Day: 16 December 2014

Mahinda supporters EPDP panicking on Mahinda’s unpopularity in North

Karu

EPDP is a strong supporter of the President Mahinda Rajapaksha who is very unpopular in North for killing more than 40,000 Tamil Civilians in month of May 2009 alone. Due to the Presidential election to be held on the 8th of January the EPDP are trying to create uncomfortable situation in the North and make the public NOT to vote on the 8th as the public will vote for Mithiri if they go to vote as they don’t like Mahinda or his supporters of EPDP. The Tamil and Muslim voters…

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Pakistan Taliban kill 126 School Children like the Sri Lankan forces killed Tamil school Children

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At least 126 people, mostly children, have been killed in a Taliban assault on an Army-run school in the Pakistani city of Peshawar, officials say. Five or six militants wearing security uniforms entered the school, officials said. Gunfire and explosions were heard as security forces surrounded the area. The Army says most of the school’s 500 students have been evacuated. It is not clear how many are being held hostage. A spokesman for the militants says the school was targeted in response to army operations. Hundreds of Taliban fighters are thought to…

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8 More Councillors desert Mahinda for Maithri

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More desert UPFA for Maithri By Zahrah Imtiaz and Rathindra Kuruwita Eight Local Government councillors, from the United People Freedom Alliance (UPFA), crossed over to the common Opposition yesterday (16) to extend their support to Maithripala Sirisena, citing corruption and nepotism as the main reason for their decision. SLFP member of the Sri Jayewardenepura Kotte, Municipal Council (MC) Ranjan Ponnamperuma, SLFP Chairman of the Ja-Ela Urban Council, Anju Perera and Athula Senaratne, former SLFP Kandy Municipal Council Member and campaign organizer for Minister Jeevan Kumaratunga crossed over. Ponnamperuma, speaking at…

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Govt’s Mr. Moneybags Nadesan Stops Crossovers With Big Bucks

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As the Rajapaksa regime pulls out all stops to prevent further erosion to the opposition, the Colombo Telegraph can now exclusively reveal details about the money bags behind stopping defections from the ruling UPFA coalition. Thirukumar Nadesan, businessman and the husband of President Mahinda Rajapaksa‘s niece Nirupama Rajapaksais said to be offering large sums of money to UPFA members on the fence about who to support at the presidential election in January. The Rajapaksas have entrusted the moneybags to Nadesan, whose own track record on criminal financial activity could be…

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Old Mahinda Or New Maithri; Options For Tamils

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By Thambu Kanagasabai –  The next Presidential Election has pitted two candidates both belonging to the same party, Sri Lanka Freedom Party. One is sitting and the other a choice from circumstances, arising from the divisive and divided opposing parties and groups who got united for the common purpose to defeatRajapaksa’s family empire and their foot hold in Sri Lanka, while seeking personal revenge for the past acts of revenge. As far as the Tamils are concerned, Tamils have no reasons to cheer about this election. However, one thing remains…

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University bosses name new clinic in memory of former student murdered in Sri Lanka

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Khuram Shaikh was shot and stabbed to death on Christmas Day in 2011 while on holiday in the southern tourist resort of Tangalle University bosses have named a new clinic in memory of a former student and Red Cross worker murdered on holiday in Sri Lanka. The University of Salford has named the clinic, in the Brian Blatchford Building, after Khuram Shaikh – a former orthotics and prosthetics student killed on Christmas Day in 2011. Mr Shaikh died at the southern tourist resort of Tangalle after being shot and stabbed.…

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SRI LANKAN PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS: INDIA’S STANCE – ANALYSIS

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By IDSA By Gautam Sen Sri Lanka’s presidential elections are to be held on January 8, 2015. President Mahinda Rajapakse will be up against his former Health Minister, Maitripala Sirisena, who defected from the ruling Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP). Chandrika Kumaratunga, earlier the country`s President from the SLFP, has stepped in to support Sirisena. For his part, Sirisena has arrived at a working arrangement with the SLFP`s arch rival, the United National Party (UNP), to entrust the premiership to the UNP leader, Ranil Wikremasinghe, in the event of his…

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MS over MR: The Tale of Two Campaigns

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Crowded out’ UPFA councillor joins Sirisena LiyanageAmarakeerthi   University of Peradeniya   The Common Candidate MaithripalaSirisena (MS) is not just a person. He is a symbol as well. Different people have different interpretations of this symbol. The supporters of the Rajapakasa regime are the poorest interpreters of this symbol. For them the Common Candidate is a conspirator supported by the West. As Gunadasa Amarasekara has put it, the Common Candidate is a conspiracy of the West whose handmaid is a group of Buddhist monks led by Rev. Maduluwawe Sobhita and Aturaliye…

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Only LTTE can clarify Prabhakaran’s decision

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by Shamindra Ferdinando JHU General Secretary Patali Champika Ranawaka, MP, says the LTTE rump should be asked whether it had received payment from the then Premier Mahinda Rajapaksa Camp in the run-up to Nov. 17, 2005 presidential election. Referring to a statement made by an Opposition MP (not a UNPer), UNP MP Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe, PC, said that the LTTE had facilitated Rajapaksa’s victory by depriving UNP presidential candidate Ranil Wickremesinghe of Tamil voters in the Northern Province. Rajapaksa alleged that the government was making an attempt to discourage Tamil voters…

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Parade former President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga naked on the streets by Minister of Higher Education, S. B. Dissanayake.

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SB should apologize from all Sri Lankan women – Rosy UNP MP Rosy Senanayake says that the controversial statement made by Higher Education Minister S.B. Dissanayake regarding former President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga is the biggest crime of insult committed against the women of the country. She pointed out that the minister had said Chandrika should be “put down in the ground, trampled, stripped naked and made to run along the streets.” She stated that this act falls under the crime of harassment in the Penal Code. Senanayake inquired that if…

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Three high profile crossovers were also accompanied with the usual quota of avowals to conscience

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Grappling with conscience at the crossroads of crossovers The time has come to underscore once more that the outcome of the presidential election on January 8 will not be determined by members of parliament regardless whether they cross over or stay put but by the masses of this country who will assume their oft neglected role as the true kingmakers of this nation. If they fail to realise the gravity of the responsibility thrust upon them, then they will have only themselves to blame; and will receive the leader they…

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UPFA in last ditch bid to keep SLMC

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Hakeem prohibits members from leaving country by Shamindra Ferdinando A top level government delegation yesterday held talks with SLMC leader Rauff Hakeem in a bid to retain his support for incumbent President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s re-election bid at January 08, 2015 presidential election. UPFA General Secretary Susil Premjayantha, SLFP General Secretary Anura Priyadarshana Yapa, and SLFP Treasurer Dallas Alahapperuma met Minister Hakeem at the Presidential Secretariat. Sources told The Island that presidential secretary Lalith Weeratunga had joined the discussion. After having backed former army Chief Gen. Sarath Fonseka’s candidature at the…

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People who have committed atrocities ‘must be brought to justice’ says BJP

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The BJP, the Indian government’s main political party, stressed that those responsible for committed atrocities against the Tamil people in Sri Lanka “must be brought to justice”, in a meeting with a delegation of the British Tamils Forum (BTF) last month. Meeting with several BJP officials, including the party’s National General Secretary, Muralidhar Rao and the Incharge & Prabhari of Tripura State, Vijay Jolly, who recently travelled to Sri Lanka to attend the International Conference of Asian Political Parties, as well as the Tamil Nadu’s State General Secretary, Vanathi Srinivasan…

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