WHAT'S HOT IN SRI LANKA

ARCHIVE JULY

Solution to ethnic issue after next presidential poll – President Rajapakse

2009-07-07 | 8.00 PM

President Mahinda Rajapakse says that any form of solution to the ethnic issue would be presented only after the next presidential election.

The President had made this comment in an interview with The Hindu newspaper.

Indian Army to help de-mine Sri Lanka

2009-07-07 | 3.15 PM

After providing medical services to thousands displaced by war, Indian soldiers will now go to Sri Lanka to help de-mine areas once held by the Tamil Tigers, it was announced Monday.

The military personnel will be part of Indian experts who will assist authorities in Sri Lanka to detect and defuse thousands of mines laid by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon told the media here.

Key role for security forces

2009-07-07 | 3.15 PM

Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ratnasiri Wickramanayaka has said security forces would play a key role in the country’s development drive, even as Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF) leader V. Anandasangaree, in a letter to President Mahinda Rajapaksa on Monday, said what the people of the north “want is real ‘spring’ and not an agency rule”.

Several IDPs die from meningitis

2009-07-07 | 12.35 PM

A specialist doctor at the Vavuniya Hospital has said that several IDPs currently residing at the welfare camp have died due to meningitis.

Specialist doctor at the Vavuniya Hospital, Dr. Maheswaran Umakanthan has told the BBC Tamil service that of the 64 patients admitted to the hospital with meningitis, 34 have died within a period of 3 months. He has said that a majority of them were war displaced from the north living in the IDP camps.

Wimal attacks Champika

2009-07-07 | 12.35 PM

National Freedom Front (NFF) Leader Wimal Weerawansa told the media that either members of the government who are expressing contradicting views on the 13th amendment should keep quiet or the President needed to silence them.

He said there was no need to make comments that would put the government on an unstable footing by speaking about an amendment that is no longer valid.

Thilanga attacks Ranawaka to score Brownie points from President

2009-07-07 | 12.35 PM

A senior official attached to the Presidential Media Unit told Lanka News Web that Western Provincial Councilor Thilanga Sumathipala, who is currently on a bad wicket with the President due to the revelation of a secret discussion he has had in Kandy with former Chief Justice Sarath N. Silva on bringing him to politics, was trying to earn Brownie points from the President by attacking Environment Minister Champika Ranawaka.

The official said that the relevant news item was published in Sumathipala’s Lakbima newspaper with the consent of JHU legal advisor and Western Provincial Council Minister Udaya Gamanpila.

Ranawaka goes overseas

2009-07-07 | 12.35 PM

JHU members and Environment Minister Champika Ranawaka has left the country to avoid the media operation launched by several members of the government with the consent of the President, party sources said.

Ranawaka is currently in London on tour for a few days.
Ministers Dullas Alahapperuma, Mervyn Silva, Prasanna Ranatunga and Lakshman Yapa Abeywardena launched an attack against the JHU, which is a key ally in the present administration, with the President’s consent.

Sri Lanka has always been suspicious of foreign aid groups

2009-07-06 | 7.30 PM

Sri Lanka has always had a tricky relationship with the foreign aid groups that have helped it through natural disasters and 26 years of civil war with the Tamil Tigers.

The hostility has been rooted in suspicions that aid groups secretly backed the Tigers, because most of them worked in rebel territory.

India to aid displaced people in Sri Lanka

2009-07-06 | 6.30 PM

Concerned over the plight of the displaced people in Sri Lanka’s northeast, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee Monday announced Rs.500 crore ($100 million) for the rehabilitation and relief of the internally displaced persons (IDPs) in the island nation.

While expressing concern over the humanitarian situation in Sri Lanka, Mukherjee announced an allocation of $100 million for the welfare of the around 300,000 Tamil civilians housed in various camps in Sri Lanka following the end of the decades-long insurgency.

- IANS

Eastern Muslims return weapons given for protection against Karuna Amman

2009-07-06 | 6.30 PM

Head of the Meera Muslim Mosque in Kattanakudy, M.I.M. Subair has said the Muslim youth were now ready to disarm themselves as there was no need for them to carry weapons for protection against the LTTE.

Subair made this comment at the ceremony held at the mosque to hand over the weapons to the security forces. On August 3, 1990 over 103 Muslim devotees were massacred at the mosque where the ceremony was held. The devotees were killed while attending prayers and the massacre was carried out on orders given by former LTTE member and present SLFM member and Minister Vinayagamoorthy Murlitharan.

JHU split over stance on 13th amendment

2009-07-06 | 1.00 PM

A key ally in the present administration, the JHU, is split over its stance on the full implementation of the 13th amendment, political sources said.

JHU members and Environment Minister Champika Ranawaka is of the view that supporting the full implementation of the 13th amendment would be a betrayal of the Sinhalese Buddhists in the country, the party’s parliamentary group leader, Ven. Athuraliya Ratana Thero and party spokesperson, Nishantha Sri Warnasinghe are two key members who support Ranawaka’s stance.

Ranawaka may lose his portfolio

2009-07-06 | 1.00 PM

Foreign Minister Rohitha Bogollagama has told several foreign diplomats in Colombo that Environment Minister Champika Ranawaka might lose his portfolio soon, diplomatic sources said.

Bogallagama it is learnt has also said the President was opposed to Ranawaka’s stance on the 13th amendment and that even members of the JHU were not supportive of Ranawaka’s stance. He has also observed that since the National Freedom Front (NFF) has agreed not to oppose any decision arrived at by the President, there was no objection to the full implementation of the 13th amendment.

Moneragala SLFPers unhappy with Shasheendra Rajapakse

2009-07-06 | 1.00 PM

The failure of senior SLFP members and electoral organizers in the Moneragala District to support the campaign of the party’s chief ministerial candidate for the Uva Province, Shasheendra Rajapakse has prompted the President to decide on attending four key rallies in the district to boost the party’s campaign, sources from Temple Trees said.

It is learnt that the SLFP membership in the Uva Province is disgruntled over the decision to appoint a person living in the Southern Province as the paty’s chief ministerial candidate for Uva. As a result many ministers have been sent to carry out the party’s campaign in the province from Colombo.

I have a political solution in mind but I want to get that from the people: President Rajapaksa

2009-07-06 | 1.00 PM

‘Every square centimetre has been mined by the LTTE and de-mining has to be certified by the U.N. If something happens, I am responsible.’

President Mahinda Rajapaksa highlighted his determination to re-settle “as soon as possible” the close to 300,000 Tamil civilians displaced by the conflict with the LTTE. In an extended interview given to The Hindu in Colombo, he laid out his road map of what needed to be put in place to ensure the safety and meet the basic needs of those who are to be sent back to their villages. He also sketched his vision of reconciliation and development, which emphasised that in post-conflict Sri Lanka there was no place for “racism” and anything that “creates a disturbance among our three

Sri Lanka records first fatality after ending war

2009-07-05 | 2.45 PM

A Sri Lankan soldier was shot dead by a Tamil rebel in the island's east, the first military fatality after the crushing of the guerrilla leadership in May, the army said on Sunday.

A Tiger rebel grabbed the gun of a soldier and opened fire as he tried to search a suspicious boat in the eastern district of Batticaloa on Saturday, the army said in a statement.

Sri Lanka records first fatality after ending war

2009-07-05 | 2.45 PM

A Sri Lankan soldier was shot dead by a Tamil rebel in the island's east, the first military fatality after the crushing of the guerrilla leadership in May, the army said on Sunday.

A Tiger rebel grabbed the gun of a soldier and opened fire as he tried to search a suspicious boat in the eastern district of Batticaloa on Saturday, the army said in a statement.

'Catastrophy for Sri Lanka to take triumphant position'

2009-07-05 | 2.45 PM

London (PTI): A noted historian has warned that it would be catastrophic for Sri Lanka to take a triumphant position on its victory over LTTE and it is time the country gave democracy and pluralism a chance.

"In the aftermath of defeat of Tamil Tigers, it would be catastrophic if the Sri Lankan Government were to take a triumphant position. I am told there is a proposal to build statues of a Sri Lankan King who died 2,000 years ago to commemorate the victory," Ramachandra Guha, the Bangalore-based historian and biographer said while delivering the fifth Nehru memorial Lecture 2009 on "Democracy and Violence in South Asia and Beyond" at the Nehru Centre here on Friday night.

IMF undecided on Sri Lanka’s bailout package

2009-07-05 | 1.15 PM

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) Executive Board is yet to discuss the request forwarded by Sri Lanka for a US$ 1.9 billion bail out package. In fact, the request is yet to be included in the Board’s agenda.

IMF's External Relations Director, Caroline Atkinson on Thursday told a press briefing in Washington that the finalisation of the programme would depend on the approval of the Executive Board, which is yet to take up the issue.

US yet to relax travel restrictions to SL

2009-07-05 | 1.15 PM

The US is yet to relax travel restrictions on Sri Lanka following the government’s official announcement of the end of the war. The UK on Friday relaxed some of its travel restrictions due to the improved security situation in the country.

The US however on June 26 said, “The Department of State warns American citizens traveling to or living in Sri Lanka about the potential of continued instability, including possible terrorist attacks. This replaces the Travel Warning dated December 22, 2008, to update information on security incidents, safety concerns in specific regions of the country, and potential problems for US citizen travelers…”

Lanka rejects rumors of arms deal with China

2009-07-04 | 5.15 PM

Rumors that China and Sri Lanka engaged in an arms deal during the southeast Asian country's recent civil war was rejected by visiting Foreign Minister Rohitha Bogollagama on Friday.

"Sri Lanka and China enjoy a traditional bilateral relationship and have enjoyed a smooth development of cooperation since the diplomatic ties were established in 1957," Bogollagama told China Daily.

New AG begins his tricks

2009-07-04 | 5.15 PM

Attorney General Mohan Peiris has advised courts to exonerate and release a chief suspect in a case Peiris had appeared while serving as an attorney before assuming the office of the Attorney General.

The request for exoneration was sent on behalf of Chairman, Agrarian Insurance Board, Namal Ratnayake, who is the chief suspect in the case on the misappropriation of compensation money to be paid to the farmers affected due to the closure of the Mavil Aru anicut.

Bandara released due to the lack of evidence

2009-07-04 | 5.15 PM

Astrologer Chandrasiri Bandara, who was detained by the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) following an order issued by the Defence Secretary charging him with conspiring to topple the government and to assassinate the President, was released yesterday (3) evening.

The Magistrate who inquired in to the issue ordered Bandara’s release stating the CID has not forwarded sufficient evidence to support the charges leveled against him.

No rehabilitation till civilians return home from camps – Mano Ganeshan

2009-07-04 | 5.15 PM

Real rehabilitation could not take place till the displaced persons in the north are returned to their villages and houses, Democratic People’s Front (DPF) Leader Mano Ganeshan said. He made this statement referring to the discussions that took place at the all party meeting convened to discuss the development and rehabilitation in the country following the end of the war.

DPF secretary and several members attended the meeting. While the party expressed its views at the meeting, it also noted satisfaction at the initiative taken by the President to look at development and rehabilitation in the country by convening an all party meeting.

Alahapperuma orders SLFP women’s wing and trade union wing to vacate premises

2009-07-03 | 8.30 PM

Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) Treasurer, Minister Dullas Alahapperuma has issued notice on the party’s women’s wing and the trade union wing to move out of the respective building with immediate effect, sources from the SLFP headquarters said.

Alahapperuma it is learnt has informed officials at the party headquarters to find alternative office spaces for the members of the women’s wing and the trade union wing. He has said the President had requested for the setting up of a website office and a newspaper office at the locations where the two wings are housed at present.

Nandana given a ministry with fewer powers

2009-07-03 | 8.30 PM

A senior government Minister told Lanka News Web that although National Freedom Front (NFF) Secretary, Nandana Gunathileka was appointed a cabinet minister, he has not been vested with the powers held by his predecessor.

The Minister said that according to the gazette notification on Gunathileka’s appointment as a cabinet minister, most of the powers earlier vested with Minister Milinda Moragoda have now been shelved.

Over 30,000 IDP children do not receive school education

2009-07-03 | 4.15 PM

Over 30,000 children living in the Menik Farm IDP camp do not attend temporary schools set up within the camp premises, sources from the IDP camps said.

NGOs working inside the IDP camps say that the children do not attend these temporary schools due to the lack of uniforms, school equipment, shoes and other facilities.

Plan to axe Kathriarachchi from politics

2009-07-03 | 4.15 PM

The reason behind the handing over of the Kesbewa electorate to UNP defector, Minister Gamini Lokuge from former SLFP Colombo District parliamentarian Chandana Kathriarachchi is due to a plot to oust the former from the local political arena, sources from Temple Trees said.

Kathriarachchi also faces litigation over the alleged murder of a supporter of former UNP member and the party’s then Kesbewa organizer, Lokuge, during the cooperative elections.

Senanayake’s great grandson appointed SLFP’s Mirigama organizer

2009-07-03 | 4.15 PM

The President has decided to appoint the founder of the UNP, D.S. Senanayake’s great grandson Wasanatha Senanayake as the SLFP Mirigama organizer in order to battle it out with his cousin, Ruwan Wijewardena, who is the UNP’s Biyagama organizer.

While Wasanatha earlier functioned as the Polonnaruwa District organizer, Kokila Harshani was the Mirigama organizer.

A UNP members from Mirigama said the President was trying to gain political advantage by getting members of one of the leading political families in the country to contest against each other.

UN Secretary General calls for progress in IDP children and
ex-child soldiers

2009-07-03 | 2.10 PM

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has urged Sri Lanka to ensure that former child soldiers have access to care, protection and reintegration programmes, including other appropriate assistance to those recruited as children who are now over 18 years of age

The Secretary General’s Spokesperson has reportedly told the media in New York on Thursday that in a report to the UN Security Council on children in armed conflict in Sri Lanka, Ki-Moon has urged the Sri Lankan Government of to build on the progress achieved to date with the support of the UN and other parties.

We should be proud to be at the 22nd place……………………..

2009-07-03 | 1.50 PM

“The Fund for Peace”, the internationally recognized organization’s 2009 list of “Failed States” put Sri Lanka at the 22nd place out of 177, having Bangladesh, Pakistan, Afghanistan & Myanmar (Burma) as the other Asian countries above us. This is a great achievement for the Government to run another series of island wide celebrations; the Lanka News Web is well informed by the development economists. The complete list is found at

http://www.fundforpeace.org/web/index.php?option=com_conte
nt&task=view&id=99&Itemid=323

Tamil refugees forced into sex rackets

2009-07-03 | 11.15 AM

CONDITIONS for about 300,000 refugees forcibly detained in camps across Sri Lanka remain dire, with reports of a prostitution racket run by officials in a remote camp.

Aid workers told The Australian yesterday officials at the internally displaced people's camp in Pulmoddai, a remote northeast region, are running the prostitution ring using women kept in the camp.

Ranil to go overseas to avoid “bad period”

2009-07-02 | 7.00 PM

Opposition Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe is to leave the island on an official visit following advice by astrologers, who have requested him to go overseas during this period, sources from the Cambridge Terrace office said.

The astrologers it is learnt have informed Wickremesinghe that he will be under going a bad period till September. The period afterwards is expected to be good (raja yoga). Therefore, it has been advised that he spends the bad period overseas to avoid any ill effects he would be faced with.

Estate community deprived of voting at Uva PC polls - CAFFE

2009-07-02 | 7.00 PM

Majority of the estate community in the Uva province do not possess either a national ID card or a temporary form of identification, says CAFFE.

The organization states that following the directive of the Elections Commissioner that has made it compulsory for voters to carry a national ID or any other form of identification to cast their votes would therefore deprive most of the estate community from exercising their franchise at the forthcoming Uva Provincial Council elections.

PB to be re-appointed as Treasury Secretary

2009-07-02 | 7.00 PM

Finance Ministry sources say the President has decided to reappoint former Treasury Secretary Dr. P. B. Jayasundera back to the post. Dr. Jayasundera resigned from the post following a Supreme Court decision that faulted him for not carrying out his duties.

Lanka News Web reported several months back of the President’s decision to reappoint Dr. Jayasundera following the retirement of Chief Justice Sarath N. Silva, who accused him of mismanaging his office.

Milinda assumes Justice portfolio while Nandana takes on Tourism

2009-07-02 | 7.00 PM

Milinda Moragada was today sworn in as Justice and Law Reforms Minister before President Mahinda Rajapakse. Moragoda filled the portfolio that was vacant following the death of Minister Amarasiri Dodangoda.

Moragoda’s former portfolio of Tourism is to be given to National Freedom Front (NFF) Secretary, Nandana Gunathileka, who is to be sworn in later today.

Death threats to Ravaya journalist from Divaina editor

2009-07-02 | 7.00 PM

Gamini Sumanasekera

Journalist Thilak Kodagoda who wrote an article critical to the Ravaya newspaper of aspiring President of the National Art Council, Buddhadasa Galappaththi has reportedly received death threats.

Kodagaoda’s article had also been critical of the chief compiler of the Sunday Divaina newspaper and Art Council member, Gamini Sumanasekera.

Vanishing act by JHU’s Ranawaka

2009-07-02 | 7.00 PM

JHU member and Minister Champika Ranwaka is missing since the day before yesterday, sources from Temple Trees said.

Several attempts by the President to connect with him over the telephone failed since Ranawaka, his security officer and coordinating secretary have switched off their mobile phones.

In Sri Lanka, UN Hires Lawyer for Arrested Staff, But Will It Protect Anyone?

2009-07-02 | 2.15 PM

UN's Amin Awad, grabbed-up UN staff not shown

After more than a week of silence by the UN about two of its staff members grabbed up by Sri Lanka's government, on July 1 Inner City Press again asked Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's spokesperson Michele Montas about their fate. This time, Ms. Montas had an answer. The UN has "hired a lawyer who has visited" the UN staff, who are "still detained in Colombo." Video here, from Minute 21:15.

The head of the UN Refugee Agency in Sri Lanka Amin Awad issued a strange statement saying in essence that the government is free to detain staff as long as procedures are followed. But despite top UN humanitarian John Holmes' statement that unlike international staff, national staff members of the UN are not immune, the Staff Union disagrees. They criticize Awad's statement, and counter that national staff have immunity within the scope of their work.

Troublingly, sources in Sri Lanka describe to Inner City Press even the torture of UN staff, and of doctors disappeared by the government after remaining in the conflict zone offering treatment and casualty figures. A Red Cross worker who had been in the conflict zone has been killed in Jaffna, where now newspaper editors face death threats.

Sri Lanka Urged to Probe the Murder of Tamil MPs

2009-07-02 | 12.05 PM

Sharon Carstairs

The Inter-Parliamentary Union is calling on the government of Sri Lanka to mount a thorough investigation of the murders of three Members of Parliament, two of them Tamils. The IPU's Human Rights Committee, which has wrapped up its latest session, has examined cases of abuse of some 300 MPs in 29 countries.

The Inter-Parliamentary Union says the Sri Lankan government no longer has any reason for not investigating the murders of the Parliamentarians now that its long-running civil war with the Tamil Tiger rebels is over.

‘China zone’ in Sri Lanka

2009-07-02 | 6.00 AM

SRI Lanka on Tuesday granted Chinese companies a separate economic zone on the island which has just ended nearly four decades of ethnic bloodshed.

China’s Huichen Investment Holdings Limited will manage and bring new investments into the Mirigama zone, some 55 kilometres north of Colombo, for a period of 33 years, officials said.

President angered by Ranawaka’s statement

2009-07-01 | 4.15 PM

President Mahinda Rajapakse, referring to the statement made to the press by the JHU on June 29th, has said JHU member and Minister Champika Ranawaka could quit the government if he cannot stay.

Responding to concerns raised by Foreign Minister Rohitha Bogollagama that the statement made by government ally, the JHU, at a press conference had thoroughly disturbed India and other donor countries, President Rajapakse had said Ranawaka could leave the government if he didn’t want to stay.

SLAT now targeting diplomats

2009-07-01 | 4.15 PM

The Sri Lankans Against Terrorism (SLAT) formed by Sri Lankan expatriates in association with the respective Sri Lankan embassies have now become a cause for much concern to career diplomats.

The Lanka News Web expose reveals the current position of the SLAT, which was formed with the intention of acting against the Tiger terrorists in the international arena.




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