Month: May 2016

Will Delhi’s nod be necessary for Jaya-Wigneswaran meeting?

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COLOMBO: Will prior permission of the Indian Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) be necessary for any meeting between the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J.Jayalalithaa and C.V.Wigneswaran, Chief Minister of Sri Lanka’s Tamil-majority Northern Province? Officials sources told Express here on Monday, that if it is going to be an official meeting, the MEA gets involved because foreign relations come under the Central List in the division of power between the Center and the States. The MEA has guidelines for entertaining official requests for meetings with local leaders from visiting foreign…

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Gammanpila’s Signature Scams

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by Nirmala Kannangara Yet another Rajapaksa follower is soon to be arrested by the Police Special Investigation Unit (SIU) for allegedly cheating an Australian national of more than Rs. 1,000 million. The long delay at the Attorney General’s (AG) Department over the past few months has prevented the SIU from arresting the ever-pontificating leader of the Pivithuru Hela Urumaya and Colombo District UPFA MP, Udaya Prabath Gammanpila for allegedly using a fraudulent power of attorney to sell 4.1 million shares of Pan Asia Bank and later other assets in Sri…

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Geneva-sanctioned Office for Missing Persons to succeed Paranagama Commission

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By Shamindra Ferdinando The government has directed the Presidential Commission to Investigate Complaints Regarding Missing Persons to hand over all its files to proposed Office for Missing Persons, thereby terminating the Commission. Chairman of the Commission retired High Court Judge Maxwell Paranagama yesterday told The Island that he had been to told to hand them over before July 15, 2016. Paranagama said that he had requested time till August 30 to finalise the process. The Office of Missing Persons is one of four transitional justice mechanisms Sri Lanka has agreed…

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Since 1948 – Sri Lanka’s Deceptions Continue!

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By S. V. Kirubaharan – S. V. Kirubaharan A few days back – the Eelam Tamils, diaspora Tamils and the World Tamils commemorated the 7th anniversary of Mullivaghzhal, in which thousands of innocent lives were lost – massacred in cold blood. I will avoid going into the history of this massacre. There is nothing to hide. It was done with the help of China, Pakistan, India and a few other counties, including the then state government of Tamil Nadu. I know that patriotic Indians will not like to see that…

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‘Wigneswaran and Jayalalithaa’ the last hope of the Tamils?

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By Vishwamithra1984 – “We judge ourselves by what we feel capable of doing, while others judge us by what we have already done.” ~Henry Wadsworth Longfellow C V Wigneswaran, the Chief Minister of Northern Province, is a retired Supreme Court Judge. As much as his judiciary judgments would one day be called for ultimate arbitration by history, one would also expect his political judgments shall stand the test of time and history. A man who was catapulted into politics on the backs of a defeated people, a scholar of no mean…

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SLFP backs Executive Presidency, broader power to PCs

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The Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) has decided to back powers of an Executive President as with its proposals on Constitutional Reforms. SLFP heavyweights yesterday, said the SLFP Committee appointed by President Maithripala Sirisena to present proposals for Constitutional Reforms has declared its party line opinion would be so. The party will support the Executive Presidency and also a broader delegation of powers to Provincial Councils. SLFP senior and Minister S.B. Dissanayake yesterday said the SLFP presented 10 party-line proposals on Constitutional Reforms to Parliament and they have been accepted.…

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EU to revise its development strategy for Sri Lanka

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The European Union (EU), in close consultation with the Government, is currently in the process of revising its development strategy for Sri Lanka, a Sri Lanka – EU joint statement said today. The joint statement said that the Working Group on Cooperation under the framework of the European Union-Sri Lanka Joint Commission concluded its meeting in Colombo today. The meeting was held in a positive, open and constructive atmosphere. It was co-chaired by Jorge de la Caballeria, Head of Unit for South Asia and South East Asia – Directorate General for International Cooperation and Development of…

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Opposition questions failure by AG to look into over 8000 files

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The opposition today questioned the failure by the Attorney General ‘s (AG) department to look into over 8000 files piled up at the department. Former Minister D.E.W. Gunasekera said the failure to look into over 8000 files means the complaints of the public are not being investigated. He said that some files have been at the AG’s department for years and yet there is no one to raise a voice over this issue. Gunasekera said the President and Parliament have failed to take note of the issue and obtain a solution…

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Hundreds pay homage to late son of Tamil Leader Prabhakaran in Chennai

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Hundreds of people gathered in Chennai on Sunday to pay homage to late Balachandran, 10 year old son of the late founder of Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), who was killed after he surrendered after UN negotiated the surrender. He was given biscuits and than killed in cold blood by the Sri Lankan Army. The unanswered question is Did the than President Mahinda Rajapaksha or the Defence secretary Gothapaya Rajapaksha ordered the Army to kill the 14 year old child in cold blood in May 2009. Late Tamil leader…

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A brief history of political arrogance and Eastern Province CM’s place in it

Karu

astern Province Chief Minister Nazeer Ahamed should now be every chief minister’s envy. They hardly make news even when they try their personal best, perhaps except C.V. Wigneshwaran, the Northern CM  for his own antics. CM Ahamed overnight broke ranks with that obscure lot to place himself at the centre of the news cycle. He is now by far the chief minister with the most YouTube views in his name after a video of him insulting a Naval officer at an official function at a school in Sampur went viral.…

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Sri Lanka flood victims highly indebted, livelihoods insecure, survey finds

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ECONOMYNEXT – Victims of Sri Lanka’s recent floods and landslides had been repeatedly affected by previous natural disasters and were now highly indebted with insecure livelihoods, a survey by the Ministry of Disaster Management has found. The May 2016 floods and landslide have caused the highest displacements, wide spread damage to productive assets, and losses to livelihoods and agricultural and livestock production, it said in an assessment of Colombo, Gampaha and Kegalle, the worst affected districts. Over 90% of these populations had been hard-hit by the recurrent natural disasters during…

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Fresh instructions issued in respect of PTA

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By Shamindra Ferdinando In the wake of a spate of arrests of former senior members of the LTTE, the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka (HRCSL) has issued specific directives in respect of detaining persons under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA). HRCSL spokesman attorney-at-law Saliya Peiris yesterday told The Island that directives had been issued following concerns expressed by some persons. Responding to a query, Peiris emphasized that their intervention wasn’t in any way meant to impede ongoing investigations. The government has assured Western powers that the Prevention of…

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Sirisena defends return of land to Sri Lankan Tamils

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Amid continuing criticism of Sri Lanka’s approach to the implementation of the 2015 Geneva resolution, President Maithirpala Sirisena has defended his government’s policy of returning land in the Northern Province to Tamils. Speaking to the Sri Lankan diaspora in Japan, Mr. Sirisena pointed out that they had been longing for the return of their lands for 27 years. ‘Distrust persists’ He also said that distrust persisted between people of the northern Sri Lanka and those in the south and that cement and bricks alone could not achieve reconciliation. Alluding to…

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Pains of labour in the Post-Civil War Development in Jaffna

Karu

The welfare of working people is sine qua non for economic and social development of societies. More than a quarter century of civil war in Jaffna (1983-2009) has destroyed several institutions that are the lifeblood of economic and social well-being of democratic societies. The vanguard institutions of labour such as collective bargaining through labour associations/unions, labour departments (government regulator), and indeed labour standards have been dissipated in the name of ‘national liberation’ and ‘national security’. These institutions have been subsumed into the overarching imperatives of Tamil nationalism, Tamil national liberation…

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Sampur Incident Highlights Need For Better Governance In North & East

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By Jehan Perera – Jehan Perera The immediate cause of the fracas in the east involving the chief minister, governor and naval officer was personal pique. That incident has been sought to be politicized by an opposition that is ever mindful of the power of inter-ethnic mobilization of nationalism. They have warned of the undermining of the security forces of the country by the ethnic and religious minorities. The fact that it was a Muslim chief minister who spoke offensively in public to a naval officer from the predominantly Sinhalese…

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The Struggle To Free The Tamil Political Prisoners & To Answer For The Displaced In Sri Lanka

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By Ranjan Fernando – Ranjan Fernando We are on the brink of a Fascist takeover, I feel. I cannot ‘prove’ it as one would a scientific hypothesis. Hence it is a collection of feelings based on what one hears, what one sees etc. In particular, I bring as a witness Prof. Sarath Wijesooriya, the successor to Ven. Sobitha whose impressive collection of civil organizations along with the Tamil votes brought about the downfall of the unlamented Rajapaksa regime. In his regular writings to ‘Ravaya’, Prof. Wijesooriya chronicles a litany of…

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Alleged war crimes: PM announces probe will be domestic, no foreign judges

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Decision conveyed to senior Army  officers, details soon, but TNA unhappy Geneva Resolution watered down Armed services to return more private lands to civilians, high-powered Office of Missing Persons to be set up Government to raise funds through international bonds, under interest-free Islamic banking system The United National Front Government’s final position on the UN mandated probe on allegations of war crimes in Sri Lanka was spelt out on Thursday by Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe. He told senior Army officers that the judicial mechanism would be made up entirely of Sri Lankan judges,…

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NPC unanimously congratulates Jayalalithaa

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NPC unanimously congratulates Jayalalithaa COLOMBO: The Provincial Council of Sri Lanka’s Tamil-majority Northern Province has unanimously passed a resolution congratulating AIADMK leader J.Jayalalithaa for winning the Tamil Nadu Assembly elections convincingly. Denying a news agency’s report that the Council thwarted Chief Minister C.V.Wigneswran’s bid to introduce a resolution congratulating the Tamil Nadu leader, the Council’s chairman, CVK.Sivagnanam told Express that the resolution was moved by the CM and passed unanimously on May 26, after an issue raised by two members was resolved amicably………….. READ MORE Will continue to persuade Centre…

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WA asylum seeker ordered home to Sri Lanka despite fears for safety

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Sri Lanka: Consultations Lacking on Missing Persons’ Office Ratification of Convention Against Enforced Disappearance Important Step (New York) – The Sri Lankan government ratified the Convention against Enforced Disappearance but in the same week created an Office of Missing Persons without promised consultations with families of the “disappeared,” Human Rights Watch said today. The government should honor its pledge to hold meaningful consultations with the affected families and nongovernmental representatives about the missing persons’ office and the other transitional justice mechanisms. At the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva…

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Is Wigneswaran Planning To Break Away From TNA To Form Radical Tamil Party?

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COLOMBO: The Chief Minister of Sri Lanka’s Tamil majority Northern Province, C.V.Wigneswaran, appears to be planning to break away from the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) and form his own radical Tamil party with the support of an influential section of the Tamil Diaspora. And the leadership of the TNA may allow this to happen as he has become an embarrassment and a thorn on their side. Wigneswaran’s politics of confrontation with the provincial Governor Reginold Cooray and the Sirisena-Wickremesinghe government in Colombo, clashes with the TNA leadership’s policy of cooperation…

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