News

United People’s Freedom Alliance has decided to vote against the second reading of the Budget 2019. 

UPFA MP Lakshman Yapa said that the decision to vote against the budget was taken at the parliamentary group meeting held this morning (12). However, they have decided to vote in favour of the President's expenditure head. 

The voting on the second reading of Budget 2019 is scheduled to take place today.

The JVP has already stated that they will vote against budget.

The vote on the second reading of the budget will be held today (12) afternoon in parliament. 

Following the presentation of the budget by Minister of Finance Mangala Samaraweera on March 5, the debate on its second reading commenced on the 6th lasting for almost a week. The vote on it will be called at 5pm today. 
 
The third reading of it will commence tomorrow and will last till April 5.

Sri Lanka is once again under international pressure to implement fully the measures identified by the UNHRC in 2015 to address human rights concerns after the United Kingdom and Germany on Tuesday tabled a resolution at the UN body in Geneva.

The UN rights office calls for international investigations into alleged war crimes and encourages member states to prosecute Sri Lankans suspected of war crimes in accordance with universal jurisdiction principles.

Titled "Promoting reconciliation, accountability and human rights in Sri Lanka", the rollover resolution requests the Office of the High Commissioner to continue to assess progress on the implementation of its recommendations and other relevant processes related to reconciliation, accountability and human rights in Sri Lanka.

It also calls for presenting a written update to the UNHRC at its 43rd session, and a comprehensive report, followed by a discussion on the implementation of Council resolution 30/1, at its 46th session, a foreign ministry source said.

The resolution which Sri Lanka is expected to co-sponsor is termed A/HRC/40/L.1 and was also endorsed by Canada, Germany, Montenegro, North Macedonia, the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland, according to the source.

The resolution follows the report submitted by the UN Human Rights High Commissioner Michelle Brachelet last week.    

The report reviews the progress made by Sri Lanka since October 2015 and January 2019.

It assessed Sri Lanka’s pledge on promoting reconciliation and human rights accountability.

Brachelet’s report said that her office has been receiving credible information on cases of abduction, unlawful detention torture and sexual violence by the Sri Lankan security forces allegedly taken place from 2016 to 2018.

The report has acknowledged the government’s progress in human rights issues and its engagement with civil society.

The Resolution requests the Office of the High Commissioner and relevant special procedure mandate holders in consultation with the concurrence of the Government of Sri Lanka to continue to strengthen their advice and technical assistance on the promotion and protection of human rights and truth, justice, reconciliation and accountability in Sri Lanka.

Sri Lanka has resisted calls for international investigations citing constitutional constraints for foreign judges to operate in the island.

The UNHRC resolutions since 2013 had censured Sri Lanka on its alleged human rights abuses.

They called for probing of the rights abuses by both the LTTE and the government troops by setting up an international investigation.

The Tamil rights groups continue to pressurise the government for meaningful accountability process for human rights violations in order to achieve reconciliation. (PTI)

Though fuel prices were to be amended last night (11) Ministry of Finances say it is unlikely to be amended this month.

According to the pricing formula introduced, which sees the prices of fuel being revised on the 10th of every month, it was due to be amended yesterday as the 10th was a public holiday. 

Sources say the pricing committee has decided the fuel price does not need to be revised this month. Therefore according to government reports criticism against the pricing formula at the time of inception were made to paint the government in a bad light.

However, ministry sources say the aim was to implement a policy which can benefit the people immediately and was not taken to cause any issues to the public.

A group of naval personnel attached to the Eastern Naval Command recovered few explosive items hidden in a scrub, during a search carried out in the beach area of Sagarapura yesterday (11). During the search, 2 water gel sticks, 8 non electric detonators and 5 safety fuses were seized and the items are currently being held at the armoury of SLNS Walagamba.

Lieutenant General Mahesh Senanayake, Commander of the Army, said that they are ready to wage the war on drugs.

“Once legal provisions would give coverage to us as envisaged, the Army is ready to apprehend peddlers of narcotics and addicts and to launch operations with other law enforcement authorities, identical to how we finished off LTTE terrorism ten years ago,”  Lieutenant General Senanayake said this morning (8) during a Media conference, held at Kollupitiya Media Centre of the Ministry of Defence, presided by the Chief of Defence Staff and flanked by tri-service Commanders.
 
To be in line with president Sirisena's directive for an all-out national ‘war’ against all varieties of illegal drugs, now fast spreading to many corners of the island, the Presidential Task Force has sought the active contribution of the tri-forces to tackle the devastating menace in cooperation with the Police and the Special Task Force.
 
Chief of Defence Staff, Admiral Ravindra Wijegunaratne, Army Commander Lieutenant General Mahesh Senanayake, Navy Commander Vice Admiral K.K.V.P.H De Silva, Air Force commander Air Marshal Kapila Jayampathy and Military Spokesman Brigadier Sumith Atapattu addressed the press conference.
 
“Currently, the Army at different levels, is helping the Police, STF, National Committee on Dangerous Drugs, Excise Department officials since the use of narcotics has now become a social stigma and a baffling problem. Nearly 1/3 of our low-income families have fallen prey to this social evil. We are presently conducting awareness programmes, recruiting volunteers to empower existing drug prevention committees at village levels, in addition to different training modules we have already introduced. We support this drive by exchanging intelligence with other agencies as well,” he added.
 
The Army has consented to launch rehabilitation courses (1 year-long) at the Kandalkadu and Senapura rehabilitation centres and would engage in rehabilitation efforts of addicts once they are released from prisons in consultation with the Ministry of Defence and the Ministry of Justice.
 
The Navy has also taken an active role despite being faced with many challenges and has been responsible for the arrest of many drug peddlers in the past 4-5 years.

Similarly, the Air Force carries out regular air missions focusing on specific jungle areas where cannabis is grown while helping law enforcement authorities to destroy such cultivation. The Chief of Defence Staff in his interaction explained how closely the armed forces are working with international stakeholders for the same cause and stated that they continue to exchange vital information with their foreign counterparts in their efforts to fight the war on drugs.

Opposition leader Mahinda Rajapaksa appears to be rounding up other parties of the opposition in a bid to defeat the budget brought by the United National Party (UNP) government. According to sources his aim is to defeat the budget and request that a general election should be held. 

He is also said to have informed the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) that it needs to support this bid if the issues regarding the nominee for the 2020 presidential election is to be resolved. 

Reports from the political arena say Rajapaksa has informed President Maithripala Sirisena regarding this as well. However, he is yet to receive a response from Sirisena. Sources say a group from the SLFP are to vote in favour of the budget putting Sirisena in a difficult position leading to his failure to respond to Rajapaksa’s demands.

Dirty tricks and high stakes political gamesmanship took centre-stage at the Supreme Court when former Navy commander Wasantha Karannagoda’s fundamental rights petition to prevent his arrest by the CID in the controversial kidnapping and murder case of 11 youths came up for support before a bench of three judges last night.

The court granted final relief after several hours of hearing preventing Karannagoda’s arrest or being taken into custody despite the AG officially announcing that indictments will be framed against the former Navy Commander for his role in aiding and abetting the murder of 11 young men abducted by a ring of naval personnel involved in a ransom racket.

President’s Counsel Romesh De Silva who has become the lawyer of choice for suspects trying to prevent their arrest by law enforcement agencies investigating corruption and violent crimes kicked off his submissions in the Supreme Court on Thursday morning directly accusing the Attorney General of currying political favour in seeking Karannagoda’s arrest.

“It is well known that the Attorney General and the Solicitor General have met the President and asked to be promoted to this very court,” De Silva PC claimed in open court as officials causing ripples in the courtroom.

Legal observers analysed that the remark – reiterated several times – was a badly disguised attempt to prejudice the bench headed by SC Justice Buwaneka Aluwihare.

Justice Aluwihare is a contender for the position of Chief Justice when the incumbent CJ Nalin Perera retires in April 2019. However, the Attorney General can be directly promoted as Chief Justice, overlooking more senior members of the Supreme Court if necessary. AG Jayantha Jayasuriya therefore is also a contender for the position.

“Minutes after that remark you realised that the attitude of the bench seemed to change” a senior lawyer who watched the proceedings told Colombo Telegraph.

This is an attempt to prejudice the judges, the senior lawyer analysed.

Additional Solicitor General Viraj Dayaratne who appeared for the AG refused to respond to the charges but reiterated that the AG had no political interest in pursuing Karannagoda as a suspect. (By Ramani Bulathgamuwa - Colombo Telegraph)

Flexicare Lanka (Pvt) Ltd., a fully owned subsidiary of Flexicare Group, UK yesterday launched the construction of a state-of-the-art modern manufacturing facility in Bandaragama with an investment of over USD 10 million which is a Board of Investment of Sri Lanka approved the project.
 
Flexicare Group UK Managing Director, Hash Poormand together with Minister of Health Dr Rajitha Senaratne and Business Development Minister Ravi Karunanayake laid the foundation stone at a ceremony held on Monday (March 11).
 
This will be the first time that a fully-fledged facility is to be established for medical consumables and devices with a view to export a significant amount of the products manufactured in Sri Lanka.
 
It is envisaged that over 90% of the production will be exported bringing in significant foreign exchange to the country, providing employment to 600 employees during full commercialization of the manufacturing site. The local distribution of the products will be managed through their exclusive distributor, Technomedics International Pvt Ltd.
 
"Our vision today is no different than what it was when we started in 1989. To become the preferred and most trusted healthcare manufacturer for products that enhance patient care. Pioneering and leading the way in airway and respiratory management," Fexicare MD, Poormand said.
 
"We strongly feel that the project will significantly contribute to the growth of the national economy and help towards the achievement of the government's long term goals relating to 'Vision 2025' for the development of the healthcare sector," he added.
 
Flexicare, a leading UK manufacturer of medical devices has offices across Europe, the Middle East, India, Far East, USA and Australia and can respond to customers' needs, providing fast and efficient service. (Colombo Page)

President Maithripala Sirisena said he was against sending Sri Lankan women to the Middle East as housemaids. 

Speaking at an International Women's Day event, Sirisena said the rich and the powerful of society are enjoying their benefits owing to the remittances from migrant workers majority of whom are women. 

"Even though the migrant domestic workers are the main source earning foreign exchange for the country, the life stories of mothers, sisters and daughters who are engaged in this field are tragic," Sirisena said.

Although Sirisena said he was against sending women to the Middle East as housemaids, he fell short of presenting a viable alternative.

According to the statistics of the Sri Lanka Foreign Employment Bureau, over 500000 Sri Lankan women are currently in the Middle Eastern region working as housemaids. (Asian Mirror)

WhatsApp is now temporarily banning users who use third-party modded version of the app. 

Users who are temporarily banned from WhatsApp will get an in-app message informing them of their ban and the only way to have the account unbanned is to switch back to the official version of WhatsApp. 

These third-party versions of WhatsApp offer additional features to users, like theming options or emojis. 

The FAQ page on the WhatsApp website states that the third-party apps – such as WhatsApp Plus and GB WhatsApp – violate WhatsApp's terms of service and that WhatsApp does not support these apps because they are not able to validate their security practices. 

The FAQ suggests that users backup their chat history in the modded app before going back to the official one.

Sri Lanka's national carrier, SriLankan Airlines marked International Women's Day today operating its first all-female crew flight.

The airline tweeted that in recognition of International Women's Day, SriLankan Airlines operated its first all-female crew flight from Colombo to Singapore and return. "The flight UL306 landed in Singapore a short while ago," it said. (Colombo Page)