Day: 21 November 2014

By Shyamon Jayasinghe – Strange things sometimes happen with canny drama. It was only two days ago- last Wednesday evening (20th November)-that I played the DVD of theGandhi movie to educate my young grandson. Just as India was about to get independence after the long Gandhi-led struggle Ali Jinnah, one of the leaders of the national struggle, expressed his decision to go for a separate Pakistan explaining that “Muslims cannot have the British removed in order to be ruled by Hindus.”  Throughout the campaign for Indian independence the Muslim-Hindu mutual tension had…

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I hope to serve the country more in future – Maithripala SLFP defectors stripped of posts and party membership Sri Lanka’s ruling party today said all Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) MPs who defected from the government with the Common Opposition Candidate Maithripala Sirisena have been stripped of their ministerial portfolios and party membership with immediate effect. MORE.. I will contest as the Common Candidate – Maithripala Sirisena Dealing a massive blow to the ruling UPFA alliance ahead of the presidential polls, Minister Maithripala Sirisena, who is the General Secretary…

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Any intelligent person will agree that communal politics have been the bane of this country. Instead of looking at issues from a national point of view, the communal perspective encourages a narrower approach, each group claiming as large a piece of the pie as an entitlement, indifferent to the consequences to the whole. It reduces men to the lowest definition; their particularities are emphasised while ignoring commonalities with the rest. The idea of a nation ought to bind people together in a common identity. Communal politics on the other hand…

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A protest was staged in Jaffna today calling for the release of the three Sri Lankans who were sentenced to death together with five Indians. The five Indians were yesterday pardoned by President Mahinda Rajapaksa but the three Sri Lankans are still in jail serving a life sentence. The family members of the Sri Lankans and others staged a protest walk in Jaffna which began from opposite the Jaffna prison this morning. The five Indians were freed following protests in India and the intervention of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The Indians…

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Land grabbing and pricing This precipitates a situation where the vegetable and paddy farmer has to get into debt during the period (in paddy, the Yala and Maha seasons) of production. They either have to obtain loans through banks or privately, failing which they resort to pawning jewellery and possessions………….READ ALL Minister promises CEB manpower workers to be made permanent Minister of Power and Energy, Pavithra Wanniarachchi, assured yesterday that nearly 5,000 manpower contract employees working in the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) will be absorbed into the permanent cadre with…

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Govt. brands Solheim a liar The government today branded the Development Assistance Committee (OECD) Chairman and former Norwegian Sri Lanka peace negotiator Eric Solheim ‘a liar and a supporter of terrorists’ who was in cahoots with the LTTE.  Responding to a journalist at todays’ weekly cabinet news briefing, Cabinet spokesman and Minister Keheliya Rambukwella said Eric Solheim who had a soft spot for separatist terrorists always acted against the Sri Lankan government and armed forces.  “It was he who arranged to transport high-tech communication equipment to the North for the…

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My dad armed Mahattaya says Sajith United National Party (UNP) Deputy Leader Sajith Premadasa says his father armed Gopalaswamy Mahendraraja, also known as Mahattaya, in an attempt to split the LTTE. Speaking at an event in Tissamaharama today, Premadasa said that his father, former Prime Minister Ranasinghe Premadasa, had not armed Mahattaya to split the country but split the LTTE………………  READ ALL Of that elephantine dilemma Everybody knew there would be a snap presidential election early next year and now President Mahinda Rajapaksa has announced it officially. The SLFP has unanimously decided that…

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At the United National Party (UNP) working committee meeting tomorrow (Nov 21) it is to be decided whether UNP leader Ranil Wickremesinghe or Minister Maithripala Sirisena is to be fielded as the ‘common candidate’ at the upcoming presidential election. If Minister Maithripala Sirisena is to be fielded as the common candidate, the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) and the Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU) have agreed to extend their support, reports say. According to UNP internal sources, the contesting of the presidential election by a common front and under a common symbol…

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