By shenali Waduge
United Nations Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Peaceful Assembly & Association and the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Opinion and Expression are receiving letters to tell Sri Lanka to allow LTTE to commemorate a dead ‘martyr'. Who is LTTE? An internationally banned terrorist organization. Who is Thileepan – a member of that internationally banned terrorist organization who died after going on a death fast in 1987 September 26. It's the month of September and LTTE fronts naturally need to show they exist, so they pluck out the dead from the... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 24/09/20)
By Garvin Karunaratne,former G.A. Matara
My craze for motoring in the forsaken neglected Sinhala areas where poor unequipped buddhist monks struggle to guide the people following the dictat of Lord Buddha: “Charita Bhikkae Charikan Mahajana Hitaya, Sukhaya" took me this time to Sandamal Eliya, five miles before one reaches Tanmtirimale. The Sandamal Eliya Temple is run by Venerable Viharegama Sangarakkhita, a pupil of the chief monk at Tantirimale who was killed by the LTTE cadres. As happens very often I think I know the roads where I had often travelled long ago when I worked in the Sixties... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 24/09/20)
N.A.de S. Amaratunga
Prof. Gamini Keerawella (GK) in an article titled “Genealogy of Concept and Genesis of 13th Amendment” (The Island 16th & 17th Sept. 2020) attempts to show that the 13th A was not something forced on us by India, that it was a concept discussed by political leaders starting before independence and that India had to intervene as a midwife due to the failure of our political leaders to deliver their own baby. He says “It must be noted that at the outset the Provincial councils have to carry a certificate of illegitimate birth due to... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 24/09/20)
By Raj Gonsalkorale
Two issues had rankled Buddharakkitha. One was the Prime Minister's refusal to hand over a lucrative shipping contract to a company named Colombo Shipping Lines that was co-founded by him in the name of his associate HP Jayawardena to import rice from Burma (Myanmar) and Thailand. The second was over a sugar manufacturing licence to start a sugar factory – DBS Jeyaraj 30th September 2019 - THE PRIME MINISTER IS DEAD! How and Why SWRD Bandaranaike Was Assassinated Sixty Years Ago) 26th September 2020 is the 61st death anniversary of Sri Lanka's fourth... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 24/09/20)
KAMALIKA PIERIS
Wiswa Warnapala declared that violence was first injected into the politics of Sri Lanka by the JVP. JVP was a violent murderous movement from the very beginning. They were guilty of gruesome killings. Despite JVP ‘s attempts to identify itself with Fidel Castro and Ché Guevara, JVP had more in common with the Peruvian Sendero Luminoso (Shining Path), and Kampuchea's Khmer Rouge, said Tisaranee Gunasekera. Its use of lethal violence is very similar to Shining Path. Like the Khmer Rouge it eliminated anyone who opposed them. JVP killed their accomplices so as not... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 24/09/20)
Laksiri Warnakula
“It is not that religeous fanatics always walk around with a few kilos of explosives tied to their bodies, looking for a good spot to push the button. There can be others, who are as explosive, destructive and vicious as those suicide-bombers” It has been nearly one and half years now, since the tragedy happened. Nearly three hundred innocent including children perished and probably as many suffered: deeply bruised and burnt to the bone, scarred and some maimed for the rest of their lives. And for the kith and kin of... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 24/09/20)
Chanaka Bandarage
Mr Bogoda Premarathne is a pioneer in streamlining Sri Lanka’s education system. As the Commissioner of Examinations he devised a strategy to release public exam results (O/L and A/L) within few weeks of their completion. This was a remarkable achievement as in the 1970s it took many months for the results to be released. Sometimes students had to wait for more than 12 months for the results to be released. Mr Premarathne served on the American Field Service (AFS) and Fulbright Scholarships committees. He was very fair, honest and reasonable in... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 24/09/20)
මතුගම සෙනෙවිරුවන්
මහනුවර පොළව කම්පාවී ඇත.බූවැලිකඩ පස් මහල් නිවසක් කඩා වැටීමෙන් එකම පවුලේ තිදෙනෙකු ජීවිතක්ෂයට පත් වී ඇත. මේ ඛේදවාචකය උලුප්පා තලු මැරීමෙන් වන්නේ සැබෑ ප්රශ්ණය යටපත් වීමයි.එනම් මෙම විනාශය දක්වා පැමිණි ගමන් මග පිළිබඳව සාකච්ඡා නොකර අත හැරීමයි.සෙංකඩගල සිරිවර්ධනපුරය නොහොත් මහනුවර නගරය බිහිවන්නේ උඩරට රාජධානියේ ක්රමික විකාශනයත් සමගය.අවසාන සිංහල රජවරුන් ගේ ආරක්ෂාව තහවුරු වන ආකාරයට තැනූ මේ පුරවරය සිංහල බෞද්ධයන්ගේ මුදුන්මල්කඩ වූ දළදා වහන්සේ වැඩ සිටින අති පූජනීය සිද්ධස්ථානය වෙයි.එම නිසා මහනුවර නගරයේ පවතින ෙඑතිහාසික වටිනාකම් ආක්ෂා කර ගැනීමට විශේෂ තැනක් ලබා දිය යුතුයි.ඉංග්රීසින් මහනුවර නගරය අත්පත් කරගත් පසු එහි ඉඳි කරන ලද බෝගම්බර හිරගෙදර බිහිවූයේ... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 24/09/20)
ගරු නිපුණතා සංවර්ධන, වෘත්තීය අධ්යාපන, පර්යේෂණ හා නව නිපැයුම් රාජ්ය අමාත්යඅංශය
බොහෝ දීර්ඝ කාලයක් තිස්සේ මෙරට ජනතාව මුහුණ දෙන සමාජ ගැටලුවක්ව පවතින අලි මිනිස් ගැටුමට විද්යාත්මක පර්යේෂණ ඔස්සේ විසඳීම් සෙවීමට නිපුණතා සංවර්ධන, වෘත්තීය අධ්යාපන, පර්යේෂණ හා නව නිපැයුම් රාජ්ය අමාත්යාංශය සහ වනජීවී රැකවරණ හා වන සම්පත් සංරක්ෂණ රාජ්ය අමාත්යාංශය එක්ව වැඩපිළිවෙළක් ක්රියාත්මක කෙරෙමින් පවතී. ඒ පිළිබඳ විශේෂ සාකච්ඡාවක් පසුගිය දින විෂය භාර රාජ්ය අමාත්යවරුන් වන විශේෂඥ වෛද්ය සීතා අරඹේපොල මහත්මියගේ සහ විමලවීර දිසානායක මහතාගේ සහභාගිත්වයෙන් නිපුණතා සංවර්ධන, වෘත්තීය අධ්යාපන, පර්යේෂණ හා නව නිපැයුම් රාජ්ය අමාත්යාංශ ශ්රවණාගාරයේ දී පැවැත්විණි. සීතා අරඹේපොල අමාත්යවරියගේ උපදෙස් මත එම අමාත්යාංශය... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 24/09/20)
Senaka Weeraratna
The true test of a Sri Lankan is neither the waving of a Sri Lankan National flag nor the singing of the National Anthem nor the composing of Music for the YouTube such as ‘We are Sri Lanka’, but it is much more than that. It is the willingness to ensure that any manifestation of your religion or belief in worship, observance, practice and teaching, should be carried out in peace and harmony with Buddhism, and such conduct should not cause hurt to the moral sensitivities of the Sinhala Buddhists, who constitute the overwhelming... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 24/09/20)
by C.A.Chandraprema Courtesy The Island
Over the past several days, we have been hearing various criticisms of the 20A by members of the opposition as well as from pro-government quarters. Some members of the government audit service too came out against certain provisions in the 20A. Are these criticisms valid or are we missing something? If we grade the criticisms that have got the most amount of media coverage from the most serious to the irrelevant, the most serious allegation relates to the issues concerning the Auditor General and the Audit Service Commission. The decision of... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 24/09/20)
By Lakshman I. Keerthisinghe Courtesy Ceylon Today
“This is a new dawn for Sri Lanka, a fresh era creating the opportunity for the country to come together…Now is the time for the West to understand the new mood in Sri Lanka, the desire on all sides for reconciliation to become realistic without any interference from the West or the UN Human Rights Council.” - Lord Naseby President-All Party British Sri Lanka Parliamentary Group in UK. Ceylon Today reported on 18 September that Cabinet Spokesman Keheliya Rambukwella, while concurring with the position that Sri Lanka should pull... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 24/09/20)
By Lakshman I. Keerthisinghe Courtesy The Ceylon Today
“It was settled by the Constitution, the laws, and the whole practice of the Government that the entire executive power is vested in the President of the United States.” - Andrew Jackson-Former US President “Presidential powers are not exercised by a body or group. The Constitution vests ‘all executive power’ in one and only one person - the president.” –William Barr-US Public Servant The draft of the Twentieth Amendment to the Constitution has been published in the Government Gazette and made available for public scrutiny.... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 24/09/20)
Courtesy The Daily Mirror
Will not push probe on Lasantha, Thajudeen murder13th Amendment to be revisited Media freedom will be guaranteedIf you introduce that system here, you are talking about 1.5 million people wearing batik clothingTo supplement that we must make use of the Port CityThe drug menace and the underworld have to be controlled at any costThe 13th Amendment needs to be revisited. From 1986 we have been talking about Police powers and land powersWhen we are competitive the people will accept what is competitive The former Government placed much focus on a political solution... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 24/09/20)
Courtesy The Daily Mirror
Checks and balances also have limitsThe president of the country is not entitled to be the defence minister but bound to be the defence ministerPresident is accountable to people Education Minister Prof. G.L. Peiris, in an interview with Daily Mirror, comments on the 20th Amendment to the Constitution and responds to questions about it. Excerpts: QThe 20th Amendment has been the subject of criticism these days. What is the rationale behind the government’s move? The 20th... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 24/09/20)
Courtesy Adaderana
Investigations have revealed that the ‘Save the Pearls’ organization, belonging to currently detained Hejaz Hizbullah, has received funds from an institute in Qatar suspected to be funding terrorist activities. The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) informed the court today (23), that the said institute had deposited an amount of Rs 13 million to the bank account of the ‘Save the Pearls’ organization. https://youtu.be/HztsNNqjONE The relevant institute in Qatar has been identified as a banned organization that provides funding to various terror groups. Therefore, the CID informed the... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 24/09/20)
Courtesy Hiru News
05 arrivals from the UAE, & 01 from Ethiopia tested positive for Covid-19 increasing total infected in Sri Lanka to 3,321.... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 24/09/20)
Courtesy Hiru News
A girl who is about to enter the first grade of a school next year had received an inspirational letter from the school.... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 24/09/20)
Courtesy Hiru News
Former IGP Pujith Jayasundara making a statement today before the Presidential Commission of Inquiry into the Easter attacks stated that former President Maithripala Sirisena has instructed him not to conduct any open investigation into Islamic extremist activities. https://youtu.be/Rpp93KDhMEM He was giving evidence before the commission for the second day today This was when the Commission inquired whether the Prime Minister had been consulted without obtaining advice from the President at any time Meanwhile, while Pujith Jayasundara was giving evidence, former President Maithripala Sirisena arrived... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 24/09/20)
By shenali Waduge
As of now India is on the best of terms with US and that partnership has etched out the Indo-US Pacific Strategy with India playing a greater role among Quad Nations. That India was a crucial link in US pivot to Asia is without a doubt and the US re-chartering its Asian venture is something that policy makers in both India & Sri Lanka must seriously worry about. The sudden rise in LTTE diaspora voices alongside the Church echoing a subtle ‘time to forgive’ and the silent manner western-government funded faith-organizations are... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 23/09/20)
By Rohana R. Wasala
It was reported in the media (September 8, 2020) that prime minister Mahinda Rajapaksa’s proposal for a ban on cattle slaughter received cabinet approval as well as the approval of the government parliamentary group. Some Buddhist monks and allied groups who have long been agitating for such legislation to be enacted raised euphoric cries and invoked blessings on the prime minister and the president. I don’t know how the two privately reacted to the acclamation they received on the basis of a controversial measure tentatively proposed, but not finally agreed upon: Did they accept... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 23/09/20)
KAMALIKA PIERIS
Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna ( Pohottu) had a sweeping victory at the General Election of 2020. Pohottu got 59.09 %of the total vote and 145 seats. Nobody expected such a landslide victory and it was promptly dubbed the ‘mother of all landslides’. Voter turnout island-wide was 71%. It would have been more, but Pohottu supporters from abroad were unable to attend due to Covid 19.. They have won a ‘super majority’, said BBC. The two-and-half-year-old SLPP has placed a firm footprint in Sri Lanka’s political firmament, said analysts. That remains to be seen. ... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 23/09/20)
Chanaka Bandarage
With the advent of 20A bashing the dual citizens has become a pastime of many. It has now become a fashionable social phenomena. Currently dual citizens are seen as a ‘pariah community’. They are attacked from left, centre and the right. They are despised in every corner. They are seen as the reason for every evil of the land. When we refer to Sri Lankan dual citizens we largely mean the very large Sinhalese community who have taken up citizenship in developed western countries like the USA, Canada, UK, Australia, New Zealand,... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 23/09/20)
වෛද්ය රුවන් එම් ජයතුංග
ප්රංශ කවියෙකු, නවකතාකරුවෙකු සහ රොමෑන්ටික ව්යාපාරයේ නාට්යකරුවෙකු වූ වික්ටර් මාරි හියුගෝ 1802 පෙබරවාරි 26 වන දින ප්රංශයේ බෙසානොන් හි උපත ලැබීය. වික්ටර් හියුගෝ උපත ලබන්නේ ප්රංශ විප්ලවය විසින් ශක්තිමත් කරන ලද ලෝකයක ය. ඔහුගේ පියා ජෝසප්-ලියෝපෝල්ඩ් හියුගෝ නැපෝලියන්ගේ හමුදාවේ ජෙනරාල්වරයෙකි. ලියෝපෝල්ඩ් හියුගෝ නැපෝලියන් වීරයෙකු ලෙස සැලකූ නිදහස් සිතිවිලි සහිත ජනරජවාදියෙකු විය. හියුගෝගේ මුල් ළමාවිය කැලඹිලි සහිත විය. හියුගෝගේ දෙමව්පියන්ගේ ප්රතිවිරුද්ධ දේශපාලන හා ආගමික මතයන් දැරුවෝය. මෙම ආතතීන් හියුගෝගේම පවුල තුළ නිරූපණය විය. ඔහු සහ ඔහුගේ වැඩිමහල් සොහොයුරන් දෙදෙනා වන ආබෙල් සහ ඉයුජින් ඔවුන්ගේ මව සමඟ ප්රංශයේ පැරිස් නුවර ජීවත් වූ අතර ඔවුන්ගේ පියා ඉතාලියේ ජීවත් විය. හියුගෝට වයස අවුරුදු... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 23/09/20)
By W.K. Prasad Manju Courtesy Ceylon Today
Several Party Leaders attached to the SJB alliance had not participated in the protest that was staged in Parliament yesterday (22) by the SJB while Minister of Justice, M.U.M. Ali Sabry, PC was presenting the draft of the proposed 20th Amendment to the Constitution, informed sources said. Three of the SJB Party Leaders who had been absent during the protest had been the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress Leader Rauff Hakeem, the All Ceylon Makkal Congress Leader Rishad Bathiudeen and the Jathika Hela Urumaya Leader Patali Champika Ranawaka. Although the... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 23/09/20)
Courtesy Hiru News
7 arrivals from Kuwait, 2 from Saudi Arabia, 2 from UAE, an Indian national & an inmate from Kandakadu Rehabilitation Centre tested positive for Covid-19 raising the total in Sri Lanka to 3,312.... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 23/09/20)
BY EDWARD THEOPHILUS
President Mr. Gotabaya Rajapaksa concerns education reforms, and I posted several articles on this website, regarding the reforming agenda, and my concern was directed to declining values in Sri Lanka’s society. If value education included the curriculum with primary, secondary, and TVET education that could be used accelerating economic development, and growth, and to create value respected society in the country. Value education should be practiced from early childhood education to university education, and it is a broader practice. Many problems in Sri Lanka are a result of lacking value practice in society. In any... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 22/09/20)
by The Sri Lanka Study Circle
In 2009 the people of Sri Lanka led by their Commander in Chief Mahinda Rajapakse and his Army, ably led by Sarath Fonseka, decimated Prabhakaran and his gang of proxy - terrorists who were attempting to carve out a portion of Sri Lanka to set up the State of ‘Eelam’. As analysed by several foreign and local intelligence agencies, the terrorists were backed by America and acted as mercenary soldiers for the Americans who considered Sri Lanka critical for the American domination of South Asia. The Defence Secretary... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 22/09/20)
KAMALIKA PIERIS
JVP was out to create a failed state. Firstly, it set out to weaken government authority at village level. In 1971 insurgency, JVP killed government representatives in the village, such as GA postmaster, station master, and co-op manager. The first killing took place in Tangalle. In 1987 insurgency, even Grama sevakas were not welcomed in the villages. JVP issued threats to government officials, followed by killing of such officials and their families. In April 1989 unprecedented number of government officials, grama sevaka, and security forces were killed. It did not matter whether they were... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 22/09/20)
මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ ශ්රී ලංකා ප්රජාතාන්ත්රික සමාජවාදී ජනරජයේඅග්රාමාත්ය
සියලු ජාතීන් සහ ජනයා අතර “සාමය නැමැති පරමාදර්ශය“ ශක්තිමත් කිරීමට වෙන් කළ දිනය වන ලෝක සාම දිනය අදට යෙදී තිබේ. දශක තුනකට අධික කාලයක් තිස්සේ පැවතුණු බෙදුම්වාදී ත්රස්තවාදය පරාජය කළ රටක අග්රාමාත්යවරයා වශයෙන් ලෝක සාම දිනයට පණිවිඩයක් නිකුත් කරනු ලබන්නේ මහත් ආඩම්බරයකින් හා අභිමානයකිනි. 1981 වසරේ දී එක්සත් රාජධානියේ සහ කොස්ටරීකා රාජ්යය ඉදිරිපත් කළ යෝජනාවක් අනුව, ජාතීන් අතර සහ ජන ප්රජාවන් අතර සාමය ප්රචලිත කිරීම සඳහා එක්සත් ජාතීන්ගේ සංවිධානය විසින් ප්රකාශිත ජාත්යන්තර සාම දිනය, 1982 වසරේ සිට සෑම වසරකම සැප්තැම්බර් 21 වන දා සමරනු ලබයි. ජාතීන් අතර... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 22/09/20)
National Joint Commission
15th September 2020. The Committee on High Posts Parliament of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka Parliament Approach Road, Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte APPOINTMENT OF ASOKA MILINDA MORAGODA AS THE HIGH COMMISSIONER FOR THE REPUBLIC OF INDIA WITH SPECIAL CABINET RANK We would like to bring to your notice the shocking and appalling points relevant to the above mentioned appointment which the Government of Sri Lanka does not seem to have taken into consideration in selecting the candidate Milinda Moragoda Allegations of Corruption, Abuse of... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 22/09/20)
Chanaka Bandarage
The Constitutional Council (CC) is a 10 member constitutional authority tasked with maintaining the Independent Commissions and monitoring their affairs. The CC is aimed at depoliticising the public service. The CC was first established in 2000 under the Seventeenth Amendment to the Constitution. In 2010 President Mahinda Rajapaksa replaced it with a Parliamentary Council, under the Eighteenth Amendment. After Maithripala Sirisena was elected as the President, the then Prime Minister Ranil Wickramasinghe presented reforms to reinstate a new Constitutional Council in 2015 under the Nineteenth Amendment. Five independent commissions are established under the... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 22/09/20)
VICE
VICE World News host Zing Tsjeng explores how the City of London and its financial institutions profited from slavery in America long after the slave trade was abolished. Empires of Dirt is a show about Europeans getting rich at the expense of everyone else. VICE World News host Zing Tsjeng uncovers the ugly history of the European colonial empires they don’t teach us in schools. Countries around the world were looted for their treasures, people were oppressed and exploited and European powers relentlessly profited. The far-reaching repercussions of colonialism are all around us, from our financial... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 22/09/20)
P.K.Balachandran/Daily Express Courtesy NewsIn.Asia
“When the US was there and sponsoring resolutions, as it did between 2012 and 2014, they got sufficient votes. But since the US has opted out of the UNHRC, the onus of getting a resolution passed will be on less powerful countries." Colombo, September 20: The absence of the US in the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) is going to make it difficult for the Sri Lankan Tamil lobby to get a resolution against Sri Lanka passed in the March 2021 session of the Council when the current resolution expires. ... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 22/09/20)
By Sugeeswara Senadhira/Ceylon Today
Repetition of unsubstantiated allegations in session after session puts in question not just the credibility of the UNHRC’s sources of information but the credibility of the UNHRC itself Michelle Bachelet, UN Human Rights High Commissioner) It has been a practice during the last two decades, especially since 2009 for the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) to wake up from its slumber on the eve of its September and March sessions and pick up some issue or the other in Sri Lanka to express ‘concern’. Continuing... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 22/09/20)
Courtesy Sputnik
MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Sri Lanka's Ambassador to Moscow Meegahalande Durage Lamawansa said on Monday he planned getting inoculated with Russia's vaccine against COVID-19, dubbed Sputnik V, in the near future. "I am ready to receive Sputnik V vaccine in the near future, as soon as I come back from Sri Lanka. The vaccine is now going through Phase 3 trials, I would be happy to take part in it", Lamawansa said. "As a doctor, I want to add that although some countries have recently recorded some decrease in the spreading of COVID-19,... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 22/09/20)
Suhasini HaidarMeera Srinivasan Courtesy The Hindu
... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 22/09/20)
By Xian Jiangnan (People's Daily Online)
The continuation of protectionism by America, the largest economy body in the world, will only result in further contraction of the world economy and aggravation of unemployment, poverty and deprivation, said Luxman Siriwardena, president of the Sri Lanka-based Pathfinder Foundation. In a recent interview with People’s Daily Online, Siriwardena said that the unilateralism and protectionism currently being championed by the American administration goes against the values the West has promoted since the end of World War II. “When I was undertaking graduate studies at an American university in the... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 22/09/20)
By Shamindra Ferdinando Courtesy The Island
MP A.L.M. Athaulla displays a copy of a letter he sent to the then President Maithripala Sirisena and PM Wickremesinghe underscoring the need to do away with the 19th Amendment(Pic courtesy National Congress) … assures support for 20 A
Those who had a hand in engineering President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s defeat at the 2015 presidential election were behind the 2019 Easter Sunday attacks, National Congress MP A. L. M. Athaulla, told a media briefing at his Thalakotuwa Gardens road residence, Narahenpita yesterday (20). ... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 22/09/20)
Lahiru Pothmulla Courtesy The Daily Mirror
The government today reiterated that it has no decision to withdraw the 20th Amendment to the Constitution but said if needed, amendments to it can be made at the committee stage in Parliament. Speaking at a news briefing held at the SLPP head office, SLPP Chairman and Minister Professor G.L.Peiris said the opportunity is available to make amendments to the piece of legislation at the committee stage. “The 20A which was included in the Order Paper of Parliament on September 17 will be presented to Parliament tomorrow (22).... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 22/09/20)
