Day: 20 October 2018

Kicking off his visit to India, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe yesterday met Indian National Congress President Rahul Gandhi for discussions on the political and economic situation of the region, the Prime Minister’s Office said in a statement. The discussions also centred on how to safeguard navigation in the Indian Ocean and Sri Lanka’s welfare system. Several Congress officials, including Sonia Gandhi, Anand Sharma, and Dr. Manmohan Singh, were also present at the meeting. The officials on both sides also talked of the emerging importance of Asia as a global powerhouse…

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UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The United Nations asked the government of Sri Lanka on Friday to immediately repatriate the commander of its 200-strong contingent assigned to the U.N. peacekeeping force in Mali following a review of his human rights background. U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric announced Friday that the request for Lt. Col. Kalana Amunupure to leave the troubled West African nation was made “based on recently received information.” He gave no details. A report in The Guardian newspaper in July quoted a confidential report that claimed the Sri Lanka commander…

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Chief of Defence Staff Admiral Ravindra Wijegunaratne, who is currently at the centre of the case involving the abductions and killings of 11 youth, made a public appearance with President Maithripala Sirisena at the Nelum Pokuna Theatre yesterday. Sirisena and Wijegunaratne were seen sharing the stage together at the ‘Sathviru Abhiman’ military welfare event in Colombo, attended by soldiers and their family members. The event took place a day before the case relating to the killings of the 11 youth came before the Colombo Fort Magistrate. On behalf of the CID,…

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The Hindu newspaper today stood by its report on President Maithripala Sirisena’s remark at the last Cabinet meeting on RAW’s plot to assassinate him. President Sirisena The Sri Lankan government has so far issued three denials of the story and President Sirisena, in a telephone conversation, with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi also assured that he never made such a remark. N.Ram, the Chairman of Kasturi & Sons Limited, the publisher of Hindu, and the former Editor-in-Chief of the newspaper said this morning that ‘The Hindu’ told the truth when…

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Former President Mahinda Rajapaksa abruptly ended a press conference yesterday when journalists questioned about the removal of former Chief Justice Shirani Bandaranayake through a hastened impeachment process. At the press conference where the former President talked about the “lopsided” law enforcement process of the current government, a journalist asked how the former Chief Justice Bandaranayake was removed within three days, under the previous administration. “Everything was done according to the Constitution,” Rajapaksa responded curtly, indicating he did not wish to take further questions on the matter. However, the journalist kept asking questions…

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