Month: June 2020

The United Kingdom (UK) raised the accountability and reconciliation issue during talks with Sri Lanka. Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon, the UK Minister of State (Minister for South Asia and the Commonwealth) and Prime Minister’s Special Representative on Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflict said that he discussed justice, accountability and reconciliation during a call with Sri Lanka Foreign Minister Dinesh Gunawardena. “I look forward to continuing our dialogue on important matters of bilateral interest, such as climate change and the Commonwealth,” he said. Meanwhile, Gunawardena tweeted saying during his video conference, the UK Minister conveyed appreciation especially…

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In a win for the Trump administration, the Supreme Court has ruled immigrants seeking asylum cannot appeal decisions made earlier in the process in federal court, the One America News Network reported. A 7-2 vote by the court Thursday decided those who fail their initial asylum screenings will not be able to call for a review of the decision before they are deported. The court also ruled that habeas corpus, a legal procedure requiring the government to explain why someone is being held, will not be applied to asylum seekers.…

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The United Nations (UN) has called for an investigation into child soldier recruitment by former LTTE Eastern Commander Karuna Amman. The office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet tweeted saying it took note that former LTTE commander and Government Minister Amman is being questioned for alleged past crimes. The UN Human Rights office said that Karuna Amman should also be investigated for wholesale recruitment of child soldiers, a crime under international law. The UN said that accountability should apply to everyone in Sri Lanka. Amman was…

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Dr. Dayan Jayatilleka It was hardly a textbook example of the “correct handling of contradictions” (Mao). Future historians may conclude that the achievable dream of the 21st century as an Asian Age in a multipolar world order, died in mid-June 2020 in the Himalayas, in the Galwan valley in Ladakh. The ferocious and lamentable clash between India and China with its tragic loss of lives is probably unlikely to escalate into armed conflict, but it marks a parting of the ways; the relationship will never be the same again. This…

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New York) – The Sri Lankan authorities should stop targeting, intimidating, and harassing journalist and woman human rights defender, Dharisha Bastians, and her family. The Committee to Protect Journalists, Reporters Without Borders, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and Front Line Defenders condemn this assault on human rights and press freedom in Sri Lanka and call on the Sri Lanka Police to immediately stop the harassment and ensure Bastians’ safety. Bastians is being targeted by the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) in its investigation into what the Sri Lankan government maintains is a false claim…

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An officer attached to the Police Narcotics Bureau (PNB) is currently under interrogation of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID), the Police Media Spokesman said. The officer in question is being investigated over allegations of maintaining links with drug traffickers. Reportedly, he had resold a stock of heroin, which was to be handed over to the PNB, back to drug dealers. http://www.adaderana.lk/news/65013/pnb-officer-interrogated-over-links-with-drug-traffickers

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The gallantry of the soldiers is held in high esteem by the Sinhala majority community UNP national organiser Navin Dissanayake even called for the appointment of presidential commission to probe his remarks His popularity waned further after he made critical remarks of His Eminence Cardinal Malcom Ranjith at an SJB election rally in Medirigiriya, Polonnaruwa this week In an era with advanced communication technology and the alert media, politicians are required to carefully calculate in advance the possible ramifications of what they should say before the people, be it in…

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ECONOMYNEXT – The Constitutional Council is calling for the National Police Commission’s (NPC) observations on a letter sent to the Commission by the daughter of slain journalist Lasantha Wickrematunge challenging the appointment of the new Director of the Criminal Investigation Department. A Press Release issued by the Parliamentary office said that former Speaker Karu Jayasuriya as Chairman of the Constitutional Council had brought the attention of the Council to the letter sent by the Editor’s daughter Ahimsa Wickrematunge. In her letter Wickrematunge asked the NPC to reconsider the appointment of…

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Ven Athuraliye Ratana Thera, Gampaha district candidate of Ape Jana Bala Pakshya yesterday said that the US embassy in Sri Lanka called for the procurement process of the Millenium Challenge Corporation agreement through its website. Ratana Thera questioned whether this was done with the approval of the government of Sri Lanka or ignoring the fact that Sri Lanka was a sovereign nation and it was done arbitrarily by the US authorities. http://www.island.lk/index.php?page_cat=article-details&page=article-details&code_title=224087

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Controversy surrounds the failure on the part of the banking system to detect highly irregular large scale transactions carried out by drug kingpins over a period of time.  Recent arrest of two persons, separately, allegedly involved in narcotics trade revealed the existence two such accounts in different banks.   According to police headquarters, one account had recorded transactions to the tune of Rs 490 mn whereas the other revealed transactions worth Rs 10 mn to 40 mn on a monthly basis.   There hadn’t been such previous detections though the…

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Prof. Lalithasiri Gunaruwan, who headed a high level government inquiry into the proposed finalisation of Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) agreement yesterday (25) told President Gotabaya Rajapaksa that the previous yahapalana administration and the US had signed two agreements in 2017 and 2018 as regards two phases of the project. Prof. Gunaruwan said that though Sri Lanka received USD 7.4 and USD 2.6 mn in 2017 and 2018 respectively, the inquiry team couldn’t find any supporting documents. The President’s Office spokesperson said that the report would be made available to the public. http://www.island.lk/index.php?page_cat=article-details&page=article-details&code_title=224089

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Fort Magistrate Ranga Dissanayaka said in open court that officers of the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) had attempted to show photographs of Hejaaz Hizbullah at his chambers prior to the recording of statements from two children. When the matter was taken up before Dissanayake on 24 June, he told Hizbullah’s lawyers that prior to the recording of the statements from the two children, this attempt had been made: “I want to reveal this. The CID officers tried to show pictures and I had to tell them to leave the Chamber.”…

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Two weeks ago we had The Island cartoonist Jeffrey having ex-Prez Sirisena moving stealthily forwards with a sack thrown over his shoulder. He was on a Santa gifting mode proceeding to his father’s adopted home and therefore his, and come August 2020 his electorate. So he was going to address voters if not en masse at least in small groups to tell them what benefits, perks and blessings he had brought them as the President in 2015 -19 of the Democratic Socialist (Yahapalana) Republic of Sri Lanka. (Goodness what a…

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By Kamal Mahendra Weeraratne The Court of Appeal, yesterday (24), enlarged on bail, former Negombo Deputy Mayor Royce Fernando who had been in remand from March 2019 on charges that he had abducted a well-known businessman who had been dining at a hotel in Negombo with his Chinese girlfriend and also robbing Rs 5 million and a vehicle. The Court ordered that he be released in two sureties of Rs 500,000 each and ordered him to report to the Negombo Police every Sunday.  A Bench comprising Justices Kumudini Wickremasinghe and…

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During the war we dealt very effectively with the various instruments in Geneva relating to Human Rights. There are in effect four separate types of these, and it is important to distinguish between them, to work out what motivates them, and to deal accordingly. We need to distinguish between friends and foes, we need to deploy our friends to deal with threats, and we need to win over our foes or, where this is not possible, disarm them. The most important of the instruments, in theory at any rate –…

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Former minister Mangala Samaraweera says he is impressed by former parliamentarian Harin Fernando and praised the ‘courage of his convictions’. “I am very impressed by Harin F who has the courage of his convictions to challenge the hypocrisy of sections of the Catholic Church who seems to have forged an unholy alliance with the extremist Buddhist clergy supporting this majoritarian/facist regime (sic),” he tweeted. Fernando has faced massive backlash due to his recent comments against the Archbishop of Colombo His Eminence Malcolm Cardinal Ranjith. http://www.adaderana.lk/news/64982/mangala-impressed-by-harins-courage https://ceylontoday.lk/news/comments-against-archbishop-harin-s-ploy-to-reduce-kavinda-s-votes-wimal

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There have been many challenges that the world has experienced in the last hundred years. Starting from the great pandemic in the 1920’s, The Vietnam War in the 1970’s and the attack on the WTC in 2001.  Sri Lanka in particular had to achieve the crushing of the LTTE In 2009 and the Easter attack in 2019 – yet Sri Lanka always bounced back from ground zero. However, the most devastating challenge that we have been up against has been the ‘COVID-19 Pandemic’ in 2020. Based on the theory of…

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By Paneetha Ameresekere Repealing the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) was a commitment made by Sri Lanka to the European Union (EU) in the lead-up to Sri Lanka’s readmission to the Generalised Scheme of Preferences (GSP+) as well as to the UN Human Rights Council in April 2019, the EU in its ‘Human Rights Report 2019’ released recently said. Despite the progress made following the 2015 elections, progress in implementing UN Human Rights Council Resolution 30/1 continued to be slow, the report said. The EU continued to support the implementation…

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Former United National Party Member of Parliament Harin Fernando said that it was the Archbishop of Colombo who deprived UNP candidate Sajith Premadasa of votes during the last Presidential Election. He made this statement at a Samagi Jana Balavegaya meeting held in Medirigiriya, Polonnaruwa.  He added that if 5% of the number of votes received by Gotabaya Rajapaksa came to Sajith Premadasa’s side then it would have been 47 per cent for Sajith.  “More than 300,000 voters who marked first preference for the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) had marked second…

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ECONOMYNEXT- The Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) is distancing itself from its former ally Vinayagamoorthy Muraleetharan the LTTE leader better known by his nom-de-guerre Karuna Amman. This is after the former Eastern Commander of the LTTE controversially boasted he had been part of the attack on the Army at Muhamalai that killed between 2,000 and 3,000 soldiers. In fact the fighting in Muhamalai, the Forward Defense Line of the Army which went on from 2001 to about 2008 did see heavy casualties but between 2,000 is too high an estimate,…

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