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CAN THIS SHOCKING STORY FROM LANKA BE TRUE?
Shyamon Jayasinghe, Melbourne
This evening (21/7/06) I received the following email from Sri Lanka
about some new laws being passed there. I have confirmation. However,
it is so shocking and unbelievable that I would like some re-checking
of facts:
QUOTE: “I wonder if you have got news of what shocking new laws are
being imposed on us overnight by our wonderful, smart and so very thoughtful
government???
In addition to suddenly announcing that all bank accounts which have
not been operated for over 10 years will be closed and the funds therein
seized by the Central Bank, and taxing us Rs 10 on every Rs 1000 we
spend on our credit cards ( which means that if we spend Rs 1001, we
have to pay Rs 20 tax!) they have now announced that all TV channels
which broadcast any English programmes will be taxed at the rate of
Rs 90,000 per half hour!!
All TV channels have now stopped broadcasting all English programmes
and so we have nothing to watch on TV.except Sinhala teledramas. The
idiots in the government first said they were banning all TV broadcasts
after 10 p.m. "because they wanted to induce everyone to go to sleep
by 10 p.m."!! But that met with such an uproar that they quickly decided
against it--and now impose this ridiculous tax!
They suddenly shut down all cable TV companies overnight with no warning,
giving the excuse that they "had been operating without a valid licence"
all this time. Funny, because these companies have been operating for
over 10 years, and openly advertise in the newspapers with full page
ads etc. How come they just realised that these guys did not have licences???
This is the situation we are facing in Sri Lanka. Thank your stars
you have been fortunate enough to live overseas. We are speedily heading
downhill. All investment income is being taxed at 10% if your total
income per annum is over 108,000!! AS if anyone can live on this income
of Rs 9,000 per month house rents alone are over 30,000 per month.
The rupee is depreciating rapidly with the USD now Rs 104 and the Aus
$ RS 78. War is looming on the horizon-- and here we are, caught in
the midst of all this, with crime rampant all over the place and even
the armed forces being accused of killing innocent civilians. Recently
a young journalist who was working with the CID was killed by them because
he "knew too much".His body was found with 3 bullet wounds in the back
of his head in a land very close to where we live in Dehiwela. His mother
has said that when he left home he told her he was going out with his
CID friends as they had just unearthed some vital information.
Then there is the case of the innocent businessman who was beaten to
death after being arrested on a false charge of giving a telephone call
to a school warning them of an impending Tiger attack. By the time the
poor gentleman's wife obtained a statement of his phone calls from the
phone company and rushed it to the police to prove he had not used his
mobile to call the school, her husband was at death's door having been
beaten unmercifully. He died soon after. NO action has been taken against
the perpetrators. All it takes is a telephone call to the police about
anyone being a threat to the security situation-- and without any investigations
you are finished.
There are gangs going round robbing people of their valuables and even
vehicles at gunpoint. And all these things are happening in and around
Colombo!! This is what Sri Lanka has come to. I do not see any glimmer
even at the end of the tunnel now, leave alone a light. God take care
of us all!” UNQUOTE
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