Month: August 2018

Radhika Coomaraswamy Democracy is defined as: “a system of government by the whole population or all the eligible members of a state, typically through elected representatives” and we in Sri Lanka according to its full official name should abide by this hundred percent. “The power in people is stronger than people in power,” said Saji Ijiyemi whoever s/he may be. It should be thus, but is not. Cass found it proven that both these edits are not applied and hold no water in the Sri Lanka we live in. Proven…

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Today is the United Nations International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances and the topic has deep relevance to Sri Lanka because of what happened, especially after the end of the war in 2009 and during the past few decades. In a statement the UN says enforced disappearance has frequently been used as a strategy to spread terror within the society. The feeling of insecurity generated by this practice is not limited to the close relatives of the disappeared, but also affects their communities and society as a whole.…

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NPC Minister wants international excavations of war-time SL military camps in North-East Excavations must be carried out at the direct presence of international monitors wherever the SL military was stationed with camps during the times of war in the North-East, said Ananthy Sasitharan, who is the NPC Minister of Women’s Affairs and Rehabilitation. Thousands of Tamils, subjected to forced disappearance and arrests during the times of war, are still unaccounted for and their trauma and dismay has aggravated at the scale of the recent discovery of mass graves in the…

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Skeletal Remains of More Than 90 Bodies Excavated at Site of What Was Earlier a Co-operative Whole Sale Depot Near Bus Terminal In Mannar By Anbarasan Ethirajan of BBC News in Mannar Experts in northern Sri Lanka are trying to identify the remains of dozens of bodies in a mass grave in the country’s former war zone. So far the skeletal remains of more than 90 people have been unearthed in the north-western town of Mannar. The mass grave is the second biggest found in the north since the end of…

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by Shamindra Ferdinando Ports and Shipping Minister and SLFP spokesman Mahinda Samarasinghe yesterday denied Tamil National Alliance (TNA) allegation that there was a move to settle outsiders in the Mullaitivu district. Samarasinghe emphasized that there was absolutely no basis for this claim. The SLFPer said so when The Island sought an explanation as to why President Maithripala Sirisena, ministers, including Samarasinghe as well as senior government officials remained silent when the TNA made unsubstantiated allegations at a meeting chaired by President Sirisena at the Presidential Secretariat on Monday (Aug 27). The TNA…

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ECONOMYNEXT – The Colombo Fort magistrate Lanka Jayaratne Wednesday ordered the arrest of Sri Lanka’s chief of defence staff  Admiral Ravindra Wijegunaratne over his alleged role in helping the main suspect in the abduction and murder of 11 children escape arrest. Jayaratne told the police Criminal Investigation Department (CID) to arrest Wijegunaratne who is said to have funded Hettiarachchi Mudiyanselage Chandana Prasad Hettiarachchi alias Navy Sampath last year to escape the police net. At the time the arrest order was issued, the chief of defence staff (CDS), the country’s senior-most…

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Mahinda Rajapakshe responded ‘I don’t remember!’ to most of the questions.  Gotabhaya does not have a getaway. The officers of the Criminal Investigations Department undertook on receiving a statement from the former President Mahinda Rajapakshe regarding the kidnapping, assaulting and abandoning on the road of the journalist Keith Noir recently. The crew, consistent with the former Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapakshe, who was alleged of the case, was expecting their liberation to getaway through the former President’s statement. Accordingly, the law expertise favouring the Rajapakshes with the Rajapakshes pre-orchestrated a statement…

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By Kavindya Perera A lawyer for the defence, in the journalist Keith Noyahr alleged abduction and assault case, yesterday (27), told Court that the safe house named Baduwatte Walawwa, which had come up in connection with the case, had been operated and maintained by the military intelligence. This was revealed before Mount Lavinia Additional Magistrate Lochana Abeywickrema by Attorney-at-Law Shehan de Silva, appearing for the eighth suspect, former Army Intelligence Chief, Retired Major General Amal Karunasekera. Appearing for the prosecution, Senior State Counsel (SSC) Lakmini Girihagama said, that continued investigations…

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Attorney -General Files 49 Charges For Criminal Breach of Trust and Misappropriation of Money Relating D. A. Rajapaksa Memorial Against Ex-Def -Secy Gotabhaya Rajapaksa and Six Others; Accused Issued Summons to Appear Before Special High Court on Sep 10. By Manopriya Gunasekara The Special High Court yesterday issued summons to Former Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa and five others to appear before the Court on 10 September over misappropriation of funds to erect the D. A. Rajapaksa statue in Weeraketiya, Madamulana. The case, heard as the second in the Special High…

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Tamil National Alliance (TNA) has ignored a request by Northern Province Chief Minister C.V. Wigneswaran to boycott the Presidential Task Force (PTF) on the development of the Northern and Eastern Provinces and would participate in a meeting of the task force scheduled for today (27). The Northern Chief Minister had made the above request claiming that the government was attempting to undermine the long-awaited political solution to the ethnic problem by increasing economic activities in the region. It would not affect the Tamils in any manner if the TNA joins…

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By Ananth Palakidnar A new coalition, on the Tamil political front, led by Northern Chief Minister C.V. Wigneswaran is likely to emerge targeting the next Northern Provincial Council election. In the backdrop of efforts being taken to patch up the differences between the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Leader R. Sampanthan and the Northern Chief Minister, a new coalition is likely to emerge with the Tamil People’s Council (TPC), co-chaired by Chief Minister Wigneswaran, which was formed two years ago, expected to play a key role in forming it. The TPC…

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By Meera Srinivasan Sri Lankan authorities have excavated nearly 100 skeletons at a mass grave in Mannar, located in Sri Lanka’s Northern Province, where state armed forces and Tamil rebels clashed in a 30-year civil war. According to local media reports, some locals living in the Tamil-majority province, whose relatives went missing during and after the war, have raised concern about the bodies possibly having links to the many enforced disappearances reported in Mannar. Continue reading ‘Nearly 100 Skeletons Including Those of 8 Children Retrieved after 58 Days of Excavation in…

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(Lanka e News 28.Aug.2018, 4.20AM) Clause 4(2) of the 19 th amendment to the constitution clearly stipulates ‘ the individual who was elected by the people to the post of executive president twice cannot be elected again to the same post by them’. Despite this , the legal lackeys of Mahinda Rajapakse (who held the post of president twice) have advanced the contention that ‘Mahinda can again contest the presidential election’ . In order to learn of the true position , Lanka e news made inquiries from several retired Sri…

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-LeN inside information report (Lanka e News -24.Aug.2018, 5’45AM) The incumbent president Pallewatte Gamarala is exerting pressures on the law enforcing Institutions precluding them from interrogating or arresting the present chief of security council Raveendra Wijegunaratne (former Navy Commander ) , and ex Navy commander Vasantha Karannagoda who aided and abetted the criminals in the gruesome murder of 11 innocent students after committing extortion. These two Navy chiefs were responsible for hiding the murderers and helping them to flee the country .It is a pity , the president Sirisena alias Sillysena…

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The Attorney General’s Department today filed a case with the newly set-up Permanent High Court at Bar against former Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa and 6 others, over the misappropriation of state funds when building the D.A. Rajapaksa Museum. The Attorney General’s Department filed the indictments today based on the investigation carried out by the Police Financial Crimes Investigation Division (FCID). The seven defendants named in the case including the former Defence Secretary are changed over the misuse of state funds amounting to Rs 49 million when constructing the D.A. Rajapaksa…

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We in the North fear troops. It is just not Tamils. We have seen viral videos of the IGP assaulting a staff member and the Navy Commander a reporter. In a democracy, troops must be kept out of civilians lives. However, not in our democracy. In 1970, I was assaulted for no reason by a group of policemen. In the early 1980s troops on their way to buy cigarettes in three trucks swung a bicycle chain at me and other passers-by. Soon, our guardian troops were murdering us. There is…

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Rehabilitation of Persons, Properties and Industries Authority (REPPIA) was established in 1987, in consequent to the 1983 July riots, by an Act of Parliament No. 29 of 1987. The objective of REPPIA is to assist in the rehabilitation of affected persons through compensation. As provided by law, REPPIA provides financial assistance to affected persons, properties and industries. REPPIA is mandated to provide compensation to persons affected by conflicts such as wars and/or riots. It has taken a broad range of activities to rehabilitate the persons affected by the conflicts and…

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