Day: 24 June 2015

Importance Of India For Sri Lanka

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By Rajasingham Jayadevan – Importance of India for Sri Lanka and the need for Sri Lanka to maintain friendly relations with India The relationship between India and Sri Lanka is an inter twined historical bond. The underlying commonalities between the two nations and their geographical positioning, even after the historical geological drifts of which Sri Lanka is of miniscule part, have not changed the intrinsic relationship. In the post Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF) scenario, ethnic tensions in Sri Lanka have slow phased the official relationship between the two nations.…

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SLFP will suffer absolute defeat if Mahinda contests

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SLFP will suffer absolute defeat if Mahinda contests – SB Minister of Rural Economic Affairs S.B. Dissanayake says that the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) would suffer an absolute defeat if former President Mahinda Rajapaksa contests the upcoming General Election. Responding to a query from a journalist at a press conference held at SLFP Headquarters in Colombo today, he stated that the party would especially lose the minority votes if Rajapaksa contests the polls. Therefore, Dissanayake said, that according to his calculations, if Mahinda Rajapaksa enters the election the SLFP…

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Sri Lanka says war crimes probe delayed by elections

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Sri Lanka’s proposed war crimes investigation has been delayed by several months until September as the government focuses on impending parliamentary elections, Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera said Wednesday.  Samaraweera said he hoped the composition of the investigating team along with its terms of reference would now be finalised just before the UN Human Rights Council’s session in September in Geneva. “We are working out the contours of a domestic mechanism to look into human rights abuses and war crimes,” Samaraweera told reporters in Colombo. “This will be in place before…

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Gota could lose civil rights in ‘MiG deal’ probe – Mangala

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  Gota could lose civil rights in ‘MiG deal’ probe – Mangala  Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera today welcomed the the US State Department report which had revealed the existence of the LTTE’s financial network and said that it reflected the “failure” of the former government. “It’s a welcome report. This report I would say is a reflection of the total failure of the strategy of the Mahinda Rajapaksa administration,” he said responding to a question from media. The US State Department’s 2014 Country Reports on Terrorism has said that despite…

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Nine New Ambassadors Appointed, Including Two Former Army Commanders

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The Foreign Affairs Ministry today confirmed the appointments of new ambassadors to nine countries.   Former Chief of Defence Staff Jagath Jayasuriya had been appointed as the Ambassador to Brazil, Retired General Daya Ratnayake is the new envoy to Pakistan. Former Foreign Secretary Kshenuka Seneviratne had been appointed to Thailand. H.U. Dissanayake to Vietnam, R.D. Rajapaksha to Sweden, A.H.M. Saadique to the Netherlands, Dr. W.M. Karunadasa to Qatar, Y.K. Rohanjith to Iran P. Selvaraj to Israel.

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Anyone can go to court against the ”Diaspora Festival”

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Minister Mangala Samaraweera today said he welcomed any party to institute legal action against the Diaspora Festival being planned by his Ministry to be held by the end of the year.“Be it Warnasinghe or any other party, anyone can go courts against the festival. If that happens, I will not even seek the assistance of a lawyer, I will represent myself in courts to defend the event,” he said addressing the media at the Information Department last morning. Minister Samaraweera criticised those shed a negative light on the festival simply…

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Governor’s appointment valid, notes legal: CBSL

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The Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) today said it wishes to inform the general public of the position on the validity of the appointment of the present governor, and validity of the currency notes issued by the Bank on 2015.02.04, in view of frivolous allegations appearing in certain media. An extract of the statement is reproduced below. It is re-iterated that the appointment of Mr Lakshman Arjuna Mahendran as the governor of the Central Bank has been done in compliance with law as well as the established practice. The…

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The 20A: Why Minorities, Especially Muslims, Oppose?

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By Latheef Farook – Muslims living scattered all over the island, with special concentration in the east but often in small pockets in the predominantly Sinhalese areas, fear that their representations in the parliament will be reduced considerably under the proposed 20th amendment to the constitution on electoral reforms. Thus they oppose the draft amendment in its present form gazetted on June 12. One should not forget that it was repeated constitutional changes depriving the minorities of their legitimate rights contributed a great deal to the subsequent ethnic war which…

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Why US interest to trace stolen SL money?

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After Maithripala Sirisena won the presidential election, he made his first visit to India to meet Indian Premier Narendra Modi. At that meet, Maithri appealed to Modi to assist him to recover monies stolen by certain Sri Lankan politicians of the previous administration hidden in other countries. He also asked Modi to help set up a financial intelligence unit in Sri Lanka. He told Modi that he had information that such stolen funds had been deposited in St. Martin’s Island, Hong Kong and Seychelles. He also informed Modi that investments…

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Regime-change plan of the West in crisis

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Like how the activities of the diplomatic missions of the West during the Sri Lanka presidential election on 8 January burgeoned, at the presidential elections in the Maldives in 2008, the activities of the diplomatic missions here in charge of the Maldives and Sri Lanka too intensified. It is the western countries that united the split opposition when the presidential election was held in the Maldives in 2008 which restored democracy in that country. At that time the Diplomatic Mission of the West here in charge of the Maldives nursed…

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Relevance of Wiki Leaks and Sri Lanka

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Relevance of Wiki Leaks and UN’s 20-year confidentiality clause by Shamindra Ferdinando After having consulted, either the Geneva-based United Nations Human Rights Commission (UNHRC), or UN headquarters, in New York, or both, the UN mission, in Colombo, in April, last year, said that the issue of confidentiality of sources/eyewitnesses needed to be considered at a later stage. The Colombo mission was responding to a query by The Island whether the UN would review UNSG Ban ki moon’s Panel of Experts (PoE) recommendation, pertaining to confidentiality of sources/eyewitnesses for a 20-year…

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Former Navy Commander involved in White Van abductions

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Former Navy Commander Admiral Wasantha Karannagoda was aware of the abductions of children by commandos of the Sri Lanka Navy. Sub Inspector Nishantha Silva of the CID told Colombo Chief Magistrate Gihan Pilapitiya yesterday that information has surfaced to the effect that the former Navy Commander and several high ranking officers of the Navy were aware of abductions which took place on September 17, 2008 in Dehiwala. When the case was taken up for hearing yesterday at the Colombo Chief Magistrate Court, SI Nishantha said the duty of the higher…

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Obama Asked to Support the Referral of Sri Lankan Crimes to the ICC

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The following letter was sent to President Obama to help bring Sri Lankan government crimes to ICC. June 23, 2015 President Barack Obama The White House 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW Washington, DC 20500 Dear Mr. President, We at Tamils for Obama are supporting this suggestion that the matter of Sri Lankan government crimes and the investigation thereof not be sent to the Sri Lankan government for further investigation (investigating themselves!)  and prosecution. This has been tried many times and nothing  useful has ever resulted. The ICC is a neutral third…

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Breaking News: Over two Lakhs signed (www.tgte-icc.org)

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Please Join www.tgte-icc.org Over two Lakhs signed..the power of Numbers…is a Movement….” Refer Sri Lanka to International Criminal Court “ Thank you for forwarding this e mail to your friends and families….It works.. We will reach MILLION signatures www.tgte-icc.org Refer Sri Lanka to International Criminal Court We, the undersigned people from around the world, urge the United Nations to refer Sri Lanka to the International Criminal Court (ICC) or to establish a similar credible International Judicial Mechanism for investigation and prosecution of war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide committed…

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Fallen troops remembered as flag flies above Harrow’s Civic Centre for Armed Forces Day

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Silence fell as the mayor of Harrow raised a flag to show the borough’s support for the men and woman who serve in the armed forces. Mayor of Harrow Councillor Krishna Suresh hoisted the Armed Forces Flag on Monday, June 22 as part of Harrow’s commemorations for Armed Forces Day. The mayor led the ceremony outside the civic centre, which included prayers, the National Anthem and a speech from the Deputy Lieutenant John Purnell. They were joined by Leader of the Council Cllr David Perry, along with the 131 Independent…

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London Should Bid for the 2026 Commonwealth Games

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London should bid for the 2026 Commonwealth Games. It would promote London’s vibrancy and ambition and be good for tourism, for business, and for jobs. It would also be a further powerful rationale to provoke investment in public transport in our city. We cannot take our capital’s vibrancy and economic success for granted. A future Mayor needs to champion bringing major international sporting and cultural events to London to help promote the capital in the future. I have already made clear that London should bid for the European Capital of…

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