The US State Department has amended its Foreign Terrorist Organisations (FTO) list and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) remains to be a banned organisation in it, the State Department said. Under the Designated Foreign Terrorist Organizations list, the LTTE can be seen listed as an organisation designated since 10/8/1997. In a release issued …
England’s management have insisted they are “not concerned” despite two members of staff at their hotel in Galle testing positive for Covid-19. The England camp were notified on Friday morning that two staff members, both of whom work in the kitchen of the hotel, had tested positive for the virus in tests conducted on Thursday. …
England ‘unconcerned’ by hotel staff’s positive Covid tests Read More »
By Kumar David – Prof. Kuma David He hath scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts And put down the mighty from their seats. (Luke 1:51-52) Madmen have been Emperors, Kings and Presidents; Caligula, George III and Idi Amin who allegedly chopped up his Chief Justice Kabimu Kiwanuka, preserved body parts in a fridge and ate …
Sivanesathurai Chandrarakanthan alias Pilleyan was arrested by the CID in October 2015 in connection with the assassination of former TNA parliamentarian Joseph Pararajasingham. After his arrest, they wanted to record statements from two key witnesses in the incident to continue the investigation. As the statements had to be recorded in Tamil, a Tamil Sub Inspector …
A Statement by Human Rights Watch (Lanka-e-News -13.Jan.2021, 11.30PM) Sri Lanka’s human rights situation has seriously deteriorated under the administration of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, Human Rights Watch said today in its World Report 2021. Government security forces have increased intimidation and surveillance of human rights activists, victims of past abuses, lawyers, and journalists. Minority Muslim …
Sri Lanka: A Return to Threats, Fear: Crackdown on Critics, Disregard for Accountability Read More »
By N Sathiya Moorthy It could not have been timed better or worse – as the perpetrators, or those really behind the perpetrators, had wanted. A day, or night, to be precise, after the three-day visit of India’s External Affairs Minister (EAM), Subramanyam Jaiishankar’s ‘successful’ Colombo visit, came the news of the overnight destruction of …
What is good for Wayamba is good for Jaffna, too! Read More »
COLOMBO – Sri Lanka’s government said Monday (11) it would rebuild a memorial to Tamil civilians killed in the country’s civil war that was demolished at the weekend. The destruction of the monument at Jaffna University – depicting arms sticking out of a mound – prompted protests and threats of a general strike in areas where …
Sri Lanka to rebuild Tamil war memorial after protests Read More »
Wimal Dheerasekere writes (Lanka-e-News- 10.Jan.2021, 11.30PM) President Nandasena who was frowned by the action of opposition MP Harin Fernando at the parliament, posed a public threat that he is an executor that he would kill Harin as a dog as he killed Prabakaran. It is a wild event that the civilized world does not expect …
The All-Party Parliamentary Group for Tamils, a cross-party group of British parliamentarians, has condemned the destruction of the Mullivaikkal monument at Jaffna University. The group said it had called on the British Foreign Secretary to condemn the ‘vicious attack’ on Tamil remembrance. The incident has already drawn comment from Canada’s Foreign Minister, who said he …
British MPs call on Foreign Secretary to condemn monument destruction Read More »
The Vice Chancellor told Ceylon Today he received a‘classified’document demanding the demolition of the war memorial built in the university premises and could not disclose anything beyond that. Former Vice Chancellors were also ordered to demolish the structure but they did not carry out that order, he added. “It’s a classified document and I will …
VC received ‘classified’ instructions to demolish monument Read More »
By Ameer Ali – Dr. Ameer Ali Pei aracandal pinam thinnum caththirankal (when devil rules scholarship eats cadavar), wrote the famous Tamil poet Bharathi, in his memorable Panchali Cabatham. He was referring to the silence of the learned at Dhuriyothana’s court, when the ruler’s brother Dhuchchathana dragged Pandavas’ wife Dhrawpatha by her hair to be stripped in front of everyone. …
Irked by a critical parliamentary speech by an opposition MP, President Nandasena Gotabaya Rajapaksa yesterday showed chilling flashes of his old self in Ampara vowing to become “Defence Secretary Gotabaya” if necessary. Issuing a not-so-veiled threat against SJB MP Harin Fernando, President Rajapaksa warned that Buddhist monks were always telling him to stop being “President Gotabaya” and take on the …
Opposition Parliamentarian Harin Fernando has written to the Inspector General of Police demanding adequate security against a grave threat to his life after President Nandasena Gotabaya Rajapaksa referred to the MP by name in a speech in Ampara on Saturday while recalling that he had killed terrorist leader Prabakaran, a former adversary, “like a dog”. Harin During his speech, …
“President Insinuates He Is Capable Of Having Me Killed Like A Dog”: Harin Writes To IGP Read More »
The President will not only be defeated at the forthcoming election due to a coterie of money-grubbers that have surrounded him but any person even remotely connected to the government will not be able to meet the public to seek votes, Ven. Prof. Medagoda Abhayatissa Thero said addressing a press conference in Colombo. He emphasised …
President is surrounded by a group of money-grubbers: Ven. Prof. Medagoda Abhayatissa Read More »
Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) parliamentarian Harin Fernando has sought the intervention of the Inspector General of Police (IGP) to protect his life which has been placed under serious threat after President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s remarks at a function held in Ampara yesterday (09). The opposition lawmaker highlighted the fact that protecting the life and liberty of …
Opposition MP Harin writes to IGP over President’s chilling remarks Read More »
ECONOMYNEXT – Parliamentarian Harin Fernando’s now-famous speech delivered last week was, in many ways, a reflection of the deep anguish religious and ethnic minorities are dealing with the overtly discriminatory attitudes of the authorities. In his role as the enfant terrible of the Samagi Jana Balavegaya, Fernando spoke primarily of the fallacy of the government’s slogan of …
Discrimination against minorities, what is the ‘End Game’? Read More »
ECONOMYNEXT – Sri Lanka’s decision to indefinitely postpone Provincial Council (PC) elections controversially was made due to sustained pressure from Sinhala Nationalist organisations who argue that the government had pledged to do away with the PCs during the election campaign. On Tuesday, Environment Minister Mahinda Amaraweera told reporters the leaders of the political parties in …
PC polls postponement partly due pressure from Sinhala Nationalist Read More »
ECONOMYNEXT – India has “conveyed that Sri Lanka should uphold the commitments made by the Sri Lankan Government on meaningful devolution,” Delhi’s External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar has told the Sunday Virakesari. In an exclusive interview with Virakesari Political Correspondent R Ram, Jaishankar also emphasized that the “process of reconciliation with the implementation of the 13th Amendment needs …
India will hold Sri Lanka to its commitments on reconciliation Read More »
Jaishankar remarked that India, ‘a dependable partner’ said is ‘open to strengthening its relationship with Sri Lanka on the basis of mutual trust, mutual interest, mutual respect and mutual sensitivity’ Sri Lanka has also signalled a unilateral shift away from once a growing thaw with America, and its traditional development partner, Japan. Indian External Affairs …
The Supreme Court has sentenced parliamentarian Ranjan Ramanayake to 04 years of rigorous imprisonment over a case of Contempt of Court, stated Ada Derana reporter. Last month, the Supreme Court judge bench scheduled further clarifications on the contempt of court case for today (January 12). A three-judge bench comprising Justices Sisira de Abrew, Vijith Malalgoda, …
