Day: 4 November 2015

Justice Minister Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe Tells Parliament he Intervened to Prevent Arrest of Ex-Def Secy Gotabhaya Rajapaksa

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Justice Minister Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe told Parliament yesterday that he had intervened to prevent former Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa from being arrested in connection with the Avant Garde floating armoury case. “I took up the position that he should not be arrested in this connection,;I brought this to the notice of the President and the Prime Minister and both of them said the police should do what was legal,” he said. Participating in a debate on Avant Garde floating armoury at the time of adjournment of the House, he said the…

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Rajitha opposes arming MPs

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by Maheesha Mudugamuwa A decision should be taken to withdraw the firearms which had been given to all MPs save those from the North and East, Health and Indigenous Medicine Minister Dr. Rajitha Senaratne said yesterday. Minister Senaratne told the media that Sri Lanka was very peaceful at present and there was no need for arming MPs. But, threats to the lives of some MPs in the Northern and Eastern provinces have been reported. Those MPs should be given firearms following a threat assessment, Dr. Senaratne said. The Cabinet should…

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Narayanan was the reason for the massacre of 1.5 lakh Tamils in Sri Lanka HIT by Footwear!

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Former Indian National Security adviser M K Narayanan A seminar in Chennai on Sri Lankan refugees in India turned ugly with a protestor flinging a footwear at former national security adviser M K Narayanan on Wednesday evening. Narayanan was coming down the dais after his speech when he was hit by the footwear on the back. Members of the audience and police overpowered the man, later identified as Prabhakar, 35, a native of Pudukottai, and escorted Narayanan out of the hall. Following protest calls from pro-Eelam outfits against Narayanan’s visit,…

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Maithiri Vs Ranil – Tamil Political Prisoners will NOT be Released by the 7th!

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President Maithiri Srisena said that all the Tamil Political Prisoners will be released by the 7th of November. Prime Minister Ranil Wickramasinghe said that NONE of the Tamil Political Prisoners will be released for now. Law and Order and Prison Reforms Minister Tilak Marapana said he hoped that the Tamil Political Prisoners detainees could be released before the Deepavali festival on November 10, 2015. A group of Tamil Political detainees were presented to Court today and most of them were re-remanded after they refused to accept an offer to undergo…

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TNA wants to know where the gold is

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The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) today questioned where the remaining gold belonging to civilians from the North is. The former Government had claimed that the gold stored in LTTE banks before the final stages of the war, had been recovered and handed back to its rightful owners. TNA Parliamentarian M.A Sumanthiran told Parliament that the gold which was returned by the former Government was given to the rightful owners. He said that the former Government had stored the gold in sealed packs and had the details of the owners. However, he…

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CID extends detention order on Pillayan till Dec 10

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The Colombo Chief Magistrate today permitted the CID to detain and question former Eastern Province Chief Minister Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan alias Pillayan, who was arrested in connection with the murder of ex-MP Joseph Pararajasingham, till December 10 under detention orders. Pillyan was arrested on October 11 when he arrived at the CID to give a statement in connection with the assassination of late Tamil politician, who was shot dead on Christmas Eve in 2005. The Colombo Chief Magistrate had permitted the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) to detain Pillayan for questioning till…

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nt’l experts can counter war crimes accusations – Wimal

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By Shamindra Ferdinando National Freedom Front (NFF) leader Wimal Weerawansa, MP yesterday alleged that the Maithripala Sirisena-Wickremesinghe government had failed to defend the Sri Lankan military against war crimes accusations made by the UN on the basis of UNSG Ban Ki-moon’s Panel of Experts’ (PoE) findings. Colombo District MP Weerawansa has, in a hard-hitting letter dated Nov. 3 to President Maithripala Sirisena, condemned the new government for co-sponsoring a US sponsored resolution adopted at the Geneva-based United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) on Sept. 29. Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera indicated…

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Raviraj killing 6 accused charge sheeted

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Five suspects to be released Arrest warrants against Charan, Suresh who left country Lakmal Sooriyagoda The Criminal Investigations Department (CID) yesterday filed charge sheets in Court against six accused including three Navy personnel and two ex-LTTE cadres affiliated to the Karuna faction for allegedly conspiring to commit the murder of former TNA Jaffna district MP Nadaraja Raviraj. Filing the charge sheets before Colombo Additional Magistrate Nirosha Fernando, the CID informed that the Attorney General had given instructions to conduct a non-summary inquiry in respect of the six accused – Palana…

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Old Left slams Rajapaksha’s attempts to sabotage reconciliat

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BY Ruwan Laknath Jayakody Political parties associated with the Old Left movement claim there was no basis for the communal campaign that was presently being carried out by forces which were rejected by the people on 8 January and 17 August. The Majority Group of the Lanka Sama Samaja Party (LSSP) and the Alternative Group of the Communist Party of Sri Lanka (CPSL) noted that these forces were attempting to create communal tensions to sabotage the reconciliation process at this crucial juncture. General Secretary of the Majority Group of the…

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JVP calls for pension and voting rights for Sri Lankan expatriate workers

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By Chamodi Gunawardana The Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) created ‘Ethera Api Organisation’ yesterday, stressing the importance of offering pension plans and voting rights for Sri Lankan expatriates.  Its head and JVP Parliamentarian Sunil Handunnetti said the JVP requested for a parliamentary committee into this issue. “We urge the Government to provide a pension plan and voting right for all Sri Lankan foreign workers. We have collected signatures of Sri Lankan expatriates to lodge a petition from each middle-east country including Qatar, Kuwait, Oman and Saudi Arabia. Petitions will be handed…

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