Month: March 2016

Could Gotabaya Rajapaksa, Sri Lanka’s former defense secretary (and brother of previous president Mahinda Rajapaksa), bring the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) together? Evidently a member of the country’s joint opposition has suggested that Rajapaksa be appointed to parliament, the implication being that this move would help to unify a political party that has remained divided since Maithripala Sirisena assumed the presidency in January 2015. This is a very bad idea. After all, Gotabaya Rajapaksa is an alleged war criminal who played a pivotal role in the island nation’s slide…

01. ESTABLISHMENT OF A DATABASE OF RESOURCE PERSONS WITH BILINGUAL/TRILINGUAL COMPETENCIES IN DISTRICT LEVEL BY THE OFFICE FOR NATIONAL UNITY AND RECONCILIATION (Document No – 06) The right of every citizen to negotiate with the government in their mother tongue has been affirmed by the constitution. Though various steps have been taken time to time by the government to affirm this right, the lack of sufficient officers capable in working bilingually in Sinhala/Tamil and English or trilingual in Sinhala, Tamil and English still prevails in government institutions.  The proposal made…

(Lanka-e-News -30.March.2016, 11.30PM)  Sergeant major Ran Banda the prime witness   in the murder of Prageeth Ekneligoda has receieved death threats from the  Girithale army camp, according to reports. It was this sergeant major who received death threats yesterday , who interrogated Prageeth for two days while the latter was detained in the Girithale army camp after he was abducted by a group of army officers including Shammi Kumararatne of the Girithale army camp. Ran Banda had stated to the CID that he questioned Prageeth on the book the latter…

(Lanka-e-News -30.March.2016, 11.30PM) Following the discovery of highly explosive materials and a suicide kit today at Maravanpulaw, Chavakachcheri , the intelligence division has been able to unearth a wealth of information in that  connection. Three bags containing highly  explosive materials , a suicide  kit , 4 bombs, 10 packets of cartridges, along with two batteries were found  hidden at this venue . The intelligence division is harboring suspicions that these explosives , kits and devices were meant to be used on the 3 rd of April targeting the president and…

(Lanka-e-News -30.March.2016, 11.30PM)   The Sri Lanka Navy destroying two ships which were as far as 1700 meters away, with LTTE cadres carrying arms during the final phase of the Eelam war is indeed an epoch in Sri Lanka ‘s history. Never before such an enemy ship at that long distance away had been destroyed by our Navy. The Amercan warship that provided communication ,intelligence messages , guided and provided information to the Navy to accomplish that feat is these days anchored  at the Colombo harbour. This warship bearing the…

COLOMBO: The accidental discovery of an arms cache, including three parcels of TNT and a suicide jacket, in a house at Chavakachcheri in Jaffna District on Wednesday, may hinder the demilitarization of the Northern Province which is one of the major post-war demands of Sri Lankan Tamils and which was promised to the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) by the Lankan government headed by President Maithripala Sirisena. Opponents of demilitarization like MP Namal Rajapaksa have already tweeted that the cache is a sign of the resurgence of the LTTE and…

Suicide jacket, claymore mines recovered from Jaffna  A suicide jacket, a stock of explosives and ammunition have been recovered from a house in the Maravanpulo area on the A32 road within the Chawakatchcheri police area in Jaffna District, police said.  Police officers discovered a suicide jacket, 4 Claymore mines, 3 parcels containing around 12kg of TNT, 2 packets of 9mm ammo (100 bullets) and 2 battery packs used to detonate the claymore mines.  It is suspected that the explosives and other equipment had been hidden in the area during the…

Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena had promised progress regarding Tamil political prisoners, although we’ve seen little of that. Unfortunately, the president’s dithering project has continued — with no end in sight. More broadly, the Sri Lankan government has made big commitments regarding transitional justice and those changes, if they ever happen, will come incrementally. However, we haven’t seen much in the way of incremental change since Colombo co-sponsored a United Nations Human Rights Council resolution on Sri Lanka in October 2015. In terms of optics and rhetoric, Mangala Samaraweera, the…

By S. Ratnajeevan H. Hoole – The Feminist VC? Prof. Vasanthi Arasaratnam, Vice Chancellor of University of Jaffna, claimed in Uthayan Newspaper head-lines (23.03.2016) to have fired professors following sexual harassment accusations by students. “As a woman, I have done all I can,” she continued. Her remarks were made the previous day at a function by “The Voice of Women” to mark “International Women’s Day” which fell really on 8 March. Speaking further, Arasaratnam said that women are to blame for the increase in sexual harassment and that these episodes…

It has now been established that the Army intelligence is behind the killing of retired Maj. Gen. Lucky Algama at a UNP rally in Ja Ela on 18 December 1999. The confirmation comes in a report submitted to the Security Council by the then CID director Opatha Kankanamage Hemachandra (O.K. Hemachandra), who had investigated the murder.  His report says the then Army intelligence chief, retired Maj. Gen. Sunil Tennakoon was fully responsible for the killing. The suicide bomber who detonated a grenade to kill Algama at the rally was controlled…

Local judges are not conversant with the procedures of probes into allegations of war crimes or violations of human rights because they are not matters which come up in the courts on a daily basis, Attorney-at-Law Lal Wijenayake said. President Maithripala Sirisena has reiterated that there will be no foreign judges on the benches of the local judiciary adjudicating on the matter, yet this does not prevent getting technical assistance from legal experts, he added. There is no contradiction between what Sirisena is saying about the matter and what Prime…

Weerasangilige Wimal Weerawansa who mouths slogans and gives breast-beating displays of patriotism from political platforms despite his involvement in large-scale corruption and undercover activities, has once again been exposed as a corrupt politician. This time around, details have emerged of how he allegedly hired a fleet of 40 luxury vehicles spending millions of rupees of taxpayers’ hard-earned money, to have relatives and friends travel in luxury. The Sunday Leader this week exposes how Weerawansa misused State Engineering Corporation (SEC) funds to pay the hiring charges for this fleet of vehicles…

By “Sunday Times”Political Editor SriLankan Airlines, the country’s national carrier, that once offered a “taste of paradise” to its clients, is now on life support with Treasury handouts. The enormity of its mismanaged financial debacles unfolded last Wednesday when Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe chaired a top level meeting. There, Finance Minister Ravi Karunanayake agreed to continue Treasury funding for the airline only for the next six months. Public Enterprises Development Minister Kabir Hashim, who is responsible for SriLankan, has been tasked to formulate new strategies within this period to pull it…