Day: 10 November 2014

State racism and sexism in post-war Sri Lanka

Karu

Central to the resurgence of Sinhala Buddhist nationalism in post-war Sri Lanka is a redefinition of gender role and identities. Familial ideology is a key pillar of this discourse with serious adverse implications for women and gender equality The bloody end to Sri Lanka’s civil war in May 2009 inaugurated a renewed upsurge in Sinhala Buddhist ethno-nationalism. Its outlines were clarified by President Rajapakse himself in his first post-war speech to parliament when he said: “the word minorities have been removed from our vocabulary” and claimed that “no longer are…

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Ranil Wants CBK To Be UNP Presidential Candidate!

Karu

Asian Mirror is now in a position to reveal that UNP Leader Ranil Wickremasinghe is behind Malik Samarawickrama’s move to field former President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga as the presidential candidate of the main opposition party. Malik Samarawickrama is a former Chairman of the UNP and a close ally of UNP Leader Wickremasinghe. It has now come to the limelight that Samarawickrama is acting as the party leader’s proxy in this fresh operation. Wickremasinghe – who was Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga’s main opponent at the presidential election in 1999 – has now…

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SLMC Denies Muslim Eelam Allegation

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Request for separate admin district for Ampara By Waruni Karunarathne With the resolution passed by the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) asking for a separate administrative district for the Muslims in Ampara, many directed accusations at the SLMC stating that it is an attempt to create a Muslim Eelam. Denying such allegations, the SLMC insists that they do not look for a separate state for Muslims but their proposal was only to create a separate administrative district for the Muslims in Ampara as Muslim majority in the area is facing…

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India’s Duty To Step In, Protect Tamils’ – Wigneswaran

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Making a case for India’s effective intervention in ensuring the safety and security of the Tamil-speaking people in his country, Sri Lanka’s Northern Province Chief Minister C V Wigneswaran on Sunday accused the Mahinda Rajapaksa government of obstructing the UN-mandated war crimes probe. He charged that the government was arresting and intimidating those who try to gather evidence in connection with the investigation relating to crimes by the regime during the Eelam war in 2006-2009. “The state does not want to allow evidence to leave the shores of the country…

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Video: Parties agree on common candidate

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Mangala To Hold Back: Multiple Parties Exert Pressure UNP Matara District Parliamentarian Mangala Samaraweera is likely to revise his previous decision to join the government, Asian Mirror reliably learns. Samaraweera, who was scheduled to arrive in Colombo yesterday after a brief visit to Singapore, has prolonged his tour by a few more days. Sources close to Samaraweera added that the Parliamentarian would return to Sri Lanka on Thursday. Moves to field a UNP-backed common candidate at the forthcoming presidential election have compelled Samaraweera to have second thoughts about his decision.…

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TN CM rejects DMK demand on Lanka

Karu

Rebuking DMK leader M K Stalin for demanding an assembly session to discuss the issue of five Indian fishermen facing death row in Sri Lanka, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister O Panneerselvam on Monday listed out his government’s initiatives in this regard, saying the former’s efforts to “fish in troubled waters” will not fructify, The Hindu newspaper reported. “While this government is expediting all steps to save the five fishermen, I wish to inform that his (Stalin’s) intentions of trying to fish in troubled waters will not fructify,” the Chief Minister…

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5 Tamil fishermen on death row in Sri Lanka to be transferred to India

Karu

CHENNAI: Sri Lanka will transfer all the five fishermen, who had been sentenced to death on the charge of drug trafficking, to India, a CNN IBN report said quoting BJP leader Subramanian Swamy. This will come as a huge relief to the fishermen and their families. Television reports said that the deadlock was broken after Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke with Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa on the issue, according to a tweet from Dr Swamy. The fishermen will be transferred to an Indian jail, reports said. “Namo and Rajapaksa…

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‘Sri Lanka has not implemented death penalty since 1976’

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Northern Province Chief Minister C.V. Wigneswaran, currently in Chennai, said he had explained this to the families of the five Tamil fishermen awarded the sentence by a Colombo court recently. In what could be a major relief to the five Tamil fishermen who have been awarded death sentence by the Sri Lankan High Court on drug trafficking charges, the country’s Northern Province Chief Minister C.V. Wigneswaran said his country had not implemented death sentence since 1976…………..…. read all India pushes presidential pardon for fishermen India wants Sri Lanka to take…

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Scotland girl attacked and feared she was going to be abducted in Sri Lanka by Government Ministers Son.

Karu

Six accomplices of Malaka Silva, son of Minister Mervyn Silva, allegedly involved in the assault of a foreign couple at a nightclub, are still at large, though they have been identified, police said. The suspects were identified through CCTV footage from the Rhythm and Blues nightclub where the alleged assault took place in the early hours of November 1. Details of the alleged assault surfaced this week as a team from the Colombo Crime Division (CCD) led by OIC Neville Silva conducted investigations. James Casserly, 43, from Scotland, who was…

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We Do Not Want To Decide Anything – M. A. Sumanthiran

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The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) expressed their doubts about the procedures followed to seek Supreme Court interpretation to determine whether President Mahinda Rajapaksa could contest the presidential election for the third term or not. Speaking to The Sunday Leader TNA MP M. A. Sumanthiran said that the Supreme Court interpretation on constitution is very important but the manner in which they are making the interpretation is not right. Excerpts of the interview: By Waruni Karunarathne Q: Was there a need for the President to actually go through the Supreme Court to seek…

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Britain encourages more SL businesses to come to UK market

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British High Commissioner John Rankin being presented with a memento by Thilak Godamanna, Snr. Deputy President, National Chamber with Sujeeve Samaraweera Speech made by the British High Commissioner John Rankin at the session on “Bilateral Trade Between Sri Lanka and U.K” on October 29 at the National Chamber of Commerce. “As British High Commissioner I have many tasks in representing the United Kingdom’s interests here in Sri Lanka. But one of the most rewarding tasks is the promotion of the commercial relations between our two countries”. “Promoting commercial relations and…

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