The head of Sri Lanka’s army, who is currently barred from travel to the US over his role in overseeing war crimes, met with a Sinhala Buddhist monk who has repeatedly spread hate speech and was caught on camera assaulting a Christian man, as he visited the Eastern Province last week. Shavendra Silva, the former head of the army’s 58 Division which is reported to have committed grave violations of international law, met with the controversial monk as part of a high level defence delegation to the East. On the trip,…
Read MoreDay: 26 May 2020
Embassy says SL workers refuse to report to work
Responding to reports that 36 Sri Lankan workers were stranded at Bucharest Airport in Romania, the Sri Lankan envoy to Romania said the situation had arisen as most of the employees had refused to go back to their workplace. Sri Lankan Ambassador to Romania accredited from Warsaw, Poland C.A.H.M Wijeratne said the workers had refused to report to work after one of them tested positive for COVID-19. Accordingly, the embassy had intervened in the issue to ensure the company would provide necessary healthcare facilities to the workers. However, a quarrel…
Read MoreGotha turning Eastern province to a Sinhala-Buddhist habitat ?
Has President Rajapaksa Appointed Defence Secretary Gen.Kamal Gunaratne as Head of Task Force to Implement “nationalistic” project to establish, through archaeological excavations, that the multi-ethnic Eastern province was once a Sinhala-Buddhist habitat ? By P.K.Balachandran Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s decision to entrust the survey and preservation of archaeological sites in the ethnically-mixed Eastern Province to a Presidential Task Force headed by the Defense Secretary, appears to have a political objective. Ostensibly taken at the instance of the Buddhist Advisory Council (including the Mahanayakes) the decision taken at a meeting…
Read MoreIsraeli PM Netanyahu goes on corruption trial
The trial of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on corruption charges has opened in Jerusalem, days after he began a new term in office. Mr Netanyahu, 70, is the first standing leader to face trial in the country’s history. He denies accusations of bribery, fraud and breach of trust. Arrived at the courthouse for a brief hearing, he said the cases were aimed at “toppling him in any way possible”. He was sworn back into office as head of a rare unity government a week ago. His political rival, Benny…
Read MoreCWC leader Arumugam Thondaman passed away
Ceylon Workers Congress (CWC) leader Arumugam Thondaman passed away today. He was 55 years old. Thondaman, the Cabinet Minister of Livestock and Rural Community Development had been rushed to the Thalangama base hospital. Hospital sources said that Thondaman suffered a heart attack at his home and was taken to hospital where he was pronounced dead. Earlier in the day Thondaman had met the newly appointed Indian High Commissioner to Sri Lanka, Gopal Baglay. They had discussed bilateral cooperation for community development including the ongoing Indian Housing Project in the plantation…
Read More“The message to army officers – and diplomats – is if you go around the world insulting and threatening the Tamil diaspora you will be rewarded,”
On the eleventh anniversary of the end of the war in Sri Lanka, the President, Gotabaya Rajapaksa, intentionally promoted officers to the rank of Major General who should have been vetted and screened out of any official position, in accordance to Sri Lanka’s commitments under UN resolution 30/1 to security sector reform. “The choice of these individuals is a highly politicised one which again sends a message to Sri Lankans and the international community that even lip service to reconciliation is off the agenda. This is yet another insult to victims and…
Read MoreAlleged Torturer Heads Sri Lankan CID: ITJP
International assistance to the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of the Sri Lankan police must be urgently reviewed now that a well known alleged torturer has been put in charge. Senior Superintendant of Police Adambarage Ruwan Prasanna Jayak De Alwis was appointed the new Director of CID by President Gotabaya Rajapaksa on Friday. Gotabaya Rajapaksa Prasanna de Alwis is named in numerous court documents in connection with torture, including the case filed by eleven Tamils in 2019 in California against Gotabaya Rajapaksa. A 13 page dossier which includes Alwis, among many others, was submitted as…
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