Month: October 2020

The Government of Sri Lanka says that it has been made aware of the Open Judgement by the Proscribed Organizations Appeals Commission (POAC) of the United Kingdom on delisting the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) as a proscribed terrorist organization. The government also said that it will appeal against the judgement of the independent tribunal in the UK which… Continue reading "Sri Lanka to appeal against move to lift UK’s ban on LTTE"

An independent tribunal in the UK has ordered the British Home Office to lift the ban on the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. The LTTE was proscribed in the UK in 2001. In 2019, the Tran-snational Government of Tamil Eelam (TGTE) officially requested the British Home Office to lift the ban, claiming that the proscription of the LTTE was misperceived… Continue reading "Tribunal orders UK Govt. to lift ban on LTTE"

Several members of the main opposition Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) voted in favour of the 20th Amendment to the Constitution while the SJB had officially decided to oppose the legislation. The eight opposition MP’s who voted along with the Govt for the 20th amendment are Samagiya Jana Balavegaya (SJB) National List MP Diana Gamage, Sri Lanka Muslim Congress MP’s Nazeer… Continue reading "20A: Muslim MPs vote in favour"

When the 17th Amendment and the 19th Amendment was passed, why was it that almost the whole House approved it, he questioned. “Why did it happen? It didn’t happen for any other amendment, but those two.”  Because those had the total approval of our people that this country must remain a democratic country, he said. “That messy as it is,… Continue reading "Sumanthiran urges MPs not to go in ‘reverse gear’ in direction of autocracy"

By Gagani Weerakoon and Methmalie Dissanayake Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) Parliamentarian Imthiaz Bakeer Markar yesterday (21) said in Parliament that he is of the opinion that Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa is also against the 20th Amendment to the Constitution Bill, which takes away all his powers and makes the Premier’s post a nominal one. Participating in the debate on the… Continue reading "20A could mean death of democracy"

ECONOMYNEXT- Leader of Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) Rauff Hakeem is urging the members of his party not to vote in favour of the 20th amendment, especially in those who are representing the eastern province hoping that would be politically pragmatic given the development needs of the area. Speaking in the parliament earlier today, he said that SLMC has met… Continue reading "MPs will support 20A, Hakeem urges them to oppose it"

ECONOMYNEXT – Many Sri Lankans who fled violence and persecution in the country and have become citizens of other countries must be given the opportunity to return and serve their motherland, Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna Member of Parliament Sagala Kariyawasam said. Joining the debate on the 20th Amendment to the Constitution Kariyawasam said that many Sri Lankans fled the country… Continue reading "Dual citizens who want to serve the Motherland must be given the chance – Kariyawasam"

Back to the 13th. The 13th Amendment is about provincial councils, at least in the operationalization of it. Provincial council elections have not been held in years. No one seems to mind, not even the die-hard devolutionists, not even the democracy-or-death types who wake up whenever their political darlings are in trouble. So, one can ask, ‘what’s the issue then;… Continue reading "The forgotten 13th"

ECONOMYNEXT – The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) will reject any constitution that does not have wide national consensus including that of the Tamil people, TNA leader R Sambanthan said. The MP made this remark in a speech declaring the TNA’s and the Illankai Tamil Arasu Katchi (ITAK)’s decision to vote against the 20th amendment to the constitution. In the second… Continue reading "TNA will reject any constitution that doesn’t have wide national consensus: Sampanthan"

Srisena did not feel the need to appoint an Acting Minister of Defence when he went abroad on 16 April 2019, especially since it was the Sinhala and Hindu New Year season. Sirisena responded by saying that while in some cases Acting Ministers are appointed, often however, they are not. Also, a member of the Commission again queried him as… Continue reading "Sirisena tells Easter Attacks PCoI: I did not appoint an Acting President or Defence Minister"

Sirisena also said Jayasundara had sent a letter to the National Police Commission in this regard and in it had stated that “it was in accordance with the instructions received at the NSC.” Sirisena had subsequently blamed Jayasundara for this. He further said Jayasundara was not invited to the meetings of the NSC for that reason. Meanwhile, when the Commission… Continue reading "IP Nishantha’s probes backed by LTTE sympathisers"

Yoshitha Rajapaksa has been appointed as the new Chief of Staff to Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa. The Prime Minister’s Office said Yoshitha assumed duties in the new post yesterday. Meanwhile, Chargé d’affaires of the Chinese Embassy, Hu Wei, congratulated Yoshitha for assuming office as new Chief of Staff to PM. “Bilateral friendship and follow-ups of recent high-level visit were discussed,” the… Continue reading "PM’s son is new Chief of Staff to PM – Family Business started."

CHENNAI: Sri Lankan drug trafficker Sunil Ge .. Read more at:http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/78678485.cms?utm_source=contentofinterest&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=cppst

Sri Lankan authorities said he had been detained for links to the perpetrators of the 2019 Easter Bombings, which left more than 250 people dead and injured more than 500 – the Indian Ocean island nation’s worst attack since the end of civil war in 2009. Meenakshi Ganguly, South Asia director at Human Rights Watch, said the police had not… Continue reading "Why Sri Lanka jailed a Muslim lawyer without charge for 6 months"

by M. A. Kaleel Karuna Amman alias Vinayagamoorthi Muralitharan, former Eastern Province LTTE commander, has been appointed the District Coordinator of Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa for Ampara and Batticaloa.  Karuna received his appointment yesterday from the Prime Minister at Temple Trees.  Muralitharan contested the last parliamentary election from the Ampara District as a coalition party of SLPP, but was unsuccessful.… Continue reading "Karuna Amman appointed district coordinator of Prime Minister"

Local intelligence agencies had no reason to doubt the intelligence information received in advance from an Indian source about a possible terror attack, former Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe told the Presidential Commission of Inquiry (PCoI) Probing the Easter Sunday terror attacks on Tuesday (13). He said a responsible Government like India would not issue such critical alerts in vain, as… Continue reading "‘Indian agencies alerted Sri Lanka three or four times about attack’"

Justice C.V. Wigneswaran is not laying traps to snare GR-MR or the TNA; that’s not the import of my title. I am suggesting is that wily old Wiggy is calculating that these worthies will snare themselves in traps of their own making, and then his line will pay off. His expectation is that the regime will turn explicitly anti-Tamil and his second… Continue reading "Wiggy May Outwit GR-MR & TNA: Tamil Buddhism & Oldness Of Sinhala Lingo Are Beside The Point"

JS Narang’s read-out said, “Prime Minister Modi called on the new Government in Sri Lanka to work towards realising the expectations of Tamils for equality, justice, peace and dignity within a united Sri Lanka by achieving reconciliation.” According to the joint statement, PM Rajapkasa “expressed the confidence that Sri Lanka will work towards realising the expectations of all ethnic groups, including Tamils,… Continue reading "To be or not to be on 13-A, India’s Sri Lanka moment again?"

Former President Maithripala Sirisena exerted continuous pressure on investigating officers, especially CID sleuths when they investigated military officers allegedly involved in wrong doings, former Law and Order Minister Sagala Ratnayaka yesterday informed the PCoI probing Easter Sunday attacks.  Ratnayake said that when CID officers made some arrests, the former President had called him and the investigating officers to the Presidential… Continue reading "Sirisena found fault with investigating officers for arresting military officers"

A group of Government MPs have sent a written request to President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, to have Riyaj Bathiudeen, the brother of All Ceylon Makkal Congress (ACMC) Leader MP Rishad Bathiudeen, who had allegedly helped National Thowheed Jama’ath (NTJ) Leader Zaharan Hashim  to flee to India in 2018, rearrested and launch a fresh probe into the allegations levelled at him.  Riyaj… Continue reading "Re-arrest Bathiudeen!"

The seven-member Chinese delegation led by Jiechi arrived in Colombo, on Thursday night, for meetings with President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and Premier Mahinda Rajapaksa. Having met President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, at the Presidential Secretariat, the Chinese delegation met Premier Mahinda Rajapaksa at the Temple Trees, where they discussed matters of mutual interest. All major Chinese investment projects were launched during Mahinda Rajapaksa’s… Continue reading "China takes bilateral relations with Lanka to a higher level"

Namal Kumara, who exposed an alleged plan to assassinate former President Maithripala Sirisena and current President Gotabaya Rajapaksa in 2018, had been paid by former President Sirisena’s office, said former IGP Pujith Jayasundara. A Commissioner again questioned him as to whether Sirisena was lying in that manner, to which the witness said that Sirisena used to lie as a habit.… Continue reading "Namal Kumara, who exposed an alleged plan to assassinate former President Maithripala Sirisena and current President Gotabaya Rajapaksa in 2018, had been paid by former President Sirisena’s office"

It appears that the Government is hell bound towards a goal best known to it with least regard to the concerns expressed not only by rival political groups but deflecting even their ardent supporters and promulgators. To the independent onlookers this confrontational approach has become a worrying factor as to why things could not have been dealt with more harmoniously,… Continue reading "MPs now saddled with the responsibility of carrying the 20A through are the same who supported 19A"

ECONOMYNEXT – In an unprecedented event, a document purporting to be the determination of the Supreme Court on the proposed 20th Amendment to the Constitution is available on the internet and has appeared on several news sites since this afternoon. The determination, a document which contains the decision of the Supreme Court in response to 39 petitions filed by political… Continue reading "“Leaked” Supreme Court determination on 20A"

In this context, the government would be aware that any decision to repeal or downgrade the 13th Amendment would have major domestic and foreign policy implications. Within the country, the Tamil polity in Sri Lanka has been demanding self-rule in the areas in which they are a majority that includes both the Northern and Eastern provinces from the mid-1950s.  All Tamil… Continue reading "Govt. can make 13A more meaningful"

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has appointed Lord Davies of Abersoch as the Prime Minister’s Trade Envoy to Sri Lanka. The British Prime Minister has today made fifteen new appointments to his Trade Envoy programme. These new appointments will extend the total number of Trade Envoys to 31 parliamentarians covering 69 markets. The Prime Minister’s trade envoy programme is an… Continue reading "UK PM appoints Lord Davies as Trade Envoy to Sri Lanka"

By Jehan Perera – Jehan Perera The primary justification for the government’s campaign to replace the 19th Amendment with the 20th has been the need to strengthen the president’s hand to govern the country in the aftermath of the misgovernance that took place under the former amendment. The argument that the strengthening of the presidency is needed for decisive action to be taken on… Continue reading "If The 13th Amendment Is Next In Line For Change"

Since coming to power, the key interlocutors of this government have been intimating a quest to ‘amend’ the 13th Amendment to the constitution. Such pronouncements are not just political theatre. They betray a real conviction born out from the nationalist ideological orientation and a belief that this is the opportune local and global moment to strike. They confide that India,… Continue reading "This government have been intimating a quest to ‘amend’ the 13th Amendment to the constitution."

The private external auditors do not carry out performance audits, but only the income and expense According to SLASA President, the 18th Amendment enables the AG to audit only the accounts of these Private Limited Companies, but not performance audits According to Ambanwala, the powerful Audit Service Commission was established under Article 153 and 154 of the Constitution Through the… Continue reading "20A Critics underscore the repercussions of Eroding AG’s independence"

Despite all signs to the contrary, it refused to believe that the defeated Rajapaksa bloc would regroup and re-emerge into the political mainstream, stronger than ever after its shock defeat in 2015. Already signs of that self same blindness coupled with arrogance are making themselves felt in this administration. As jokes abound about this nation of nuts with vendors of… Continue reading "The 20A and its constitutional witches cauldron of trouble"

The Government has admitted that the 20th Amendment is simply a cut and paste job to restore the provisions of the 18th Amendment. While the indecent haste with which the 20th Amendment is being pursued is difficult to understand in the context of the Government’s declared intention of presenting a new Constitution within six months, it also makes the whole… Continue reading "Criticisms of 20A remain unanswered"

20A is vital for Buddhist supremacists to achieve their long-held dream of establishing a Buddhist state in this country. They may not have spelt out their objective in those specific terms yet, but if one cares to study seriously the implications of the slogan, One County One Law, their claim that the country belongs only to Sinhala Buddhists and that others… Continue reading "20A is vital for Buddhist supremacists to achieve their long-held dream of establishing a Buddhist state in this country."