Dharshan Weerasekera, Attorney-at-law D. B. S. Jeyaraj, the LTTE propagandist sometimes also known to masquerade as a ‘journalist,’ has written a lengthy commentary on the judgment in H. K. D. Chandrasoma’s case, published in the Daily Mirror of 19th August 2017 and titled, ‘Federalism is not Separatism, rules the Supreme Court.’ As far as I […]

Dharshan Weerasekera, Attorney-at-Law [Author’s note:  The present paper is intended to be read with a previous paper of mine titled, ‘H. K. D. Chandrasoma’s Case:  A Response to D. B. S. Jeyaraj,’ published in lankaweb.  For the convenience of readers that article is republished along with this one] On 21st August 2017, I published an […]

Gotabaya Rajapaksa https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUOym1NMvhozUuWfBl4wxow/featured

N. A. DE S. AMARATUNGA  Courtesy The Island Opposition is emerging to the new constitution. Former Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa speaking at the inauguration of a movement against the government’s constitution making process The idea that the country needs a new constitution is a construct of the Tamil separatists and opportunist politicians who need their […]

By Gagani Weerakoon Courtesy  Ceylon Today With the sole intention of defeating any move to divide the country through constitutional means, ‘Eliya – Illuminating Aspirations’ an organization formed under the patronage of former Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa was launched at Hotel Golden Rose, Boralesgamuwa on Wednesday (6) evening. Alleging that the proposed new Constitution would give […]

By Maheesha Mudugamuwa Courtesy The Island ‘Good Governance’ had been coined by the IMF, World Bank and the US Treasury, as a political conditionality for the enslavement of indebted countries such as Sri Lanka, former Permanent Representative of Sri Lanka to the United Nations Office at Geneva Tamara Kunanayakam said on Wednesday. She said it had […]

Lahiru Pothmulla Courtesy The Daily Mirror A new Constitution or Parliament shouldn’t be allowed to reverse the victories which were accomplished by uniting the country after defeating terrorism, former Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa said. Speaking at the launch of ‘Eliya’ (light) Forum in Colombo on Wednesday, Mr. Rajapaksa said people fear that the accomplished victories would […]

Sugath Samarasinhe  This is a response to the letter to the Editor published in the Opinion page of ‘The Island’ of August 22, 2017 titled New constitution a must”. I do not agree with the opening statement of the Friday Forum which states: The peoples’ verdict at the Presidential election of January 2015 reflected the […]

Editorial Courtesy The Island September 6, 2017, 10:11 pm A movement named Eliya [light] was launched, yesterday, with former Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa as its leader. Its goal is to torpedo the yahapalana government’s efforts to introduce a new Constitution, we are told. With only a couple of more years to go for the next presidential […]

BY SHIVANTHI RANASINGHE Courtesy  Ceylon Today Those who are insisting for a new constitution should pause to reflect on what they are asking and from whom they are asking. First of all, it was the abolition of the executive presidency that was pledged in the 2015 elections and not a brand new constitution. One may argue […]

By Neville Ladduwahetty Courtesy The Island MP Dr. Jayampathy Wickramaratne P.C. during the course of an interview had stated: “We must go for a referendum if we are to introduce a new Constitution. For example, if we want to change even a comma in Article 83 of the Constitution, we must go for a referendum”(Ceylon Today, […]

By Ranil Dharmasena Courtesy The Island Political parties and civil organisations are planning to file ten petitions against the proposed 20th Amendment to the Constitution when the Bill is presented to the Supreme Court. The amendment which has been gazetted by the government seeks to provide for holding elections of all provincial councils on a single […]

M.L.Wickramasinghe (The writer is an ex-Journalist, communication researcher and a retired staff member of the International Civil Service of the United Nations system) Recently, the Maha Sangha made a common statement on the proposed Constitution. It described the basic parameters of a Constitution that they believe would suit Sri Lanka, and presented the finding that […]

By Kelum Bandara Courtesy The Daily Mirror National List MP Ven. Athuraliye Rathana Thera, who played a pivotal role in the election of President Maithripala Sirisena, speaks about the constitution making process and what should be done. He responded to matters raised by Government MP Jayampathi Wickramaratne in a previous interview. Excerpts of the interview:  It […]

Mahinda Gunasekera, 84 Tambrook Drive, Agincourt, Ontario, Canada  M1W 3L9 July 26, 2017 His Excellency, Maithripala Sirisena President of Sri Lanka, Colombo 1, Sri Lanka Copy to: Hon. Ranil Wickremasinghe, Prime Minister Your Excellency, Honourable Prime Minister, Cabinet Ministers and Elected MPs, Confusion prevailing in respect of Reconciliation, Constitutional Changes and UNHRC Resolution The messages […]

BY Sugeeswara Senadhira Courtesy Ceylon Today This week marks the 34th anniversary of Black July 1983, one of the darkest days post independence in Sri Lanka. The killings, arson, and looting sent shockwaves around the world and soon the ruthless killings by the Tamil terrorists were forgotten by the international community and the blame shifted to […]

by Sanja De Silva Jayatilleka Courtesy The Island July 23, 2017, 12:00 pm Jeffrey Feltman, the UN UnderSecretary-General for Political Affairs, heads the Department of Political Affairs at the United Nations in New York. The main role of the department according to its website is to prevent and resolve deadly conflict. It is also tasked with […]

By Ayshwarya Yapa Courtesy Adaderana National Organizer of the National Freedom Front (NFF), Piyasiri Wijenayaka stated that no Sri Lankan citizen had asked UN Special Rapporteur Ben Emmerson or anyone else to probe into the dark, closed chapter of the terror-stricken of LTTE.” Issuing a letter to the Office of the Permanent Mission of Sri Lanka to […]

BY GAGANI WEERAKOON Courtesy Ceylon Today Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe has pledged that the Local Government Elections will be held in January 2018 when civil society activists led by Puravesi Balaya met him at Temple Trees, Friday evening. When they protested against government delaying elections, Premier Wickremesinghe has made it clear that the elections will be […]

by Shamindra Ferdinando Courtesy The Island July 21, 2017, 10:23 pm Joint Opposition (JO) parliamentary group leader Dinesh Gunawardena has called for an end to UN interference in on-going constitutional making process in accordance with Geneva Resolution 30/1 adopted in Oct 2015. MP Gunawardena has said that the JO that represented a large segment of people […]

By Ayshwarya Yapa Courtesy Ceylon Today Leader of the National Freedom Front (NFF), Parliamentarian Wimal Weerawansa challenged the Government to now bring forth a federal Constitution, with the Constitutional Assembly being rendered invalid after he and four other parliamentarians left the Assembly yesterday (19). Weerawansa stated this upon attending a press conference of the NFF at the […]

By Ananda Ariyarathne Courtesy Ceylon Today Feeling proud about one’s own ‘ethnicity’ is a very normal human behaviour. It is applicable to any community. It is also natural for some to go to extremes. It becomes absurd only when such extremists become so self-centred and delve into their own dreams. When the military power of a […]

Courtesy The Daily Mirror A letter was handed over to the Speaker of Parliament stating that five members of the National Freedom front (NFF) representing the UPFA will withdraw from the constitutional assembly. The letter signed by MP’s Wimal Weerawansa, Weerakumara Dissnayake, Jayantha Smaraweera, Udayashantha Gunasekara and Niroshan Premarathna cited ten reasons for the decision. […]

By Prageeth Sampath Courtesy  Ceylon Today Joint Opposition and SLFP Member of Parliament Prasanna Ranatunga says that they have clearly set forth their stand that the Unitary State and the prominence accorded to Buddhism in the Constitution cannot be compromised in the new Constitution. Excerpts: Q: Why are you getting ready for a snap election? A: […]

By Rathindra Kuruwita Courtesy  Ceylon Today Last week the Mahanayake Theras of three sects declared that they are opposed to the drafting of a new Constitution. And this is seen as a serious setback for the government and the more liberal sections of government supporters seem to think that this was a serious blow to the […]

By Yusuf Ariff Courtesy Adaderana The Chief Incumbents of the three main Nikayas, who met this evening for a special discussion, unanimously decided that there is no need for a new Constitution. Maha Nayaka Theros and Anu Nayaka Theros of the Siyam Nikaya, Amarapura Nikaya and Ramanna Nikaya convened a special gathering today in order to discuss […]

සමන්තී වීරසේකර උපුටා ගැන්ම දිවයින සයිටම් ගැටලුවත් වහා විසඳන්න ෙත්‍රෙනිකායික මහ නාහිමිවරු රජයට දැනුම් දෙති නව ආණ්‌ඩුක්‍රම ව්‍යවස්‌ථාවක්‌ කිසිසේත්ම රටට අවශ්‍ය නොවන බව ෙත්‍රෙනිකායික මහ නාහිමිවරු ප්‍රමුඛ මහා සංඝ රත්නය ඊයේ (4 දා) ප්‍රකාශ කළහ. අවශ්‍යම නම් පවතින ජන්ද ක්‍රමය සංශෝධනය කර ජනතා අවශ්‍යතා මත මැතිවරණ ක්‍රමය වෙනස්‌ කිරීමට පමණක්‌ කටයුතු කරන ලෙස ෙත්‍රෙනිකායික මහනාහිමිවරු ප්‍රමුඛ […]

ලංකා සී නිවුස් නව ආණ්ඩුක්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථාවක් හෝ ව්‍යවස්ථා සංශෝධනයක් අනවශ්‍ය බව ත්‍රෛනිකායික මහනාහිමිවරු ඒකමතිකව තීරණය කරති. අස්ගිරි මහා විහාරයට රැස්වුණු මහනාහිමිවරුන් මේ මොහොතේ පවත්නා ගැටළු සහගත තත්ත්වයන් පිළිබඳ සාකච්ඡා කිරීමෙන් අනතුරුව මෙම තීරණයට පැමිණි බව අස්ගිර් පාර්ශහිර් මහා ලෙඛකාධිකාරි ආචාර්යව පූජා මැදගම ධම්මානන්ද හිමියන් ප්‍රකාශ කලහ. මෙම විශේෂ සාකච්ඡාව සදහා සියම් නිකායේ අස්ගිරි පාර්ශවයේ මහා […]

Courtesy The Island July 3, 2017, 10:49 pm  The Asgiriya Chapter of the Siyam sect on Saturday vehemently protested against the proposed new Constitution at a meeting the Mahanayake of the Chapter Most Ven. Warakagoda Sri Gnanaratne and other senior monks had with a group of Buddhasasana Task Force representatives at the Asgiriya temple. The […]

by Maheesha Mudugamuwa Courtesy The Island June 28, 2017, 10:35 pm Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe yesterday said the government had not yet decided whether it would go for a brand new constitution or adopt provisions that did not necessitate a referendum. The PM said so, speaking at the National Conference on Constitutional Reforms at BMICH in […]