fence tried to chew off. Fortunately I found a foster mother (bastard that I am, I put on a show of distress), who took care to dress my wound and steady my geriatric stumbles.

Booming Guangdong Province I know well and have visited often; I still hold a time-unlimited professorship at the South China University of Technology. Guangdong is the richest province in China and where Deng’s opening-up made its break through because it is next to Hong Kong and is Cantonese speaking. The province’s capital city, Guangzhou called Canton in the old days is a bustling city of 10 million and the most advanced after Shanghai and Beijing. The province does not interest me much anymore though I marvel at the pace of conurbation and industrialisation every time I pass through. It was the next transit province Guangxi (Guangxi Autonomous Region) that I had my eye on. China has five autonomous regions; the others are Tibet, Xinjiang, Inner Mongolia and Ningxia, where minorities are numerous and enjoy a degree of cultural and linguistic independence (but no ways political – if at all repression is starker in Tibet and Xinjiang).

I promised my readers long ago that I would visit Guangxi which has 30% Zhuang minority people with their own language but Han Chinese now predominate to the extent of 60%. I did not find the towns we passed of much interest from an ethnic perspective (Guangxi is nowhere near as vibrant or colourful Yunnan) but what is interesting is that the province’s former leader Cheng Kejie was executed in 2000 for corruption. Cheng was Provincial Governor, a CCP highflyer and a doer; his achievements in infrastructure development are everywhere to be seen; but he was also a ten percent man and when he fell out of favour when the leadership it was curtains. I need hardly rub in analogies – big time infrastructure expansion, getting things done, ten-percent and then the pitiless finale. There is much to learn from the Middle Kingdom, the four great inventions, paper, printing, gunpowder and the compass; but it seems much else as well, eh?

Cartoon of the day

MR attends jinxed Kirilapone venue, a burial ground of the past for SL political leaders

(Lanka-e-News -01.May.2016, 11.59PM) It is a matter for deep regret that the leaders of the group of morons and minions who call themselves as ‘the joint opposition’ are on this year’s May day leading the present Kurunegala M.P. Mahinda Rajapakse to his political burial ground. This burial ground is their May day rally venue at Kirilapone . Hereunder are the cogent evidence in support of that :

1. In the year 1975, Late J.R. Jayawardena made arrangements to hold a by election for Colombo South , after resigning his Parliamentary member post. On 18 th July 1975 when the by election was held , J R Jayawardena was the candidate.

The rival candidate was J.R.P . Sooriyaperuma the independent candidate backed by the SLFP. When JR polled 36919 votes , Sooriyaperuma could only poll 11,113 votes, whereby JR won with a majority of 25,806 votes. Sooriyaperuma who was defeated at that election could never ever be brought back into politics by the people.

Until Mahinda Rajapakse chose him via the National list at the last election , Soriyaperuma was lost in the wilds politically for 35 long years. Sooriyaperuma held his final election rally in 1975 at this same venue, at Kirilapone.

2. The Eksath Lanka Janatha party that was launched by Rukman Senanayake in 1989 could not politically survive for long. That short-lived political party too held its final rally at this same venue at Kirilapone. Soon after that rally , Rukman and his party disintegrated. Dr. Gamini Wijesekera , the secretary of the party too died following a bomb attack at Thotalanga during that period.

3. Late Lalith Athulathmudali who broke away from the UNP and formed the Democratic United National Front under his leadership too held his final rally at this same venue just before his death. He fell victim while on stage to the gunfire of a cruel assassin on 23 rd April 1993. Gamini Dissanayake who was a joint leader then of that party too died due to a bomb attack during that period.

4. Late President Ranasinghe Premadasa prior to his meeting with his fateful death at Armour street junction , also held his final rally at the same venue at Kirilapone, where he exclaimed ‘ even if you assassinate me , do not assassinate my character’ In the circumstances , it is not inappropriate to describe the Kirilipone venue as having been a ‘burial ground’ for all the aforementioned political leaders.

History has proved time and again to political leaders of Sri Lanka that holding rallies at Kirilapone is a bad omen. It is a pity Basil, Dinesh, Weerawansa and Gammanpila the record breaking bankrupt politicos presently of SL have led Mahinda Rajapakse not only surely but swiftly to this Kirilapone venue - the political burial ground which has been a jinx on political leaders . The intentions of these bankrupt politicos notwithstanding , if they have any idea about ‘rest in peace’ , certainly they would not have chosen this venue .

Mahinda Rajapakse's appearance at the May day rally at Kirilapone carves a short cut to his political decline. Mark our words - Lanka e news records herein at 11.59 p.m. sharp on 01st May 2016 , the time when ghosts climb trees, his presence will be tantamount to Mahinda Rajapakse wrapping himself in the shroud of ‘political death.’

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by (2016-05-01 22:30:58)

Political parties hold May Day rallies

2016-05-01
Almost all the political parties today held processions and rallies in Colombo and other cities celebrating the May Day. The UNP held its rally at Campbel Park in Colombo, SLFP in Galle, JVP at BRC grounds and the joint opposition in Kirulapone.

Proposals for new power plants: With or without pollution?

By Dr. Janaka Ratnasiri-May 1, 2016

Minister of Power and Energy (P&E) Ranjith Siyambalapitiya has, in a recent statement in Parliament on the Ceylon Electricity Board’s (CEB) failure to avoid a blackout in the electricity supply, proposed to build a new thermal power plant operating on natural gas either in Hambantota or Galle. The Secretary to the P&E Ministry is reported to have said that the government is planning to install a natural gas power plant instead of the proposed coal power plant (CPP) at Sampur. The CEB Chairman has reportedly denied that claim. The benefits of using natural gas to generate electricity needs some elaboration and hence this write up.

Coal power plants in the pipeline

One CPP that has been proposed several years back but still not taken off the ground is the 500 MW plant to be built at Sampur near Muttur jointly with India. All the designs and the Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) report have been completed according to CEB sources. However, the EIA report has many deficiencies which may not have been pointed out by the public. One key shortcoming is the dismissal of the alternative option of using natural gas saying that it will result in an increase of the tariff, without giving any details.

In this project, an Indian Company will invest 15% of the capital while demanding they be allowed to purchase electricity generated through a high voltage direct current link to India. The pollution it creates will of course remain in our soil. The plant is said to be a sub-critical type having low efficiency though the actual value is in dispute, as the value given in the EIA report (44%) is not consistent with that given in the CEB’s Long Term Generation Expansion (LTGE) Plan (33%).

The second CPP in the pipeline is that proposed by Japan during a high level meeting of the Prime Ministers of the two countries. This 600 MW plant is said to be a more advanced super critical type having higher efficiency (41%) resulting in less pollution. The CEB has decided to locate this plant also at Sampur and its feasibility studies have been completed with financial assistance from Japan, according to CEB’s LTGE Plan 2015-2034, though its EIA report is yet to be prepared.

Full Story>>>

Sajin Vass: Witness Most Corrupt

by Nirmala Kannangara- Sunday, May 01, 2016

Should all crimes of a wharf clerk turned CEO Mihin be ignored just because he now turns state witness against the Rajapaksas?

Sajin de Vass Gunawardena, former Monitoring MP, External Affairs Ministry, who stands accused of mass-scale fraud, unpaid loans, criminality and unfulfilled promises during the Rajapaksa regime, is back in the spotlight, this time for enjoying ministerial privileges from taxpayers hard-earned money despite not being an MP, a minister or even a local government member.

Despite pledges being made by President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe prior to the 2015 presidential election, that stern action would be taken against all those who syphoned public money and were involved in fraud and corruption, the ‘good governance’ government has provided Sajin Vass with police guard instead of taking legal action against him for the alleged large-scale corruption he was involved in.

Sajin Vass had come to an agreement with the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) to turn state witness in all investigations carried out against alleged Rajapaksa family corruption. In return, immediately after he was granted bail last year, the Defence Ministry provided Vass with security from the Ministerial Security Division (MSD) together with back-up vehicles.

Questions have been raised as to why the CID or the Financial Crimes Investigation Division (FCID) have failed to take any action against Sajin Vass on the alleged mass-scale frauds he was engaged in, other than taking action only on the relatively minor matter of allegedly misusing 23 vehicles at the Presidential Secretariat.

Vass was arrested on May 11, 2015 for misusing 23 Presidential Secretariat vehicles during the Rajapaksa regime and was granted bail after four months on September 23.

A leading legal luminary who wished to remain anonymous queried as to why the government provided this accused with back-up vehicles and MSD protection when he was one of the most prominent personalities who not only misused public money but also is alleged to have been involved in money laundering and other criminal acts.

“Any person can become a state witness but in Sajin Vass’ case, he was given MSD security because he had agreed to spill the beans on the Rajapaksas. He was bailed out in September and we would like to ask the law enforcement authorities in this country, how much details against the Rajapaksas has Sajin Vass provided over the past seven months? If he did indeed provide details on Rajapaksa family deals, why has the CID or the FCID so far failed to take action against any Rajapaksa family member?” sources ask.

It is also surprising, these sources say, why no action against Sajin Vass has been taken under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act No:5 of 2006 when there is ample evidence against him in this regard.

“If Sajin Vass’ wealth and businesses are taken into account, it is well known that his assets will be worth billions of rupees. From where did he get this money? Even someone holding a high post cannot accumulate such vast wealth in less than a decade. Just because he had promised to be a state witness against the Rajapaksas, this government does not want to proceed with the cases in which Sajin stands accused of. This is bad precedence,” sources claimed.

It was an open secret that Sajin Vass who did not inherit any huge wealth, became a multi billionaire after Mahinda Rajapaksa took office as President in 2005. Vass previously had worked as a wharf clerk in Dubai at Trico International, one of the largest freight forwarding companies. His duties entailed assisting VIPs with their formalities. It was in Dubai that Sajin Vass met Rajapaksa when the latter travelled to Dubai and the two formed a close friendship.

Vass was also accused of ignoring Ceylon Petroleum Corporation’s (CPC) continuous requests to pay the Rs.170 million he owed for the fuel he had obtained for his fuel stations in the south during the previous regime. He settled the outstanding bills in fear after the present government came into power to prevent a possible arrest.

“What made Sajin Vass refuse to pay the money he owed the CPC during the Rajapaksa regime and pay it immediately after the fall of the former regime?” sources added. After Mahinda Rajapaksa became President, Sajin Vass was appointed Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Mihin Lanka in 2006 where he is accused of involvement in many controversies and mismanagement of Mihin Lanka funds which led to the airline suffering huge losses and eventually became bankrupt.

Whilst at Mihin Lanka, Vass formed his own company in Singapore under his wife’s initials, TPL, Inter Pvt LTD, and allegedly got this company to provide ground handling work for Mihin Lanka. It is also alleged that this company procured ground handling equipment on outright payment and leased them to the airline where Vass was CEO for Colombo operations at US $ 223,000 per month.It is also learnt how Sajin Vass had got the airline to pay TPL a two month’s rental as a security deposit. It was during this time that Mihin Lanka had obtained a five-year loan to the tune of US $500,000 from TPL at a higher interest rate of 18% and an additional 4% as a penalty for any delayed payments of rental on ground handling equipment to TPL.

On the instructions of Sajin Vass, it is alleged the airline obtained two aircrafts from Bulgaria on a wet lease for a high rental. Mihin Lanka leased one A320 aircraft from Bulgaria for 300 block hours and paid US $3,800 per block hour. However according to airline experts, although Mihin Lanka paid such an enormous amount per block hour, the same aircraft could have been leased for US$ 1,990. The sources further said the second aircraft which too was on a wet lease incurred more losses to the company.

“The agreement was to use the second aircraft for a minimum of 350 block hours at a rate of US $ 2,300 per hour. This aircraft was brought to the country in a rush but the airline was unable to get the necessary clearance for its operation which led Mihin Lanka to house the 24 member crew in a hotel in Katunayake for seven weeks until the first commercial flight took off on April 24. It is estimated that the total loss to the airline by not operating these 49 days was US$759,000 whilst the crew members had to be paid an allowance of US$71,040 and the accommodation cost for the hotel in Katunayake was US$53,280,” sources claimed.

Meanwhile there are also questions about how Sajin Vass obtained money to purchase small aircraft and helicopters for Cosmos Aviation Services (Pvt) Ltd. According to details this newspaper is in possession of, Cosmos Aviation had purchased a 4R RVG Cessna 152 for US$ 46,900 on June 10, 2014 while a second-hand 4R AVG Cessna 172 had been purchased on January 15, 2014 for US$ 60,000. Meanwhile, another 4R TDA Cessna 152 aircraft had been purchased by Cosmos Aviation for US$ 38,000 while a 4R SAV RA 34 200T had been purchased for US$ 80,000 and a 4R SAK Robinson 66 for USD 1,000,000.

“For a person who was leading an ordinary life before entering politics, it is questionable as to how he could accumulate such a large wealth as to own a fleet of aircraft and to operate a flying school of his own. Why cannot the CID, the FCID and the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption take action against Sajin Vass? It is surprising as to why no action against this suspect is being taken simply because he has become a state witness. Have the Police provided any other state witness in this country with at least one police constable to ensure their safety?” sources queried.

The controversial former Monitoring MP for the External Affairs Ministry is also accused of slapping former Sri Lankan High Commissioner in UK, Dr. Chris Nonis in September 2014 in the USA but no action was taken against Vass by his friend Mahinda Rajapaksa.

Many attempts were made to contact Secretary Law and Order and Prisons Reforms Jagath Wijeweera to find out as to why MSD security and backup vehicles had been provided to Sajin Vass and whether all other state witnesses are also given such security, Wijeweera was not available for comment. Although a text message was sent to him seeking a comment, he did not respond till the paper went to print.

Defence Secretary Karunasena Hettiarachchi when contacted wanted this paper to call him later but he never answered the calls thereafter.

Debt-ridden Sri Lanka snuggles up to China again at India’s expense

Sri Lanka owes $8 billion as debt to China and it announced recently that it was looking to convert a portion of this debt into equity.

By Sachin Parashar, TNN | 1 May, 2016, 10.39AM IST

NEW DELHI: India is hoping to host Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena this month for a multi-religious event at Ujjain which will be inaugurated by PM Narendra Modi. The visit by Sirisena, if it happens, will come at a time when India's strategic gains in the island nation over the past 15 months, or since the ouster of Sirisena's predecessor Mahinda Rajapaksa, seem to be fast petering out.

India was looking to sign an Economic and Technology Cooperation Agreement (ETCA) with Sri Lanka, which the two countries decided to negotiate after Lanka backed out of CEPA, but the proposal has run into resistance from the Rajapaksa-led Joint Opposition. China has managed to not just revive its flagship $1.4 billion Colombo Port City project, but it is now also engaged in expansion of major infrastructure projects it built in the past and which were seen as impracticable until recently.

These projects include expansion of the Hambantota port and the Mattala airport which were built by the Chinese under Rajapaksa and whose commercial viability was always suspect. China and Sri Lanka, in fact, are now also considering setting up an SEZ in what is also Rajapaksa's home district.

While Sri Lanka has assured India that it won't allow China any outright ownership of land as part of the Colombo Port project, its revival of Chinese projects, according to strategic affairs expert Brahma Chellaney, is likely to have a long-term geopolitical significance.

"Lanka, under Maithripala Sirisena's government, has reversed course and is returning into China's embrace, in part because of its precarious balance-of-payments situation and in part because Indian diplomacy still lacks teeth," says Chellaney.

Sri Lanka owes $8 billion as debt to China and it announced recently that it was looking to convert a portion of this debt into equity for infrastructure investment by Chinese companies.

As India implores China to distance itself from terrorists operating out of Pakistan, Chellaney says Sirisena's government knows that India will impose no strategic costs for reviving the very Chinese projects that Sirisena had put on hold after coming to power. "It now appears that Rajapaksa's ouster only temporarily represented a setback for China's 'string of pearls' strategy in the Indian Ocean," he says.

In fact, after PM Ranil Wickremesinghe's visit to China last month during which he reiterated Lanka's endorsement of Beijing's Maritime Silk Road, Rajapaksa was quoted as saying that he stood vindicated by the Lankan government's recent actions.

It was Rajapaksa who drove Lanka into the arms of China as his election as president in 2005 coincided with China's growing role in the infrastructure sector. China's "no-strings overseas aid and loans" policy extended through offers to Rajapaksa soon saw China replacing Japan as largest donor to Lanka. The Rajapaksa government accepted these loans at a very high rate of interest and this is mainly responsible for the debt Sri Lanka now owes to China.

China provided assistance worth $5.056 billion to Sri Lanka between 1971 and 2012. Around $4.7 billion of this amount, or 94 per cent, came after Rajapaksa came to power in 2005. China committed funding worth another $2.18 billion after 2012, mostly loans at high rate of interest

Now, while PM Ranil Wickremesinghe remains committed to signing ETCA this year, he is having to stave off serious resistance from the Rajapaksa-led Opposition which has stoked fears about the agreement leading to loss of jobs in the country in the services sector.

As a Lankan diplomat told TOI, there are many in Lanka who believe that CEPA, which the government abandoned after many rounds of negotiations, is now making a back door entry through ETCA. The Modi government clearly has its work cut out in its ties with India's most strategically located neighbour in the Indian Ocean.

Port City project resumes

By Sulochana Ramiah Mohan-2016-05-01

The long awaited resumption of the US$ 1.4 billion mega Port City Project got under way last week under the direction of the Urban Development Authority (UDA), which comes under the Ministry of Megapolis.
According to a senior official of the China Harbour Engineering Company Limited (CHEC), the contractor for the China Communications Construction Company Ltd,. (CCCC) , they have begun recruiting workers for the project. The recruitment process would continue over the next two to three months.

The official confirmed that a couple of legal issues relating to the project are now being handled by the Ministry of Megapolis, coordinated by the Sri Lanka Ports Authority, which was handling the project during the Rajapaksa regime.
The Chinese official declined to comment on what arrangement has been agreed to in connection with the US$ 125

million financial penalties the contractors were entitled to by the suspension of the project by the GoSL on 6 March 2015.
Secretary to the Ministry of Megapolis Nihal Rupasinghe told Ceylon Today that the penalty commitments will not be met because the subsequent Environmental Impact Assessments indicated lapses in adhering to stipulated criteria which are prerequisites for approval of such projects. The project was put on hold expressly because of those lapses, he said.
"Our client CHEC is negotiating with us and within the next month we will come to an amicable settlement on penalty matters" he added.

The CHEC official said they have already about 30 personnel working on the project and they have also begun recruiting local labourers. "Gradually we will accelerate the work and as the monsoon is nearing we are only doing the preparatory work," he added.

He added that reclamation of land will be completed within the next three years and thereafter the reclaimed areas will be handed over to the government so that it can lease it out to local or international investors. He added that they have obtained a USD 100 million loan from the Chinese Development Bank for the reclamation of the land. That loan approval would however be now revised with responsibility passing on to the UDA .
However, Secretary Rupasinghe added that the government has not agreed to pay the penalty but lifted the suspension of the project to work under the Ministry of Megapolis. "On the penalty matter, he said they are still negotiating and will soon derive to a healthy amicable settlement."

He also added that there are 74 conditions both parties will have to agree upon and that is in progress. "Once those concession agreements are studied, will sign the agreement," he said. However, he added, "the work has resumed and in three months times the project will accelerate and within next three years the land reclamation will be completed." He said the project will employs about 4,000 locals.
Pic Laksiri Rukman

Chava explosives: Key suspects flee to India

MP Sumanthiran says Sivakaran, Sasitharan suspended in the run-up to last prez polls

Sivakaran

By Shamindra Ferdinando-May 1, 2016

Investigations reveal that some of those wanted in connection with the chance detection of an explosive haul including a suicide vest at Chavakachcheri during the last week of March have fled to India.

Police spokesman Ruwan Gunasekera yesterday told The Island that a person identified as S. Sivakaran arrested in Mannar on April 27 was believed to have helped the wanted persons escape.

The Terrorist Investigation Division (TID) produced Sivakaran in Chavakachcheri Magistrate’s Court. He was later bailed out. The Magistrate barred him from leaving the country for one year.

Responding to a query by The Island, ASP Gunasekera said that the Attorney General would decide whether Sivakaran could turn a state witness.

Tamil National Alliance (TNA) spokesperson and Jaffna District MP M. A. Sumanthiran yesterday told The Island that the Illankai Thamil Arasu Kadchi (ITAK) had suspended Sivakaran from the post of Secretary of the Youth Wing of the ITAK in the run-up to the last presidential election.

ITAK is the largest constituent of the four party TNA.

Attorney-at-law Sumanthiran said that the party had suspended both Sivakaran and Northern Provincial Council member Ananthi Sasitharan after they publicly denounced TNA’s decision to back Maithripala Sirisena’s candidature at the last presidential polls. Sasitharan had been the joint secretary of the ITAK’s Women’s Wing.

MP Sumanthiran said both Sivakaran and Sasitharan had been suspended pending internal inquiry.

Among those arrested in connection with the Chavakachcheri explosives haul are former Trincomalee leader of the LTTE Intelligence Wing in Tricomalee Kalai Arasan alias Arivalahan, former Special Commander of the Charles Anthony Brigade Ganapathipillai Sivamurthi alias Nagulan, former Ampara District LTTE Commander Deemalasingham Arichchandran alias Ramand and an LTTE cadre identified as Damotharan Jayakanth. The TID arrested Ram on April 24. Thalaiarasan and Nagulan were arrested on April 25 and 26, respectively.

ASP Gunasekera said key suspects had been detained under PTA pending investigations. The police spokesman said that in addition to those arrested in April, the police had arrested Edward Julian alias Ramesh on March 29 while he was fleeing following the detection of explosives.

The Washington-based PEARL (People for Equality and Relief in Lanka) in a statement demanded the immediate release of all those detained under the PTA . The organisation urged the United States to strongly and publicly urge Sri Lanka to abide by its domestic and international promises, by releasing detainees and taking immediate action to repeal the PTA in law and practice. The organisation emphasized the need to release Sivakaran immediately alleging that he was arrested soon after he criticised the arrest of Tamils under the PTA.

Asked whether he was in a position to deny police claim pertaining to Sivakaran alleged involvement with some LTTE cadres wanted in connection with Chavakachcheri explosives haul, PEARL spokesperson said: "The PTA has been internationally discredited and the Sri Lankan government itself has pledged to review and repeal it, including in the UN resolution co-sponsored by the government. To continue arresting and abducting Tamils under the act is completely unacceptable. It is the act that allows the state to hold Tamils without charging them of any crimes. Sri Lanka must act immediately to release all those detained under the act and repeal the law at once."

The police spokesperson acknowledged that the persons in custody were the senior most LTTE cadres arrested after the conclusion of the war in May, 2009.

Fresh Concerns As Authorities Resort To Unlawful Arrests In The North

May 1, 2016

Fresh concern has been expressed over the failure to follow proper procedure when carrying out arrests of former-LTTE cadres, among others in the North last month.

Following the discovery of a cache of weapons used by the LTTE in the north last month leading to security concerns that the LTTE is seeking to regroup, there has been many arrests including of former LTTE cadres who had failed to surrender to the government at the end of the war nor gone through the required rehabilitation process.

Sagala Ratnayaka – Minister of Law & Order

“It is reported that there have been over 23 arrests in the past month. This has led to opposition parties to claim that national security is under threat by the LTTE and those who continue to support it. On the other hand, these arrests, and the manner in which they are taking place, are creating a sense of fear and foreboding amongst the people in the north,” the National Peace Council said.

The National Peace Council is concerned about reports from the north which indicate that legal procedures have not been followed in the case of many of these arrests. “One of the most feared features of the previous government was its utilization of security forces personnel to take away those it perceived to be threats, enemies or suspects in what became known as “white van abductions.” Although the new government recognized the flawed nature of the Prevention of Terrorism Act, which has lower protections for suspects, and pledged to review and repeal it, the law remains in force and security forces continue to use it,” NPC said.

The present government won two successive national elections last year on the votes of ethnic and religious minorities who had become the focus of governmental impunity and virtually unanimously voted against the former government. The government has also committed itself to a process of transitional justice in which the truths about the past will be ascertained, accountability for war crimes and human rights violations will be ensured which include the wrongs of all sides, and there will be institutional reforms so that the past does not recur.

Suspect arrested while receiving Rs. 250,000 as ransom

2016-05

The Colombo Crime Division (CCD) today arrested a suspect on charges of taking Rs.250,000 as ransom from a businessman.

Police said the man was arrested while receiving the ransom near a filling station in Borella after the victim informed the police about the extortion threats.

The suspect has asked for the ransom after scaring the businessman over the mobile phone with death threats to family members.

The arrested man was remanded till May 13 when produced in the Hulftsdorp Magistrate’s Court today.