Day: 25 July 2018

In response to investigations against British MPs including Ian Paisley by the House of Commons over his visit to Sri Lanka during the former rule, then External Affairs Minister Prof.G.L. Peiris said today that the government of former President Mahinda Rajapaksa had to bribe British MPs with FREE Holidays and other benefits so to counter adverse propaganda being carried out by the pro-LTTE elements. A Sri Lankan parliamentarian claimed that the former regime in Colombo bribed at least five more British MPs today, after the UK Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards suspended…

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The damning report comes after a UN visit to the country at the request of the government There is “little evidence” that the hope of reform, inclusiveness and justice in Sri Lanka after the country’s transition to a coalition government in 2015 is materialising, the UN concluded in a new report published on Tuesday. The damning report came after a UN visit to the country at the request of the government. It was issued three years after the country appeared to be on the cusp of major progress with the election…

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Exclusive : “Mahinda Rajapaksa Paid Money to LTTE to Become President JVP, JHU demand action against Emil Kanthan A key witness in the controversial RADA case yesterday told the Colombo High Court that they were asked to move out of the Mavil Aru area by former President Mahinda Rajapaksa and former Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa since they were negotiating with Emil Kanthan, the LTTEer. Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU) Western Provincial Councillor Nishantha Sri Warnasinghe said he and a group including Ven.Athuraliye Rathana Thera, Akmeemana Dayaratne Thera who reached the Mavil…

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A member of the Northern Provincial Council has sent a petition to the Ministry of Defence against the provision of a pistol to NPC Minister Ananthi Sasitharan, alleging that it was against the law to give her a firearm. The petition, dated July 22 and signed by NPC member Mohamed Ashwin, states that Minister Sasitharan does not have a threat to her life. The councillor alleges that the defence authorities have not conducted a threat perception study before giving Provincial Minister Sasitharan a pistol. Sasitharan’s husband was a frontline leader…

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Colombo Chief Magistrate Ranga Dissanayake has once again ordered the Chairman of the Hatton National Bank (HNB) to supply the details regarding certain cheques, be provided to the Police Special Detection Bureau (PSDB) regarding offences committed under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, in the case where a sum of Rs 1,250 million has been encashed from several banks and given to a few officials at the Temple Trees and to certain others in the run up to the last Presidential Poll. The Colombo Chief Magistrate gave this order to…

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I can still remember vividly that fateful day in July 1983 when a Nation’s hopes for peace literally went up in smoke. My schoolmates and I were halfway to school when we saw buildings burning in Colombo and the driver of the school bus turned back because it was not possible to continue the journey. On the way home, we saw mobs armed with knives, swords, clubs and machetes going from house to house. Some of them were carrying petrol cans. The destruction was incomprehensible to my young mind. I…

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Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said that he joined with the Tamil-Canadians and members of the Tamil community around the world to mourn families and friends lost during Black July in 1983, in Sri Lanka. “On this day, we remember the victims of the 1983 anti-Tamil pogroms in Sri Lanka that took thousands of lives and displaced so many from their homes. We join Tamil-Canadians and members of the Tamil community around the world to mourn families and friends lost during Black July, and to reflect on the enduring human…

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