Month: April 2016

By Brian Senewiratne – The majority Sinhalese (74% of the population) have been carefully and deliberately shielded from reality by manipulation of the media by Sinhalese politicians, and ethno-religious bigots, especially the Buddhist monks, playing to the chauvinist gallery. The Sinhalese have been fed with myths and legends (masquerading as facts), and downright lies or not told what they should have been told. The realities have never been disclosed as to do so would lead to widespread misgivings about the wisdom of the Sri Lankan government’s policy. This is something…

Former Crimes OIC of the Narahenpita police, Sumith Champika Perera has shared vital information over the cover up of former ruggerite Wasim Thajudeen’s murder, including the details of several others who had played a part in concealing the murder. Perera, who was arrested and subsequently remanded on Thursday for concealing the murder, had informed the CID the names of the ‘higher authorities’ from where he received the order to cover up Thajudeen’s murder. Highly placed sources said that, the newly appointed IGP Pujith Jayasundara had been informed about the development, and upon…

Chennai: DMK MP Kanimozhi on Sunday slammed Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa, saying the latter has no right to talk on the Sri Lankan Tamils issue as she highlights the same just before the elections.  “She is the one who actually was against the entire Sri Lankan problem. In the 2014 general election, she spoke about this (Sri Lankan issue) and after that during her entire tenure she didn’t talk about it. There is no honesty and integrity about her stand when it comes on the Sri Lankan issue,”…

Minister of Industries and Commerce Rishad Bathiudeen has severely condemned the move by the TNA- controlled Northern Provincial Council’s decision to adopt a resolution seeking a federal solution for the country’s minority Tamil community. Minister Bathiudeen added that any politicians representing his All Ceylon People’s Congress did not back the resolution. The observation was made while responding to media personnel at an event held in Vavuniya. The Minister also went on to say that a discussion would be held with the TNA leaders with respect to the proposals of the new…

by  Camelia Nathaniel The infamous Prevention of Terrorism (Temporary Provisions) Act No. 48 of 1979 will be repealed, but will be in force during the transitional period until a new law is brought in to replace it, Defence Secretary Karunasena Hettiarachchi said recently. The Defence Secretary made this statement during a press conference held at the Media Centre to announce the amnesty for illegally kept firearms.  Hettiarachchi further stated that as the country is now peaceful, there was no requirement even for politicians to hold weapons as security is provided…

by Sujeeva Nivunhella in London British Opposition Leader, Jeremy Corbyn said that until Sri Lanka’s Tamils achieve justice and self-determination the “war is not over”. Addressing a meeting organized by ‘Tamils for Labour’ at the committee room in the Houses of Parliament last week, Corbyn said the Labour Party is committed to the cause of the Tamil people. Although it is said that 2016 marks the seventh anniversary of the end of the conflict, it was not the end until Tamils achieve justice, self-expression and self-determination, he said. Corbyn, who…

ArcelorMittal Headquarters in Luxembourg City by Rajan Philips Let us call a cage, a cage, and not a steely home in a palmyrah grove! The controversial US$ 1 billion contract with ArcelorMittal to build 65,000 steel houses in the north smacks of all the vices of corrupt global capitalism and none of the virtues of a free market economy. ArcelorMittal is the world’s largest steel producer, the outcome of the 2006 takeover of Arcelor (itself a conglomerate of Spanish, French and Luxembourg companies) by India’s Mittal Steel, and subsequent gobbling…

A list of people who surrendered during the last phase of the armed conflict in 2009 was not submitted to the Mullaithivu magistrate court by the army, despite a pledge by the 58D Brigade Commanding Officer to do so. Mullathivu Magistrate MSM Samsudeen ordered the officer on February 17 this year to furnish the list by April 20, however the state counsel was not present in court, causing the case to be postponed till May 17, according to Ceylon Today. A writ of mandamus regarding people who went missing after…

York Regional Police is seeking public assistance locating a 44-year-old woman missing from the Town of Richmond Hill. Kalamalini Sivakumar was last seen  Feb. 19,  leaving her residence in the area of Bathurst Street and King Road. Later that day, her van was located by a family member in a shopping mall parking lot in the area of Rutherford Road and Jane Street in Vaughan with a note inside from the missing person indicating she would be home in 15 days. On March 22, her family contacted police when they…

By Winston de Valliere While Political parties and Trade Unions flex their muscles to observe May Day in just a week’s time, the enormity of the explosive emotions sizzling just beneath the surface of the two major political parties can be expected to manifest themselves in grandstanding such as that seen in the days of the Second WW by Hitler on the one side and Churchill on the other. Make no mistake about it May Day in Sri Lanka is just an euphemism for venting political venom on one’s opponents with…

The Criminal Investigations Department is likely to arrest four other senior Police officers, including a serving ASP and a retired Senior DIG, in connection with rugby player Wasim Thajudeen’s murder. The CID arrested Sumith Chinthaka Perera, former Crimes OIC of the Narahenpita Police Station, over the same incident on Wednesday. The serving ASP facing imminent arrest was also an OIC of a police station in the Colombo district at the time of the rugby player’s killing, authoritative Police sources told the Daily News. The Police officers are likely to be…

A financial fraud involving the loss of vital foreign exchange earnings beyond calculation had been caused to country through the smuggling out of large stocks of gems since 2013, Chairman of the National Gem and Jewellery Authority Asanke Welagedara said. He said the fraud was uncovered as a result of a state audit. He said the large-scale fraud had occurred by way of a voucher system called the ‘N.N.S’, costing an annual fee of Rs.1,500 US dollars that allowed for any number of gems to be taken outside of the…

President Maithrippla Sirisena on Wednesday accused his predecessor Mahinda Rajapaksa of having thwarted a bid to take disciplinary action against the then Chairman of the Tangalle Pradeshiya Sabha, Sampath Chandra Pushpa Vidanapathirana in the wake of his alleged involvement in the killing of British citizen Khuram Shaikh Zaman, (32) in late December, 2011. President Sirisena claimed that the former President had strongly opposed a decision taken by him in his capacity as the General Secretary of the SLFP together with the then UPFA General Secretary Susil Premjayantha to sack the…

Leader of the Eelam People’s Revolutionary Liberation Front (EPRLF) and former TNA Parliamentarian Suresh Premachandran stated that, certain decisions taken by the leader of the TNA and Opposition Leader Rajavarothayam Sampanthan are questionable. He made this comment addressing a media briefing held on Tuesday (19) in Jaffna. Former Parliamentarian Premachandran further said that TNA’s election manifesto has emphasized the Federal Constitutional System and the need of combining of the North-East. But the President and the Prime Minister have said that the North-East would not be connected. So the extensive talk with government…

 From adversary to protector- Sri Lanka Police have turned to ‘Community Policing’ as a way to build bridges between communities and the police at a time when public faith in the police is at an all-time low. Retired Senior DIG, M. Gomes spends much of his retirement as the President of the Wellawatte Civil Security Committee (CSC) but this time, he remains outside the police station and helps people connect with the police. “The police department wanted to start committees to empower civil society but at the moment it is…