Day: 17 March 2015

Sri Lanka today condemned “in strongest possible terms” the deadly suicide attacks targeting Christians at two churches in Pakistan. The attacks in Lahore on March 15, killed 16 people and injured over 70 during Sunday prayers. The foreign ministry here said that the “dastardly act against a religious congregation engaged in the practice and sustenance of their faith and spiritual upliftment is not only an attack against a group and places of worship but against humanity and the civilised world”. “Sri Lanka as a country which has suffered from the…

By Ifham Nizam Former Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa was not a superman, said Water Supply and Urban Development Minister Rauff Hakeem yesterday, in response to the challenge made by Rajapaksa during an interview that no one could do what he had done. Answering questions after a media briefing, the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress Leader stressed that being the President’s brother and Defence Secretary he could use force to evict people as he wanted and an inquiry was going on in that regard. The recommendation of the inquiry would be revealed…

Colombo – Sri Lanka’s new government suffered its first defection on Tuesday when the higher education minister quit, saying political reforms had not gone far enough. Rajiva Wijesinghe said proposed constitutional changes fell short of the promises made by President Maithripala Sirisena before he was elected in January. “I do not wish to sit among ministers any longer,” Wijesinghe said in parliament, calling the government’s reform efforts so far “disgraceful”. “I think it is only correct that I cross the floor of the house,” said Wijesinghe, who was not in…

Ex-President’s brother and former Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa on Monday (16) asserted that weapons recovered from the floating armoury in the southern port of Galle are not owned by the state. While claiming that cabinet approval has been granted for the Avant Garde Maritime Services (Pvt) Ltd and the Rakna Arakshaka Lanka (Pvt.) Ltd, Rajapaksa expressed that both local and internationally recognised institutions have obtained its services. The observations were made at the Derana 360° programme. According to the ex- Defence Secretary, the firearms are owned by those international organisations…

Two generations of Sri Lankan Tamils have been lost, fighting for a separate state, playing victim and waiting to be saved. We have to move on. I suggest we go back to the father of Tamil rights consciousness during colonialism – Periar. He called for a self -respect movement, not a nationalist movement. That is what we need in Sri Lanka. by Radhika Coomaraswamy ( March 15, 2015, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) When I heard that the Northern Provincial Council had passed a resolution on Genocide, I put my “head…

The Gazette notification on the 19th Amendment to the Constitution has been published today. Last Sunday the cabinet decided against the complete abolition of the Executive Presidency as promised in the election manifesto, and instead decided to gazette a diluted pruning of Executive Presidential powers. The decision was taken at the meeting of cabinet ministers this evening with the participation of President Maithripala Sirisena. Click here  ( English) and here (Sinhala) to read the Gazetted Bill Related stories; Exclusive: Abolition Of Executive Presidency Comes A Cropper; Powers To Be Pruned 19…