Author: Karu

BY Meera Srinivasan A group of Opposition MPs in Sri Lanka, representing Tamils from the north and east, hill country (Malaiyaha Tamils), and Tamil-speaking Muslims on Sunday sought the full implementation of the 13th Amendment to ensure “existing rights are not snatched away”. The contentious 13th Amendment, born out of the Indo-Lanka Accord of 1987, has remained in Sri Lanka’s Constitution for nearly four decades without seeing full implementation, as successive regimes in Colombo have refused to part with power over crucial areas including land, and law and order. Some…

By P.K.Balachandran On the occasion of World Human Rights Day on Friday, the US State Department designated 12 officials of foreign governments under Section 7031(c) of the Department of State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs Appropriation Act, 2021, for their involvement in gross violations of human rights. Among the sanctioned were Lt.Commander Chandana Hettiarachchi of the Sri Lankan Navy, and Sergeant Sunil Ratnayake of the Lankan Army. They and their immediate family members are ineligible for entry into the United States, a State Department release said.Chandana Hettiarachchi, a Sri Lankan…

BY Pamodi Waravita The world’s leading organisation of national human rights bodies has recommended that the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka (HRCSL) be downgraded to a “B” status, primarily due to its appointment process and its failure to adequately address human rights violations. The recommendation was made last week by the Global Alliance of National Human Rights Institutions (GANHRI), a partner of the United Nations (UN), and is contained in the report and recommendations of the virtual session of its Subcommittee on Accreditation (SCA), held from 18 to 29…

In the aftermath of the ethnic war, Muslims were fully behind the government. They also expected the government to learn lesson from the war, bring communities together and march forward for the common good of all. However learning no lesson, racist politics turned against minority Muslims while opening the country to forces such as India’s BJP and Israel -sworn enemies of Islam and Muslims. These forces care a damn for Sri Lanka in implementing their evil agendas. Persecution of Muslims culminated in the violent attacks on Aluthgama, Dharga Town and Beruwala where Muslim properties and even mosques were…

By N Sathiya Moorthy Addressing a meeting of the Coalition for National and Religious Reconciliation, former Parliament Speaker Karu Jayasuriya declared that Buddhism is not racist. He quoted the Buddha in this regard. He also urged the Maha Sangha, present on the occasion, to educate racists among Buddhists and create conditions for a national dialogue – against it, of course. Not long after came the official notification on the constitution of the Presidential Task Force on ‘One nation, one law’ (ONOL), that too under the most controversial BBS boss, Gnanasara…

Sri Lanka’s newly appointed Ambassador to the United States of America, Mahinda Samarasinghe has met top US officials in an attempt to boost ties between both countries. Samarasinghe also hosted a roundtable discussion at the Embassy of Sri Lanka in Washington D.C to mark the International Human Rights Day with key participants of the State Department and former US Ambassadors to Sri Lanka. Ambassador Samarasinghe met Ambassador Donald Lu, Assistant Secretary, Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs, at the State Department to discuss further strengthening of bilateral ties between…

Dec 14 (DM) Going by the statements made by the govt ministers who are more relevant to the main issues that are affecting the people these days, one would wonder if they are intentionally insulting the intelligence of the masses. They do not seem to understand the current ordeal the ordinary people in the country are going through following some of the controversial decisions made by the govt. Sometimes they knew the situation on the ground, but they may be more concerned about saving their skin from the higher ups. more..…

Dec 14 (ST) Three months after the Anuradhapura prison incident involvin are underway. The State Minister is alleged to have pointed a gun at the head of the two prisoners and threatened to kill them. more.. Three months after the Anuradhapura prison incident involving State Minister Lohan Ratwatte and two Tamil political prisoners detained under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA), the outcome of the multiple investigations has not been disclosed. At present, Police investigations regarding the incident are underway. The State Minister is alleged to have pointed a gun at…

Health Secretary Sajid Javid has told MPs that daily Covid omicron infections are now estimated to be around 200,000, with the variant expected to become dominant in London within 48 hours. Addressing MPs, he said: “There are now 4,713 confirmed cases of Omicron in the UK. And the UK Health Security Agency estimates that the current rate of, the current number of daily infections are around 200,000. Covid omicron news – live: Cases of new variant around 200,000 a day as booster vaccine queues reach six hours | The Independent

Of course Azad is something of a firebrand, just as Mahinda Rajapaksa, Vasudeva Nanayakkara, Dinesh Gunawardena and Mavai Senadirajah were at the same age (and stage of their politics). His rhetoric was certainly no more militant than that of Cabinet Ministers Wimal Weerawansa and Champika Ranawaka. Azad did punch back rhetorically when Islamophobia was recently unleashed in our public domain. He was a spirited young man and may have felt compelled to speak out by the conspicuous silence and pusillanimity of more established Muslim politicians. Never has the absence of Ashraff been…

Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) and its breakaway groups like Pohottuwa Cabal have been in power from 1994 up till now, barring on two occasions from 2001 to 2003 and 2015 to 2019. All what is apparent today in the national scene should be owned by them. Defeating Prabhakaran and his deadly forces of Tigers does not give a license to the Rajapaksas, nor to the SLFP and the Pohottuwa cabal to plunder the country’s coffers. It does not offer excuses to displace the Northern Tamils from their traditional land;…

“The road to self-deception is narrow to begin with, but there’s always someone ready to broaden it out…it’s all a matter of beginning” – José Saramago (Cain) Call it a metaphorical warning shot. Several parliamentarians, including a presidential nephew, were at a public meeting in Hakmana (Matara) when a monk invaded the stage and made a speech. “What did this Government do for the country?” he asked in a purely rhetorical spirit. Commenting on the regime’s failure, he proffered his answer: “Not this nonsensical (bahubootha) democracy, but if (you) love the…

The morning dew has created a psychedelic design on the grass. Each drop is perfectly circular and varying in circumference; when sun rays are reflecting off its minuscule summit of the drop, the patterns that the dew generates are swaying to the morning breeze like an immaculately choreographed ensemble. The moist touch must be bringing heavenly feel to any rough-skinned under-feet. Pages of ‘Grass for my Feet’ by Jinadasa Vijayatunga bring back fondest of memories, read almost eons ago. The sun has already risen above the distant horizon, at extremity…

Successful federal states are the USA, India, China, Germany, Malaysia, and for that matter de facto the United Kingdom today. Successful federal states are the USA, India, China, Germany, Malaysia, and for that matter de facto the United Kingdom today. Actually not just successful, these are very successful in that there is stability of the national constitutional structure as opposed to Sri Lanka’s endless bickering, rioting, racial hatred, a 30-year civil war and three constitutions. The pending fourth will be the nastiest on many counts, so my dear countrymen of…

State Minister Lohan Ratwatte says the report on the prison incident has not been made public or even handed over to the Cabinet. He said this in response to claims made by Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) MP Nalin Bandara Jayamaha in Parliament today that the report had found Ratwatte guilty over the incident. Ratwatte said that the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) must be asked to investigate how Jayamaha got a hand to the report. Jayamaha urged the Government to table the report in Parliament so it is clear if Ratwatte…

Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) Trincomalee District MP M. Imran yesterday (7) claimed that pre-school teachers and the employees attached to the Pre-School Education Bureau of Eastern Provincial Council, who are not fluent in Sinhala, are struggling to work with the officials who don’t speak Tamil.  Imran added that nearly 75 per cent of pre-schools in the Province function in the Tamil medium. “The Government should recruit Tamil-speaking officials to this Bureau considering the issue of Tamil-speaking people in the Province who don’t know any other language except Tamil.” He said…

Sri Lanka Minister slams Pakistani Defence Minister Minister of Public Security, Rear Admiral Sarath Weerasekara, while condemning the brutal killing of Priyantha Kumara in Sialkot, Pakistan, also expressed his discontent over the statement of Pakistani Defence Minister about the lynching, where he said the killing was committed by enraged kids.   Pakistani Defence Minister Pervez Khattak said kids do such things in passion, which doesn’t mean things are bad, he said over the ghastly killing of Priyantha Kumara, a father of two. “We also heard that the Defence Minister of…

ECONOMYNEXT – Resident Sri Lankans who earn dollar salaries and deposited them in forex accounts in the past are calling banks to protest against conversion of their earnings in to rupees against their wishes, multiple customers said. Customers were warned of forced conversion of forex after the central bank issued a gazette ordering merchandise and service exporters to convert their dollars. Merchandise exporters were allowed to invest 10 percent of their money in Sri Lanka Development Bonds. But banks have told individuals, they are force converting every cent of salaries.…

By Upatissa Pethiyagoda – Dr. Upatissa Pethiyagoda Despite the puzzling confusion by hopefuls making comforting noises, and the hopeless foretelling gloom, and hard times ahead, the juggernaut of State rolls on undaunted. Tragically, the Foreign Exchange Reserve position is bleak to an extent that we may be compelled (for the first time ever), to default in repayment of foreign loans, which apparently will lead to being declared not worthy of credit. This will be exacerbated by the possible denial of GSP+ exemptions. Earnings diminished by the certain decline of export crop yields,…

Why do Sri Lankan voters elect and re-elect corrupt and discredited politicians?  This topic has been much talked about and commented on in newspapers and social media ever since Gotabaya Rajapaksa, in a rare moment of self-realisation, asked this question from the voters of Sri Lanka. Why indeed? Two years before the president posed this question in November 2019, I asked myself the very same question when to my disbelief and dismay, 6.9 million voters elected Gotabaya Rajapaksa as executive president. For the purposes of this essay I consider President…