But will this interim government bring political stability? The man who is the primary cause for the economic ruin and on whom people have lost confidence is hiding behind the constitution and continuing as an autocratic president. Aragalaya demands him to step down. At least a couple of party leaders in the opposition had declared that they would not, on principle, join RW’s interim government as long as GR remains in that position. In the meantime, the ousted Prime Minister, who should have been arrested by now for his role…
Read MoreDay: 19 May 2022
Thousands of Tamil Civilians Killed During War in May 2009 Commemorated at Mullivaaikkaal; Victims Remembered at Galle Face Green in Multi- ethnic event with Moving Speeches made in Sinhala, Tamil and English; ”Kanji” (porridge) Distributed in Coconut shells.
By Meera Srinivasan Scores of people on Wednesday gathered in Mullivaikkal village, in Sri Lanka’s northern Mullaitivu district, to remember the tens of thousands of Tamil civilians who were brutally killed in the final stages of the civil war in May 2009, when the armed forces crushed the LTTE. Simultaneously, dozens came together expressing solidarity in a rare public remembrance event in capital Colombo, at Galle Face, the ocean front where citizens’ groups are protesting for 40 days now, asking President Gotabaya Rajapaksa to quit over the economic crisis stifling…
Read More“Gota must go. But the opposition should put the people before politics, too, and take some responsibility for extricating Sri Lanka from its predicament” — The Economist
(This article from “The Economist” appeared in the Leaders section of the print edition under the headline “Gota go”) On paper, at least, Sri Lanka is one of the wealthiest countries in South Asia, ranked by the un on a par with much of eastern Europe in terms of development. Yet the country of 22m people is suffering severe food shortages, locked petrol pumps and power cuts lasting as long as 13 hours a day. The currency has lost nearly half its value against the dollar over the past two…
Read More“It is essential for the country that your govt wins the legitimacy of opposition support and is not seen as a Rajapaksa clone” – An Open Letter to Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe From Krishantha Prasad Cooray
Dear Prime Minister, As I watched you take oaths at the Presidential Secretariat, my mind was drawn to the last time you did so, on 16 December 2018, on day 52 of the 52-day coup plot that was mounted against Lankan democracy. On that Sunday morning, you were flanked by your wife, Dr. Maithri Wickremasinghe and several senior opposition MPs in what still feels like the finest hour in the history of our constitutional democracy. Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe Several political parties rallied around you, putting the constitution before party…
Read MoreThe 4th estate in the chambers of democracy
Media freedom is a promise that has been common among every government that comes to power, although each of their tenures has, equally commonly, been marked by incidents that have violated or undermined media freedom. The latest of such incidents was reported on Tuesday (17), sadly from the venue that is meant to set an example for the rest of the country – Parliament. According to reports, two Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna MPs had allegedly snatched the mobile phones of two journalists – Prageeth Perera and Kasun Samaraweera – for…
Read MoreFrom Mullivaikkal to Nakba and Ballymurphy, Truth is the First Victim
Sri Lanka is grappling with its worst economic crisis since its independence in 1948. But amid this serious economic situation, Tamils on the island and around there world are going to commemorate the 13th anniversary of the civil war’s end on May 18, a war that lasted from 1983 to 2009, ushering in the so-called Mullivaikkal massacre committed by the Sri Lankan Army. Almost at a similar time every year on May 15, around 12.4 million Palestinians around the world commemorate the Nakba or catastrophe, which refers to the ethnic cleansing of Palestine by Israelis and the near…
Read MoreRulers, who ruined Sri Lanka, must pay the price
United National Party (UNP) leader Ranil Wickremesinghe was appointed as Sri Lanka’s Prime Minister last Thursday. His appointment comes at a time when the country is struggling to overcome its worst ever economic crisis, since gaining independence from the British in 1948 and in the midst of a soaring cost of living, severe shortage of essential commodities including medicines and medical equipment, domestic gas, petrol, diesel and kerosene. He has taken up the challenge of rebuilding the badly bloodied, battered and bruised country when none of the other political party…
Read MoreIndia top court frees ex-PM Rajiv Gandhi’s killer
India’s Supreme Court has ordered the release of one of the convicts involved in the 1991 murder of former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi. AG Perarivalan was in jail for over 30 years. In 1998, he was sentenced to death, but it was later commuted. Arrested at 19, Perarivalan was convicted for procuring batteries that were used in the bomb to kill Gandhi. Gandhi was assassinated by a female suicide bomber as he addressed an election rally in Tamil Nadu state.
Read MoreWhat is the point of this Parliament’ – Shanakiyan queries
A heated situation erupted in Parliament when Illankai Tamil Arasu Katchi (ITAK) MP Shanakiyan Rasamanickam yesterday (17), alleged that Leader of the House Dinesh Gunawardena stopped him chairing Parliamentary Sitting and invited SLPP MP Shantha Bandara to preside, when he was invited to the chair by the staff. Raising a Privilege Matter in the House, Rasmanickam said, when he was invited to chair the Sitting, Gunawardena sent messages to the Secretary General of Parliament asking Bandara to be invited instead of him. “This is a matter of my privilege. Before…
Read MoreGammanpila calls for arrest of all involved
While insisting the 9 May attack was State terrorism, MP Udaya Gammanpila yesterday (17), called for the arrest of all politicians who instigated the attack on peaceful GotaGoGama protesters to restore public faith on law and order. Speaking in Parliament, Gammanpila extended his condolences to the family of MP Amarakeerthi Athukorala who was killed in Nittambuwa and MPs whose properties were damaged during the unrest. “We have to condemn all kinds of terrorism equally. The attack on GotaGoGama protesters was State terrorism. Those who attacked the protesters were summoned by…
Read MoreSri Lanka honours Tamil war-dead after 13 years
Thousands of Tamils killed in Sri Lanka’s decades-long separatist war were commemorated on Wednesday for the first time outside the minority’s heartland in the north and east of the country. Clergy from Buddhist, Hindu and Christian communities offered prayers in Colombo and lit a clay lamp for those who perished between 1972 and May 2009 when the fighting ended. The ceremony coincided with the 13th anniversary of the ending of hostilities. https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20220518-sri-lanka-honours-tamil-war-dead-after-13-years
Read MoreMissing Persons Families to go after perpetrators of late 1980s disappearances
Ask P’ment to release those including Prez implicated in CoIs’ report Cops, Army personnel and politicos named, Families of the Disappeared org. claims BY Dinitha Rathnayake The Families of the Disappeared organisation in Sri Lanka is calling on the Parliament to release all the names collected by Presidential Commissions of Inquiry (CoIs) into the alleged perpetration of enforced disappearances in the late 1980s, including the list that names President Gotabaya Rajapaksa for his role in the Matale District where more than 700 persons disappeared while he was in charge. “The…
Read MoreSri Lanka marks 13 years of Mullivaikal massacre amid mass anti-Rajapakse protests
Today, on May 18, millions of people worldwide are commemorating the 13th anniversary of the massacre at Mullivaikal that ended Sri Lanka’s horrific, 26-year communal civil war. On May 18, 2009, the Sri Lankan army finally surrounded 400,000 Tamil civilians and surviving Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) fighters in a 6km radius around Mullivaikal. The Sri Lankan government had initially declared the area a “no fire zone” and told civilians to go there to be safe. However, the army then launched a mass artillery barrage on the men, women…
Read MoreFormer PM Mahinda arrives in Parliament
Former Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa, who stepped down from his position amidst growing public agitations, arrived in the Parliament to attend today’s proceedings. This is the first time Rajapaksa made an appearance in the House after resigning as the Prime Minister of Sri Lanka on the 9th of May. He vacated the position the same day, in the wake of nationwide public furore following an attack by ruling party supporters on anti-government protesters outside the Temple Trees and at the Galle Face Green in Colombo. On May 11, Defence Secretary…
Read MoreMPs Sanath Nishantha and Milan Jayatilleke remanded
The Colombo Fort Magistrate’s Court has ordered to remand SLPP MPs Sanath Nishantha and Milan Jayatilleke until May 25. The two parliamentarians, who were arrested in connection with the attack on the anti-government protest sites in Colombo on the 9th of May, were produced before the Colombo Fort Magistrate’s Court earlier today. The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) had arrested MP Nishantha at the Flower Road in Colombo last evening while he was later brought to the CID office to record a statement. MP Jayathilake was apprehended near the Sri Sambuddhathva…
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