Day: 3 July 2018

Despite fine words and promises from political leaders, peace and reconciliation remain as elusive as ever The Sri Lankan civil war ended in May 2009. In 2010, Mahinda Rajapaksa was re-elected as president and his party, the United People’s Freedom Alliance, won a landslide victory in the parliamentary election due to the defeat of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). Even though the victors promised many policy changes for all the people, they were unable to bring in a new set-up to establish true peace, reconciliation and coexistence between…

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By Jehan Perera – Jehan Perera The war ended nine years ago but the country has still to address issues of healing and transition meaningfully or effectively. This may be disappointing but it is not too surprising. Dealing with the past is never easy. In Colombia, where a peace accord between the government and rebels was signed in 2016, and ended a five decade long civil war which had led to more than 200,000 deaths, a presidential election was held last month. The government candidate from the party of the president who…

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After Asgiriya Anunayake Called For Dictatorial Hitler Type Rule, Jaffna MP and State Minister Vijayakala Maheswaran Wants Return of Authoritarian LTTE Leader Veluppilaai Prabhakaran. A legislator in Sri Lanka has reportedly expressed a preference for feared Tamil Tiger leader Vellupillai Pirabharan who ruled a part of northern Sri Lanka by the gun, shortly after a southern monk called for rule by Hitler, in the latest twist in a country where authoritarianism is worshipped by sections of society. Vijayakala Maheswaran, a legislator from the Northern Jaffna province had told a public…

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ECONOMYNEXT – Police has been asked to revive an investigation into alleged Chinese funding of Mahinda Rajapaksa’s re-election bid following a foreign newspaper report that $7.6 million was paid through the Standard Chartered Bank. Deputy Minister of Social Empowerment Ranjan Ramanayake lodged a complaint with the Financial Crimes Investigation Division on Friday after the New York Times (NYT) last week said that the China Harbour Engineering Company (CHEC) paid the money days before the January 2015 election. The amount of money allegedly pumped into the Rajapaksa campaign was considerably less…

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Thejournalist who published a report in the New York Times stating that Former President MP Mahinda Rajapaksa obtained funds from China at the 2015 Presidential Election has explained the findings via Twitter. The main charge against the journalist over the past few days has been unilateral media reporting. However, rejecting the allegations, South Asia correspondent at The New York Times Maria Abi-Habib said on several occasions, various efforts were made to inquire Former President Mahinda Rajapaksa before releasing the relevant research report. Taking to Twitter, Abi-Habibi said “They allowed our…

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Refuting claims that Sri Lanka should exploit the situation created by the sudden departure of the United States from the UN Human Rights Council, to take the country off HRC agenda, Ports and Shipping Minister Mahinda Samarasinghe said,it was easier said than done. ” We cannot escape the resolution..we have undertaken certain commitments and we should deliver on those commitments.. there will be follow up,” he said. As the former Human Rights Minister the subject of UN HRC was under his purview for many years. In reference to the 2020…

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