Day: 20 February 2015

THE JAFFNA CONNECTION

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BY Ellmo Gooneratne Jaffna had invaders from Malaysia, Eastern India and Kerala. They conquered the Jaffna Kingdom but never went back but stayed back in Jaffna and settled. The first American Missionary Medical College was set up in Jaffna, the first in Ceylon.The American Missionaries opened schools firstly to learn English and later all subjects. Who went to these schools were given food, clothes, and money and also books by the American Missionaries. In the North for over thirty years they were talking about the LTTE. Many lived in fear…

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100 Day Plan For Ethnic Reconciliation

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By S. Sivathasan – A Plan, What For? What is mystical about 100 days? Everything about it is mystical. Listing out of items shows a clear selection of priorities from a well thought out process. Publicity induces sharp focus, energy purposefully directed and sustained mental stress for achievement. Prescription of timelines imposes a moral compulsion. Besides them all, it proclaims earnestness, commitment, a will to realise and the verve to honour one’s word. The 100 Day Plan, the first ever in this country is showing results. Fair progress is recorded in…

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Genocide In Sri Lanka: It’s A Question That Certainly Needs To Be Litigated

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By Usha S Sri-Skanda-Rajah – “…it is a question that needs to be litigated because, the (Sri Lankan) government certainly behaved as though its intention was to wipe out at least a part of the Tamil community and to produce conditions in the North which made it difficult for them and their culture to survive” – Geoffrey Robertson QC There are two related issues currently of critical consequence to Tamils: The deferment of the release of the OISL report (the OHCHR Investigation on Sri Lanka report) initially fixed for March…

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Beating the Communal Drum by Hardcore Sinhala Nationalists

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Yesterday’s rally in Nugegoda organised by the hard-core Sinhala nationalists, i.e. Weerawansa, Dinesh, Gammanpila and Vasudeva with the blessings of former President Mahinda Rajapakse and their pseudo intellectual appendage Dayan Jayatilleke reminds us that the politicians who made a life out of Sinhala communalism/nationalism at the expense of a pluralist, liberal democratic Sri Lanka are well and alive. The defeat of the former government by a coalition of parties and civil society groups on January 8th 2015 has not dampened the spirit of these die-hard Sinhala nationalists. From the speeches…

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Asylum seekers transferred at sea by Australia to face court in Sri Lanka

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Sri Lanka’s new president has no immediate plans to change laws regarding people illegally leaving the country Asylum seekers returned to Sri Lanka will face court charged with illegally leaving the country as Sri Lanka’s new president has no plans to change the country’s laws regarding people leaving without permission. Australia announced on Thursday that four Sri Lankan asylum seekers had been transferred at sea to the custody of the Sri Lankan navy after their boat was intercepted earlier this month north-west of the Cocos Islands. The men were interviewed…

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Foreign firm paid Rs 95.6 M – For task SL’s US Embassy could have done

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By Gagani Weerakoon and Skandha Gunasekara The Ministry of Foreign affairs informed Parliament yesterday that the government had paid Rs 95,592,244 to a multinational law firm to carry out tasks that Sri Lanka Embassy officials in Washington, USA, could have carried out at a far cheaper cost. According to an answer tabled by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mangala Samaraweera, the Sri Lanka Embassy in Washington had procured the services of multinational law firm Patton Boggs (now called Squire Patton Boggs) in the years 2010, 2011 and 2012, to perform…

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CPI-M asks Sri Lanka to launch independent probe on attacks on Tamils

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CHENNAI: CPI(M) today demanded that the Sri Lanka government launch an independent high-level probe into allegations of “countless attacks” and human rights violations against the country’s Tamil civilians during the 2009 civil war against LTTE and urged India to take diplomatic steps to ensure the welfare of the community in the island nation. A resolution concerning the Sri Lankan Tamils issue taken at the party’s state conference here said that the United Nations Human Rights Council should submit its report on alleged human rights violations in the island nation without any…

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61 Politicians in bribery net

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By Niranjala Ariyawansha Charges of corruption had been levelled against 61 politicians, including members of Parliament and ministers, Director General of the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption, Dilrukshi Wickremasinghe, said yesterday (19). She said that investigations have already commenced into these complaints. Addressing the first ever media briefing in the history of the CIABOC yesterday, she said that 521 complaints have been received by the Commission since January 2015 and that she is directly responsible for them. She added that, the Bribery or Corruption Investigation Act should…

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Police not afraid to act against criminals – Media Spokesman SSP Ajith Rohana says:

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BY Gagani Weerakoon Police media spokesman SSP Ajith Rohana is often under attack by various parties in society, including politicians. He has been called a parakeet of the incumbent government. But, Rohana said the police were not afraid to take action against any criminal following investigation showing him guilty. Rohana justifies the delay in taking action against member of Parliament Duminda Silva, implicated in a case, by ‘Wele Suda’, which involves massive financial dealings in narcotics. Following are the excerpts of an interview: Q: People say there is an increase…

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Witness Protection Bill Passed

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The witness protection bill has been passed unanimously in the parliament today. The much delayed bill was approved by the Cabinet last July. It was first tabled before the parliament in 2008 but was deferred. The bill was drafted by the Justice Ministry, and thereafter referred to the cabinet sub-committee on legislation for its recommendations before being presented to the parliament. The call for an Act for Protection of Witnesses has been made for the past few years, particularly during the post-conflict period as it would create help conduct fair…

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