By shenali Waduge
In early March the Daily Mirror reported the arrest of a blind man by the Railway Security Service – his crime begging on the train. That arrest resulted in a sensational story that has to enter any management case study and he should be invited by some of Sri Lanka's management institutes to share with others his story. What is his story? Blindness he says was a blessing in disguise. It is probably as a result of losing his wife that he resorted to begging on trains which he had been doing... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 22/03/19)
By shenali Waduge
LTTE was an armed group waging terror on the citizens of Sri Lanka. Since 1980s LTTE has been either bombing, sending suicide missions, assassination squads or setting off claymore bombs virtually every day, every month for 30 years. Apart from customary statements the UN, UNHRC or so-called international community did nothing to stop LTTE or even empathize with the thousands of unarmed victims that LTTE targeted. There were no pouring of flowers or world outcry calling for LTTE to disarm. It was always calls to have tea with the terrorists timed when... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 21/03/19)
By P.K.Balachandran Courtesy NewsIn.Asia
Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Tilak Marapana Colombo, March 20 (newsin.asia): In his speech at the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in Geneva on Wednesday, the Sri Lankan Foreign Minister, Tilak Marapana, categorically denied that the Sri Lankan armed forces had committed war crimes. He also clearly stated that it is not possible to establish a hybrid judicial mechanism with foreign and Sri Lankan judges to try cases of alleged war crimes as demanded by the UNHRC resolutions of 2015 and 2017. Marapana went on to point out to inaccuracies and... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 21/03/19)
Sudath Gunasekara
3.20.2019. The list of Cabinet Ministers of the Present Government 01. Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesighe – Ministry of National Policies and Economic Affairs, Ministry of Rehabilitation and Prison reforms, Northern Development, Vocational Training, Skill Development and Youth Affairs. 02. John Amaratunga – Minister of Tourism Development and Christian Religious Affairs. 03. Gamini Jayawickrema Perera- Minister of Buddha Sasana & North Western Province Development. 04. Mangala Samaraweera – Minister of Finances and Media 05. Lakshman Kiriella- Minister of Public Enterprise Development, Upcountry Heritage and... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 21/03/19)
Harindra Dunuwille
Much has been said and written about the Kandyan Convention of 1815 whereby the Kandyan Kingdom was ceded to the British. Historians and writers have over the years interpreted the events that led to the signing and the cessation of what was the last bastion of “Sinhale”. The document itself, its drafting, its local signatories and their very signatures, whether it was actually signed on the 2nd of March 1815 or on subsequent days, whether there were some who did not sign the convention are questions yet being debated. It has been called a betrayal of... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 21/03/19)
පේශල පසන් කරුණාරත්න සභාපති සමනල යෞවන සමාජය නාවලකන්ද
ඉහල ජෛව විවිධත්වයකින් යුත් පහත රට තෙත් කලාපීය වැසි වනාන්තර ගණනාවක්ම කළුතර දිස්ත්රික්කයේ වලල්ලාවිට ප්රාදේශීය ලේකම් කොට්ඨාසට අයත් සීමාවේ පිහිටා තිබෙන අතර මෙම වනාන්තර පද්ධති මෑත කාලයේදී නොයෙකුත් ආපදා තත්වයන් නිසා විශාල වශයෙන් විනාශ වෙමින් පවතී. මේ නිසා ප්රදේශයේ ජල මූලාශ සිඳි යාම, පරිසර සමතුලිතතාවය බිඳ වැටීම, ජන ජීවිත වලට තර්ජන එල්ල වීම ආදී ගැටළු ඇති වී ඇති අතර එම ගැටළු වලට විසඳුම් වශයෙන් ප්රාදේශීය ලේකම් කොට්ඨාසයේ පවතින්නා වූ වනාන්තර පද්ධති තුළ පරිසර සංරක්ෂණ ව්යාපෘති රැසක් ආරම්භ කරන ලදී. එහි එක් ව්යාපෘතියක් ලෙස වලල්ලාවිට ප්රාදේශීය ලේකම් කාර්යාලය,... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 21/03/19)
Dr Ruwan M Jayatunge M.D.
නන්දන වඩුතන්තිරි කලුවා හකුරු දුරයලාගේ නන්දන වඩුතන්තිරි තමන්ව හඳුන්වා ගන්නේ කුල පීඩිතයෙකු ලෙසටය. ළමා කාලයේ සිටම කුල පීඩනය ඔහු අත් දකියි. නන්දන වඩුතන්තිරි පවසන අන්දමට ඔහු ජීවත්වූ ප්රදේශයේ ධනවත් සහ කුලවත් අසල්වැසියෝ ඔවුන් ගේ දරුවන් සමග කුඩා නන්දන වඩුතන්තිරි සමග සෙල්ලම් කිරීමට අවසර නොදෙති. එසේම පාසලේදී ද ඔහුව ගුරුවරු මෙන්ම සිසුන් ද කොන් කරන්නේ නන්දන වඩුතන්තිරි අඩු කුලයේ ළමයෙකු බව පවසමිනි. තවද ඔහුට පාසලේදී ශිෂ්ය නායකයෙකු වීමට සුදුසුකම් තිබුනද ඔහුගේ කුලය නිසා විදුහල්පතිවරයා නන්දන වඩුතන්තිරිගේ නම කපා දමයි. යොවුන් වියේ ඔහු තම ප්රථම ප්රේමය අරඹන්නේ කුලවත් පවුලක තරුණියක සමගය.... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 21/03/19)
අද (20)පැවැති මාධ්ය හමුවට සහභාගි වු හිටපු මහ බැංකු අධිපති අජිත් නිවාඩ් කබ්රාල් මහතා
පසුගිය දින කිහිපය තුල රජය පුන පුන කිව්වේ ඒ අය ඩොලර් බිලියන 2.4ක් ලබා ගත්ත බවයි. එය විශාල ජයක් විදියටයි පෙන්වා දුන්නේ. එයින් වුනු ප්රතිවිපාකයි මම පෙන්වා දෙන්නේ.පළමුව ජාත්යන්තර ස්වෛරීය බැදුම්කර කියන්නේ මොකක්ද කියන දේ අපි පැහැදිලි කර ගන්න වෙනවා. සාමාන්ය බැදුම්කර නිකුත් කරන්නේ රුපියල්වලින්. මාස තුනේ බිල්පත් නිකුත් කරනවා වගේ මේ වෙද්දි වසර තිහක් දක්වා අපි බැදුම්කර නිකුත් කරලා තියෙනවා. ඊට අමතරව රජය ජාත්යන්තර මුදල්වලින් බැදුම්කර නිකුත් කරනවා. ඒවා ඩොලර්වලින් නිකුත් කරද්දි ජාත්යන්තර ස්වෛරිය බැදුම්කර කියනවා. ඩොලර්වලින් පොලිය ගෙවන්නත් රජය බැදී සිටිනවා. මෙය 2007දියි... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 21/03/19)
Courtesy The International News
The Lions of Pakistan (Lions Club Pakistan) on Tuesday handed over three more corneas donated by Sri Lankan Eye Donation Society to the administration of the Spencer Eye Hospital of Lyari for corneal transplants at a ceremony. The ceremony was attended by Karachi Mayor Wasim Akhtar and Senior Director Health and Medical Services Dr Birbal Genani of the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC). Corneal transplants resumed at the Spencer Eye Hospital after 15 years of suspension in February this year when a team of eye surgeons led by Dr Birbal Genani... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 21/03/19)
Sanjana Hattotuwa Courtesy Stuff
GETTY IMAGESPrime Minister Jacinda Ardern says the live streaming of the Christchurch killings is an issue she will take up with Facebook, writes Sanjana Hattotuwa. OPINION: Coming out of a long meeting, the first I heard of the violence in Christchurch was from those in Sri Lanka who had got breaking news alerts. I was both very disturbed and extremely intrigued. Terrorism as popular theatre or spectacle is not new, and some academics would argue is a central aim of terrorists, who want their acts recorded and relayed, not redacted or... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 21/03/19)
Courtesy Mailonline
Former Sri Lanka central bank governor Arjuna Mahendran is wanted by Colombo to face charges related to a $74 million insider trading scandal Singapore rejected Wednesday Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena's allegation it was sheltering a former central bank chief wanted for fraud, saying Colombo failed to provide documents to support its extradition request. Sirisena on Monday accused Singapore of sheltering Arjuna Mahendran, one of his country's former central bank chiefs wanted in connection with a high-profile $74 million insider trading scam. Sirisena said he appealed to... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 21/03/19)
Courtesy Reuters
NEW DELHI, March 20 (Reuters) - Oman’s oil ministry on Wednesday denied being part of a $3.85 billion plan to build an oil refinery in Sri Lanka, a day after the government in Colombo announced the Arab country’s participation. Sri Lankan officials told a news conference on Tuesday that a joint venture between the Oman oil ministry and a Singapore investment vehicle owned by India’s Accord Group had agreed to build the 200,000 barrel per day refinery near Chinese-controlled Hambantota port on the island’s south coast. The ministry was to take a... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 21/03/19)
Courtesy The Daily Mirror
Sri Lanka today rejected UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet’s proposals to establish an Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) in Sri Lanka and calling to implement a detailed and comprehensive strategy for the transitional process with a ‘fixed timeline’. “We all are eager to see results. However, pressing for time bound benchmarks to show quick results on decades old, sensitive and complex issues, is bound for failure,” Foreign minister Tilak Marapana in a statement to the 40th Session of the Human Rights Council... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 21/03/19)
GAGANI WEERAKOON Courtesy Ceylon Today
President Maithripala Sirisena has not given his consent to co-sponsor the United Nations Human Rights Council Resolution to extend the 2015 Resolution by another two years, Parliament was told today (19). United National Front Parliamentarian Dr. Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe (PC) claimed that it is the President who has the powers to decide as to whether the country should co-sponsor an international agreement or not. The MP, taking the floor during the Budget debate, said that co-sponsoring 2015 resolution was an ‘unwise act’, adding that he had told Minister Mangala Samaraweera,... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 21/03/19)
Courtesy Adaderana
Sri Lanka announced Tuesday that an overseas joint venture had committed $3.85 billion to a new oil refinery - the single largest foreign investment in the country’s history. The Board of Investment of Sri Lanka said construction would begin this weekend on the refinery and storage facility jointly financed by Oman’s Ministry of Oil and Gas and a Singapore-registered company. Deputy international trade minister Nalin Bandara said he expected the refinery, which will eventually produce 200,000 barrels a day, to be fully operational within four years. “This is the biggest... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 21/03/19)
Courtesy NewsIn.Asia
Colombo, March 19 (newsin.asia) – China’s global telecommunications giant Huawei, has reiterated its commitment to grow in the Sri Lankan market and introduce the 5G technology this year, the Daily FT reported here Tuesday.Huawei Technologies Lanka CEO Shunli Wang, quoted in local media reports said that Huawei had the potential to grow better in Sri Lanka with the government’s commitment and enterprises zeal to embrace digitization.Huawei, posted a global revenue of 102 billion dollars in 2018, with Sri Lanka being among its main markets. In recent years it has launched MIMO (multiple input, multiple... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 21/03/19)
By Rohana R.Wasala There was recently an exchange of views published in The Island newspaper between February 22 and March 14, 2019 and here in Lankaweb in the same period concerning the concept of ‘anatta’ in Buddhism (traditionally translated into English as soullessness, no-soul, non-self, etc). One of the most definitive responses, in my view, was from Ven. Bhante Dhammika of Australia (‘myself, yourself, no-self’/The Island, March 8, 2019). He has hinted that he might further elaborate his explanation in the future, which will definitely prove useful for all of us students of Buddhism. Except for Bhante Dhammika,... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 20/03/19)
DHARSHAN WEERASEKERA, 19TH March 2017 [Author’s note: The present paper is part of a much longer paper being reviewed for publication in an international journal. I am posting it here because of the urgency of the hour, given that the Government is planning on co-sponsoring yet another resolution at the UNHRC, a resolution that will reaffirm Sri Lanka’s commitment to resolution 30/1 of October 2015. Very briefly, l think the co-sponsorship is a mistake, because it binds Sri Lanka to fulfilling the remaining provisions of resolution 30/1, the most dangerous of which is the recommendation to enact... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 20/03/19)
BY EDWARD THEOPHILUS To achieve a rapid economic development and sustainable economic growth, the most essential desideratum in Sri Lanka is policy correction in relation to political, economic, social and cultural areas. It is a gigantic task with a strong political and social motivation. Since the political independence in 1948, Sri Lanka continuously involved in policy development tasks, which were misguided by a lack of clear vision, mission, objectives and activities. The other issue that related to the policy development is that the task doesn’t involve in a policy monitoring, variance analysis and remedial management process for redevelopment... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 20/03/19)
අරුණ ලක්සිරි උණවටුන B.Sc(Col), PGDC(Col) නීතිඥ
නාගානන්ද සහෝදර නීතිඥවරයාට අභියාචනාධිකරණ හිටපු සභාපති විනිසුරු මලල්ගොඩ මහතා විසින් එල්ල කළ පැමිණිල්ලක් විභාග කිරීමෙන් පසු ලබා දී ඇති දඩුවම මේ වන විට මාධ්යයේ පළවී ඇත. ලංකාදීප එසැණ පුවත් යටතේ එකී පුවත පළ වී තිබුණේ මෙසේ ය. නාගානන්ද කොඩිතුවක්කුගේ නීතීඥභාවය වසර 3කට අත්හිටුවයි (තිළිණි ද සිල්වා සහ රංජන් කටුගම්පොළ) සිවිල් සමාජ කියාකාරියෙකු වන නීතීඥ නාගානන්ද කොඩිතුවක්කු මහතාගේ නීතීඥභාවය වසර තුනකට අත්හිටුවීමට ශ්රේෂ්ඨාධිකරණය අද ( 18) තීන්දු කළේය. 2015 වසරේ එවකට අභියාචනාධිකරණය සභාපතිව සිටි විජිත් මළල්ගොඩ මහතාට අපහාසවන අන්දමින් අධිකරණය තුළ හැසිරීම සම්බන්ධයෙන් කොඩිතුවක්කු මහතාට එරෙහිව ශ්රේෂ්ඨාධිකරණය කළ විභාගයක් අවසන් කිරමින් මෙම නියෝගය ප්රකාශයට පත්... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 20/03/19)
Dr Sudath Gunasekara Hanthana Pedesa Mahanuwara
(Summary) Dr Sudath Gunasekara (SLAS) Re tired Permanent Secretary to Sirimavo Bandaranaike, President Sri Lanka Administrative Services Association (1991-1994) and President Mahanuwara Sinhala Bauddha Jesta Purawesiyange Sanvidhanaya. 17.3.2019 (This open letter envisages a new system of Government based on our own culture under a new Constitution to put an end to the present state of anarchy and Jaathidrohi palanaya in this country and restore political stability and sanity to save the Motherland and the Sinhala Buddhist culture for posterity, as it had been done by our ancestors for millennia and to make... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 19/03/19)
By shenali Waduge
The news reports of Sri Lanka’s military cum humanitarian rescue operation is poignant for several reasons. It provides us some real time news sans politicization & influence and now 10 years on it helps us to understand the scale of lies & hypocrisies that have been prevalent since June 2009. 31 January 2009 UN Secretary General commends Sri Lanka on efforts to release civilians in LTTE custody. He said that the LTTE is bound to protect the rights of the civilians. UNSG said the UN was ready to assist in any efforts to... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 19/03/19)
ශ්රී ලංකා පොදුජන පෙරමුනේ අද දින පැවැති මාධ්ය හමුව
අද දින පැවැති මාධ්ය හමුවට සහභාගි වූ කතිකයින් ශ්රී ලංකා පොදුජන පෙරමුනේ සභාපති මහාචාර්ය ජි. එල්. පීරිස් මහතා පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත්රී රෝහිත අබේගුණවර්ධන මහතා ශ්රී ලංකා පොදුජන පෙරමුනේ සභාපති මහාචාර්ය ජි. එල්. පීරිස් මහතා ජිනිවා නගරයේ මානව හිමිකම් කොමිෂමේ සැසියට රජය මුහුණ දෙන්නේ අනුවන විදියටයි.අනාගත රජයකට අභියෝග රැසක් මෙයින් දැයැද කරන්න හදනවා. අපි ඔ්වාට සුදානම්. අසාධාරණ වාර්තාවක් මේ වෙද්දි ඉදිරිපත් වෙලා තියෙනවා. අපේ රණවිරුවන්ට යුද අපරාධ චෝදනා එල්ල කරමින් ඔවුන් විදේශගතව සිටින්නේ නම් ඒ රටවල අධිකරණවලදී අපරාධ නඩු විභාග අරඹන්නයි මානව හිමිකම් පිළීබද මහ කොමසාරිස්වරිය ඒ වාර්තාවෙන් කියනවා. ඒ අනුව රටවල 14ට... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 19/03/19)
ශ්රී ලංකා පොදුජන උපාධිධාරී සංගමයේ සභාපති උපතිස්ස කුමාරතුංග මහතා අද දින පැවැති ශ්රි ලංකා ෙපොදුජන උපාධිධාරින්ගේ සංගමයේ මාධ්ය හමුව
නිදහස් අධ්යාපනයේ සුවිශේෂි ප්රතිපළය වන උපාධිධාරියා මේ යහපාලන රජය විසින් දිගින් දිගටම හැල්ලූවටත් අවමානයටත් ලක්කරනවා. 57000ට වැඩි උපාධීදාරින් සිටින අවස්ථාවක රාජ්ය සේවයේ විතරක් 78000ක් පමණ රැුකියා පුරප්පාඩු තියෙනවා. මේ රටේ දේශපාලන දිසානතිය අලූත් මගකට යොමු කරපු පක්ෂයක ප්රධාන අනුබද්ධ සංවිධානයක් අපි. මේ රටේ නිදහස් අධ්යාපනයේ සුවිශේෂි ප්රතිපළය වන උපාධිධාරියා මේ යහපාලන රජය විසින් දිගින් දිගටම හැල්ලූවටත් අවමානයටත් ලක්කරනවා. උපාධියක් ලබා ගන්නේ රත්තරන් එළපු මල් මාවතක නෙවෙයි කියන කාරණය මේ ආණ්ඩුවට මතක් කරන්න අවශ්යයි. එකවර උපාධිදාරින් 60000ට වැඩි පිරිසකට රැුකියා... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 19/03/19)
Courtesy The Island
The Supreme Court, yesterday, issued a restraining order preventing Nagananda Kodituwakku from practising as a lawyer for three years. A three-member bench comprising Chief Justice Nalin Perera, Justices Sisira de Abrew and Prasanna Jayawardena issued the order over a 2015 defamation case. The case was filed by Justice Vijith Malalgoda, while he was the President of the Court of Appeal. The Supreme Court initiated a disciplinary inquiry in respect of attorney-at-law Nagananda Kodituwakku’s conduct in the Court of Appeal on May 21, 2015 before the then President of the Court of Appeal justice Vijith Malalgoda, PC... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 19/03/19)
lanka C news
ගෝටාභය රාජපක්ෂ මහතා මීලග ජනාධිපතිවරණයේදී ශ්රී ලංකා පොදුජන පෙරමුණේ ජනාධිපති අපේක්ෂකයා ලෙස පත් කර අවසන් යයි තමන් සිතන බව හිටපු කතානායක චමල් රාජපක්ෂ මහතා සදහන් කරයි. තමන් හෝ බැසිල් රාජපක්ෂ මහතා ජනාධිපති අපේක්ෂක ලෙස යෝජනාවක් ඉදිරිපත් වී නොමැති බවත් ඒ මහතා පවසයි. උත්සව සභාවකට සහභාගී වීමෙන් අනතුරුව මාධ්ය වෙත අදහස් පල කරමින් ඔහු මෙම අදහස් පල කලේය. රාජපක්ෂ පවුලේ සියළු දෙනා අතර පැවති සාකච්චාවකදී ගෝටාභය රාජපක්ෂ මහතා මීලග ජනාධිපති අපේක්ෂක ලෙස පත් කිරීමට තීරණය කර ඇති බවට මාධ්ය විසින් වාර්තා කිරීම සම්බන්ධයෙන් කල විමසීමකදී චමල් රාජපක්ෂ මහතා මෙසේ කියා සිටියේය.... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 19/03/19)
Courtesy The Daily Mirror
President Maithripala Sirisena today faulted the Singaporean Government of not making a clear and open statement as to whether the main respondent in the Central Bank bond scam was in the country. “What I am concerned about is that the Singaporean Government has not made a clear statement about this yet. That is the prevailing situation. I see a certain lapse in international support in arresting the main respondent. The Singaporean Government should take more responsibility in this matter or else make a clear statement saying he is not in Singapore,” he said. Speaking at... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 19/03/19)
By shenali Waduge
In November 2017, ICC Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda asked judges for authorization to open an investigation into alleged war crimes in Afghanistan. US & NATO bombed and invaded Afghanistan immediately after 9/11 blaming Afghanistan though none of the hijackers were even remotely connected to Afghanistan. US & NATO have been occupying Afghanistan since 2001. The war crimes cover period 2003-2004 and include countries CIA has prisoners in. According to Bensouda more than 10,000 civilians were said to have been killed from 2007 to 2011 alone. While US left UNHRC calling it a ‘cesspool of bias’ UK has... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 18/03/19)
MEDIA RELEASE Mahinda Rajapaksa Leader of the Opposition
The government has announced that they will co-sponsor yet another resolution against Sri Lanka in the UN Human Rights Council. Resolution 30/1, the first such co-sponsored resolution in October 2015 committed the government to among other things, setting up a hybrid war crimes court with the participation of foreign judges, prosecutors and investigators and to removing by administrative means, individuals in the armed forces suspected of human rights violations even if there is insufficient evidence to charge them in courts. By co-sponsoring Resolution 30/1, the Sri Lankan government officially accepted Report No: 30/61... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 18/03/19)
මාධ්ය නිවේදනය මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ විපක්ෂ නායක
එක්සත් ජාතීන්ගේ මානව හිමිකම් කවුන්සිලය තුළ ශ්රී ලංකාවට එරෙහිව ගෙන එන තවත් යෝජනාවකට සම අනුග්රාහකත්වය දක්වන බවට ආණ්ඩුව ප්රකාශයට පත්කොට ඇත. 2015 ඔක්තෝබර් මාසයේ මේ ආකාරයට මුල් වතාවට සම අනුග්රාහකත්වය දක්වා සම්මත කර ගනු ලැබූ අංක 30/1 දරණ යෝජනාව තුළින් වත්මන් ආණ්ඩුව භාරගත් එක් කාර්යයක් වන්නේ ලංකාවට විරුද්ධව තිබෙන යුද අපරාධ චෝදනා විභාග කිරීමට විදේශීය විනිශ්චයකාරවරුන්, පරිචෝදකයන් හා විමර්ශණ නිලධාරීන්ගේ සහභාගීත්වය සහිත ‘දෙමුහුන්’ අධිකරණයක් පිහිටුවීමයි. උසාවියේ නඩුවක් ගොනු කිරීමට තරම් සාක්ෂි නැති වුවත් මානව හිමිකම් උල්ලංඝනය කළාය කියා සැකයට භාජනය වී සිටින සන්නද්ධ හමුදා සාමාජිකයන් පරිපාලන ක්රියාදාමයක් තුළින් සේවයෙන් ඉවත් කිරීමටත් ඔවුන් එම යෝජනාව තුළින්... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 18/03/19)
by Senaka Weeraratna
(This is an edited version of a paper read out at a Public Seminar on the ‘ Kandyan Convention of 1815’ held at the University of Peradeniya, Arts Theatre, on March 09, 2019) The Kandyan Convention (‘Ingrisy – Sinhale Givisuma’) must be examined in the context of British colonial policy seeking British supremacy all over world. The British developed ingenious ways of grabbing other people’s lands under various pretexts. The Kandyan Convention is a classic example of this ploy. In India, under its policy of Subsidiary Alliance the British used Treaties to make Indian States, subordinate to... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 18/03/19)
Chandre Dharmawardana, Canada
When construction workers excavating the site of the Sathosa Store in Mannar unearthed skeletal remains in late 2013, they had accidentally found one of the largest mass graves in the country. Radio-carbon dating has now put the skeletal remains to the 15th -18th century. However, the TNA and a number of NGOs have called for further radio-carbon dating. It is important to understand how this has acquired such political significance, and why further studies are scientifically warranted. The pro-Eelamist Tamil Net used the news on Tuesday, 24 December 2013 to indict the Sri Lankan army as... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 18/03/19)
N.A. DE S. AMARATUNGA Courtesy The Island
Bones found in a mass grave in Mannar have been found to be more than 300 years old by a laboratory in Florida, USA. Lord Naseby has called on all the countries sponsoring the Resolution against Sri Lanka to bring down the official figure of deaths during the last stages of the war against the LTTE to 5,000. Minister Kiriella has warned the Geneva delegation not to make any adverse changes in the latest resolution against Sri Lanka to be taken up at the UNHRC Conference. These three occurrences, though not apparently connected,... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 18/03/19)
By Shamindra Ferdinando Courtesy The Island
March 17, 2019, 10:50 pm The outcome of talks between the SLPP and the SLFP, for a grand coalition against the UNP was in the balance, political sources told The Island. The SLPP and SLFP are scheduled to meet again on March 21 following their first round of talks on March 14 at the Opposition Leader’s Office. SLPP Chairman Prof. G.L. Peiris and SLFP General Secretary Dayasiri Jayasekera led the two delegations. Some SLFP MPs reneged on their pledge to vote with the Joint Opposition/SLPP against the second reading of budget 2019 on... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 18/03/19)
Courtesy Adaderana
When inviting foreign investors, it is important to create an economic policy which can protect the local entrepreneur stated former Defense Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa. If foreign investors are invited into the country they should generate some foreign exchange and employment opportunities for the country, he said. He further said that the investors also need to change their technology to suit Sri Lanka. Gotabaya Rajapaksa expressed these views at the ‘Eliya’ conference held in Badulla today (17). Reportedly, the conference was attended by experts from various fields. https://youtu.be/fPR1CSiHE8o... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 18/03/19)
Courtesy Adaderana
The Leader of the Opposition Mahinda Rajapaksa states that Sri Lanka should no longer co-sponsor resolutions against the country at the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC). Issuing a press release titled ‘The stand Sri Lanka should take in Geneva’, the Opposition Leader says that the government will be co-sponsoring another resolution against the country at the UNHRC in Geneva. He points out that by co-sponsoring Resolution 30/1 previously, the government of Sri Lanka accepted a report which accused the Sri Lankan armed forces of war crimes. https://youtu.be/xs9693ofiMQ The release states that apart from no... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 18/03/19)
By Sugeeswara Senadhira Courtesy Ceylon Today
While the top two leaders of the country disagree on most of the issues, they patched up their serious differences on the issues faced by Sri Lanka at the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in Geneva. During the discussion held with President Maithripala Sirisena, the Minister of Foreign Affairs Tilak Marapana agreed to lead the delegation, which includes Dr. Sarath Amunugama and Northern Governor Suren Raghavan as President’s nominees. Geneva team However, this compromise was arrived at after the initial damage was done. During the preliminary discussions in Geneva, Sri Lanka has... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 18/03/19)
By Shivanthi Ranasinghe Courtesy Ceylon Today
It was an unbelievable act when the Yahapalana Government co-sponsored the Resolution 30/1 in 2015. A Government to have accepted to have committed war crimes and therefore to co-sponsor a Resolution against its own country is unprecedented. Outraged, national movements predicted that history would never again witness such a treacherous act, meaning that the Yahapalana Government would not have any followers. However, the incumbent Government, which is really a residue of the Yahapalana Government, proved this prediction wrong by co-sponsoring the Resolution 34/1, at the ongoing 40th UNHRC Session. This UNHRC Resolution 34/1... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 18/03/19)
By Gamini Abeywardane Courtesy Ceylon Today
Abolition of the executive presidency has surfaced in the political debate again. Since early nineties the matter has been brought up many times in election promises - first by Chandrika Kumaratunga in 1994, then by Mahinda Rajapaksa in 2005 and 2010, and lastly by Maithripala Sirisena in 2015. Yet for all, none of them kept their promises and instead displayed their duplicity by trying to enhance their power or stick to it as long as possible. The only minor deviation from this trend was visible when Maithripala Sirisena agreed to prune down some... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 18/03/19)
By M D P DISSANAYAKE
Attempting to unite all like-minded political forces will be a distinct advantage. Similary it is imperative to identify reasons why those forces such as JVP and SLFP are now turning the tide towards SLPP. Winning General Election or Presidential Election with political Kangaroos such as JVP and SLFP will only provide some oxygen for them in their last journey towards political isolation. There had been ample opportunities in the past 4 years for them to co-operate and work with President Mahinda Rajapakse. Instead they have done everything at their disposal to destroy the Leader... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 17/03/19)
