October 2017

Judging by the debate initiated by  Lord Nasby PC, it is clear that Mahinda Rajapaksha do have friends in the British establishment. He believes killing of 40,000 civilians is wrong but killing of 8,000 Tamil Civilians is ok and not War crime. He also believes that White flag killing of surrendered LTTE Leaders by the Sri Lankan Army, who surrendered with White Flag after UN officials negotiated the surrender was ok and should be ignored. Lord Naseby has given misleading testimony to the House of Lords, and his remarks have been picked up in Sri Lanka and are being used in defence of the regime. Lord Nasby a well known friend of Mahinda regime who is accused of enjoying Free holidays sponsored by Sri Lankan […]

By Shaahidah Riza The Tamil community in the country must be given some sort of power through the new Constitution, and their concerns must be addressed, lest another war may take place, said State Minister for City Planning and Water Supply, Sudarshini Fernandopulle. In an interview with Ceylon Today she emphasised that a draft constitution has not yet been released and that public misconception pertaining to an imminent Constitution is solely based on the reports published by various parties. Excerpts follow: The Prime Minister in his economic statement noted that the present situation in the private sector on maternity benefits and access to tertiary and vocational education facility will be improved in relation to women. In what capacity will this take place? A. There is […]

Colombo, Oct 30 Tamil political representatives’ acceptance of proposals in the interim report of the Constitutional Assembly represents a “historic” moment for Sri Lanka, a senior TNA legislator told parliament here today. The Tamil National Alliance’s M A Sumanthiran was addressing the House when it met as the Constitutional Assembly started discussions on the interim report of the all-party steering committee in order to formulate a new Constitution to replace the existing 1978 charter. “This is a historic moment that Tamil party representatives have agreed to the proposals made in the interim report. Let all join and support this,” he said. The three-day debate is aimed at discussing the interim report against which majority Buddhist religious leaders have already expressed opposition. Senior Buddhist monks have […]

Six suspects found guilty over the attack on Douglas Devananda at the Kalutara Prison in 1998, have been sentenced to 10 and a half years of rigorous imprisonment by the Colombo High Court. Delivering a verdict in the long dragged out case, which was heard without the presence of any defendants, High Court Judge Piyasena Ranasinghe delivered the sentence today (30). A total of 16 accused had been charged over the incident while 9 of them including former top LTTE member Anton Chamil Lakshmi Kannan alias ‘Emil Kanthan’ were acquitted in the case. One of the accused had previously pleaded guilty and had been sentenced by court. Devananda, the leader of Eelam People’s Democratic Party (EPDP), was injured following an attack with sharp objects at […]

Former Deputy Minister Vinayagamoorthy Muralitharan alias Karuna Amman has been exonerated by the Colombo Magistrate’s Court from the case filed against him regarding the alleged misuse of state vehicles. When the case was taken up before the Colombo Chief Magistrate Lal Ranasinghe today (30), the FCID informed the court that the Attorney General has decided not to take any further action regarding the defendant. Therefore they requested the former deputy minister be exonerated from the case. After considering the fact presented the, magistrate ordered the accused be exonerated and also ordered to hand over the vehicle in question, which had been released on a bond, to the Presidential Secretariat. The former top LTTE military commander who later became Deputy Minister of National Integration in the […]

Gota’s “Vipath maga” (Disaster route) is “Terrorist route”: Those supporting new constitution shall be murdered (Video) More evidence in proof of murder committed by Nandikadal Kamal Gunaratne when he was Dep. Ambassador ! Major General Kamal Gunaratne seized me by the neck and assaulted me while threatening to break all my bones’ -16 years old D.S. student lodges complaint with Cinnamon gardens police Damning Expose`: SL Dep. Ambassador Kamal Gunaratne brutally murdered his worker in Brazil..! BY Lucien Rajakarunanayake The debate on a new constitution is certainly gathering force, but regrettably it is largely a distorted debate due to deliberate efforts by those clearly opposed to a new constitution being adopted in the country, presenting the Interim Report of the Steering Committee of the Constitutional Assembly, which […]

National Freedom Front (NFF) leader Wimal Weerawansa is in a midst of a controversy over his remarks that Parliament should be bombed in case it approves a Constitution based on the interim report of the Steering Committee of the Constitutional Assembly (CA). The report was submitted to the Parliament by the Prime Minister and Chairman of the Steering Committee Ranil Wickremesinghe on September 21. Weerawansa’s statement gets more importance considering the fact that he was a leader of a political party that had once involved in a bomb attack inside the Parliament. And Deputy Minister Ashu Marasinghe reminded the country on Tuesday that it was Werawansa’s brother-in-law who lobbed that bomb into a room where the then ruling party’s parliamentary group headed by President J.R. Jayawardene had […]

The Attorney General yesterday told the Supreme Court that Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan alias Pillayan, the former Chief Minister of the Eastern Province, had been indicted in the High Court of Batticaloa, for the murder of Joseph Pararajasinghem, TNA member of Parliament for Batticaloa District. The murder was committed on or about Dec. 5, 2005. There are seven accused in the indictment. Pillayan is the seventh. The trial has been fixed for Nov. 6, 7 and 17. The Tamil politicians, Journalists who expose  corruption of the government MP’s, Human rights activists were killed by Para military group run by the Mahinda government. Pillayan, Karuna and others who opposed LTTE were used to do the dirty work by the Mahinda government. In addition to LTTE opposers Some of […]

Govt yet to capitalise on Lord Naseby’s call to UK parliament Request to lower death toll from 40,000 to 8,000 War crimes: By Shamindra Ferdinando Cabinet spokesman and Sports Minister Dayasiri Jayasekera yesterday said that the government could act on Lord Naseby’s recent call to Theresa May’s government in the UK to review the much-touted UN allegation that 40,000 Tamil civilians perished on the Vanni front in 2009 in the final phase of the war. Minister Jayasekera said so when The Island asked whether the cabinet of ministers had discussed Naseby’s Oct 12, 2017 declaration in British parliament that as there couldn’t have been more than 8,000 deaths, the UK government should intervene on behalf of Sri Lanka to set the record straight. The issue […]

It is hard to refute the assertion that the conflict in Sri Lanka between the Sinhala-dominated state and the Tamil people is directly attributable to the unitary constitution under which the island was granted its independence by Britain in 1948. Unitary constitutions crafted on the principle of “one person, one vote” results in political power residing mainly with the majority nation to the detriment of the numerically smaller nations in a multinational state. Faced with disenfranchisement, discrimination and denial of fundamental rights, the beleaguered Tamil leadership demanded a federal constitution, widely regarded as an antidote to the “tyranny of the majority.” When this was denied and periodic pogroms were unleashed to beat the Tamils into submission, they escalated their demand by calling for independence. The […]

by Tassie Seneviratne Much has been published in the media and also shown in TV Talk-Shows about politicians not honouring promises made during election times and rather than wiping out corruption as promised and bringing to book those who have resorted to corruption, there is unprecedented corruption on the part of the present ‘Yahapalanaya Government’. Whilst fully agreeing with these comments, I see another dimension beyond the usual politicians’ promises. The Government we have now in Sri Lanka is not one elected on the merits and trustworthiness of the promises of the leaders of the two governing political parties as such, but stopgaps hoisted by ‘People Power’ generated by the late Sobitha Thera harnessing the numerous organizations, civil society bodies and religious leaders that ousted […]

National Freedom Front leader and Joint Opposition firebrand, Wimal Weerawansa, MP, has, true to form, rattled the cage of many a government politician. He said, with his trademark grin, that a bomb should be dropped on Parliament unless at least 76 MPs opposed constitutional reforms, thereby, denying the government a two-thirds majority. The yahapalana leaders have thrown up their hands in horror, asking for protection. At least, that is what Speaker Karu Jayasuriya has told the media; he has threatened action against Weerawansa for issuing what is being described as a threat. Most of the yahapalana politicians in the current government were part of the UNP-led UNF administration from 2001 to 2004. They never so much as uttered a whimper of protest, let alone take […]

The world is going from bad to worse, day by day; with the spread of conflict, terrorism, political instability, poverty and impending economic crises spreading like wind. At times, the interpretation of religious teachings too cause controversy and can wreak havoc. However, above all Buddhism is purely based on nonviolence. Yet, in countries such as Myanmar, Sri Lanka and Tibet a group of monks (not all of them) have been behaving in a violent manner, at times even with the support of political leadership in those countries. They are unnecessarily influencing the country’s political affairs and spreading racism. In summary, they promote violence, which can be considered as deeply disrespectful to the Lord Buddha who endorsed a philosophy of non-violence. The Purpose of Buddhism Buddhism […]

The Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) or (Sri Lanka People’s Front) a known extremist party will commence a series of public rallies from November onward to ask  the public to reject the proposed Constitutional reforms which will give some powers to provincial governments. If Mahinda group loose the battle their fraudulent earnt assets will be exposed and eventually they will loos millions of their short earned fraudulent money. The SLPP conducted a series of seminars in 20 districts island-wide during the weekend of 21 and 22, October, asking their political activists to oppose the proposed constitution so that the minorities will continuously be discriminated. It was said that the racist card of Sinhala only policy can keep their new party gain support in Sinhala areas as they are well aware […]

By Thambiththurai Piratheepan Jaffna High Court Judge M. Illanchelian has issued an order prohibiting animal sacrifices at temples in Jaffna. In that Order, the Judge has directed the Deputy Inspector General of Police for Jaffna to prevent animal sacrifices at Hindu temples and to arrest anyone found involved in the animal sacrifice ritual at Hindu temples. The All Island Saiva Maha Saba had filed a case in the Jaffna High Court seeking an order prohibiting animal sacrifices at Hindu temples. The Saiva Maha Saba had pointed out that the local bodies grant permission for animal sacrifices at Hindu temples but the Public Health Officials are also ignorant about the practice. Jaffna High Court Judge Illanchelian, issuing the Order, strictly prohibited the sacrifice of animals at […]