News

Brigadier Priyankara Fernando, the Minister Counsellor (Defence) attached to the Sri Lanka High Commission in London has been reinstated in his position after the Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs was forced to do so by a high-level politician in the country.

He was suspended from his position yesterday pending an inquiry after he was filmed making ‘throat-cutting gestures’ to alleged LTTE supporters who were protesting outside the Sri Lankan High Commission in London, on Sunday 4 February.

Sources say the Secretary of Foreign Affairs has been given an ultimatum by the politician who has asked the Secretary to either resign from his position or reinstate the Brigadier today. The Foreign Ministry is currently said to be working on the letter to reverse the suspension of the Brigadier.

Meanwhile, the Army Spokesman confirmed the reinstatement saying that he is now back to work. However, he also said an inquiry into the incident will be carried out.

However, inside sources claim that this situation could now become a diplomatic nightmare for Sri Lanka as the reinstatement of a suspended diplomat prior to the close of an investigation goes against diplomatic protocol.

British Parliamentarians Joan Ryan and Siobhain McDonagh had already lodged a formal complaint with UK's Secretary of State Boris Johnson calling to “withdraw Brigadier Priyanka Fernando’s diplomatic papers and expel him” from the United Kingdom.

Meanwhile, another video has also now surfaced on social media where the Brigadier can be seen engaging with the crowd prior to this incident. The group in the video is seen accusing the Sri Lankan government of settling Sinhalese people in Tamil areas while also saying Tamil Nadu fishermen are shot and killed by the country's forces. One protestor continues to harangue the Brigadier claiming that Sri Lanka has killed 500 Indian Fishermen while the Defence Attache is seen denying all the charges while inviting the protestors to visit the country and see the real situation.

The license of W.M.Mendis Company has been withdrawn due to the non-payment of taxes, the Department of Excise has announced.

 Accordingly, the production activities of the distillery had halted since last week, it is reported.

The company belongs to Arjun Aloysius; the owner of Perpetual Treasuries Limited who was named as one of the main suspects in the Central Bank bond scam.

Accordingly, the production in the Arrack distillery located in Welisara has come to stand still.

All temporary workers who had been recruited from manpower companies have been relieved of their employment.

However, the routine office work and the delivery of stocks of earlier products are taking place at present, according to company sources.

Source : Ada Derana

The Program for the Protection of Public Resources (PPPR), the election monitoring arm of Transparency International Sri Lanka (TISL), said that 55% of all complaints referred to the PPPR relate to the misuse of fixed and movable assets, human resources and media belonging to the State. A further 15% relate to illegitimate inducements being offered to voters, PPPR noted.

“Due to many local authorities not being constituted for over two years, the political grip on local government authority resources appears to have weakened. However, abuse of central government resources, such as the use of ministerial vehicles at campaigns continues to prevail”, TISL Executive Director Asoka Obeyesekere added.

Despite such abuses, Transparency International said that they commend the authorities including the Elections Commission of Sri Lanka for taking swift action in the case of several incidents reported to TISL by their district observers and members of the public.

Beleaguered Maldivian President Abdulla Yameen has declared a 15-day state of emergency, his aide Azima Shukoor announced on state television Monday.

The move gives sweeping powers to security forces to arrest and detain suspects and comes amid a deepening political crisis in the Indian Ocean nation as Yameen refuses to comply with a Supreme Court order to release political prisoners

Source : The Hindustan Times

Sri Lanka has suspended the Minister Counsellor (Defence) of the High Commission in London with immediate effect after a video surfaced on social media, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said today.

The video shows Defence Attaché Brigadier Priyanka Fernando miming a throat slitting gesture towards a group of protesters who had gathered outside Sri Lanka’s diplomatic mission in London.

In a statement, the Foreign Affairs Ministry said that the authorities in Sri Lanka have taken serious note of the video circulating on social media and that the relevant authorities in Sri Lanka including the Sri Lanka Army will initiate inquiries on the incident immediately.

British Parliamentarians Joan Ryan and Siobhain McDonagh had already lodged a formal complaint with UK's Secretary of State Boris Johnson calling to “withdraw Brigadier Priyanka Fernando’s diplomatic papers and expel him” from the United Kingdom after a video surfaced that portrays the Defence Attaché miming throat-slitting gestures to Tamils protesting outside the Sri Lankan High Commission in London.

Police have now commenced investigations into an incident where a female candidate contesting in the upcoming local government elections is alleged to have been sexually assaulted by an individual. According to the Police, the incident had occurred on Friday around 5 PM in the Kuda Pokuna area in Welikanda following which a complaint was lodged with the Welikanda Police by the aggrieved party.

The Police say the suspect has been identified as a political supporter and has now fled the area. According to Police Spokesperson SP Gunasekara, the victim in the meantime has been admitted to the hospital.

“Welikada Police are conducting investigations to apprehend the suspect” SP Gunasekara confirmed.

Four persons were killed in an accident involving a train and a lorry in Angulana yesterday (5) evening, Sri Lanka Police said.

The victims were travelling on the footboard of the train from Maradana to Kalutara, when it had collided with a lorry parked on the side of the tracks.

According to Police, the accident had taken place around 4:45 p.m. and the injured were admitted to the Kalubowila hospital.

The owner of Perpetual Treasuries Limited Arjun Aloysius and its CEO Kasun Palisena, were further remanded until February 16 by the Colombo Fort Magistrate.

Aloysius and Palisena were arrested yesterday (04) by the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) and was taken into remand custody after being produced before the Fort Magistrate Court.

CID officials have recorded statements from the both suspects for over 12 hours in connection with the Central Bank Bond case.

Bouyed by growing number of tourists from India, Sri Lanka has now kept a target of 440,000 travelers from the country this year, officials said here.

Describing itself as ‘a destination for all seasons’, officials of Sri Lanka Tourism, at a press conference here, also announced that a record 384,628 tourists arrived from India last year.

“Understanding the unique offerings for Indian travelers, destination Sri Lanka now targets for 440,000 Indian arrivals, this year,” the Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau said in a statement.

The Sri Lanka Tourism has recently been awarded as the ‘Emerging Destination of the Year’ by Conde Nast Traveller India and ‘Asia’s leading Adventure Tourism Destination of the Year’ in 2017, it said.

A survey conducted by the Sri Lanka Tourism, highlights that, 63.7 per cent of Indians opt for sightseeing excursions and nearly 50 per cent go for shopping.

“37.01 per cent Indian travelers visit the historical sites in Sri Lanka, while wildlife remains the choice for 21 per cent only,” it said.

Witnessing the growth and potential from India, the Sri Lanka Tourism will be participating at the SATTE 2018 (South Asia’s travel and tourism exhibition), with 52 travel agents and hoteliers.

“While the pristine beaches and cultural aspect of Sri Lanka, is already being explored by Indian guests, however, key area of focus for this years’ participation would be to promote film tourism, destination wedding, religious and pilgrimage tourism (Ramayana Trail).

“A tea bar representing Ceylon Tea will be located at the Sri Lanka pavilion 2018 at the SATTE,” the statement said.

Sutheash Balasubramaniam, managing director, Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau, said, “India continues to be our top source market.”

“We believe that the potential of the Indian travel market is yet to realize in terms of attracting longer stay and higher spending travelers. It is our fervent hope to make Sri Lanka the most preferred destination in Asia for Indian travelers,” he said.

Sri Lanka, an island nation, is home to eight UNESCO World Heritage sites, and is renowned for the ancient Sigiriya Rock Fortress, and its rich colonial legacy.-

(PTI)

Government coalition partner United National Party (UNP) led by Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe made the announcement at an election rally held in the northern town of Vavuniya.

"500 million rupees has been earmarked to build a 1000 Buddhist temples in the north and east provinces," said the chapter subtitled 'reconciliation' in a handout distributed in the public rally addressed by the PM.

Sinhala-Buddhist supremacy

Reference to 1000 temples in some copies of the Tamil version had been redacted in an obvious attempt to avoid offending Tamil voters.

The handout, "Government Rebuilding Villages" outlines the UNP vision for local government bodies.

Angered by the UNP announcement Tamil politicians have described the move as an indication of Sri Lanka retaining the foremost place granted to Buddhism even though plans are afoot to reform its constitution.

“This clearly shows that the Sinhala, Buddhist supremacy in the Tamil areas of north and east continued by Sinhala governments for ages is not going to stop,” said Viswalingam Manivannan, the Jaffna Mayoral candidate of the Tamil National People's' Front (TNPF), speaking to journalists in Jaffna.

Chinese funds

State-sponsored Buddhist temples have been mushrooming in the war-torn Tamil areas since the military took over its control from Tamil Tigers in 2009.

Earlier in 2016, the government approved plans to rehabilitate one hundred Buddhist Temples in the north and east with Chinese Funds.

Source : JDS Sri Lanka

The Parliamentary debate on the Bond Commission report and PRECIFAC report will be held at 10.30 a.m. today.

Speaker Karu Jayasuriya convened the special sitting on the request of Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe. The debate will possibly continue on another day after the Local Government elections.

The reports of the Bond Commission and the PRECIFAC were presented in Parliament on January 23. The two reports, which were handed over to President Maithripala Sirisena on December 30, 2017, and January 2, 2018, respectively were sent to the Speaker’s Office on January 17. The two reports were presented in Parliament on January 23.

Appointment letters to members of the Presidential Commission of Inquiry, set up to probe allegations against Srilankan and Mihin Lanka Airlines, and SriLankan Catering (Pvt) Limited, will be issued early this week, said Secretary to the President, Austin Fernando.

“The Gazette notification to set up the Presidential Commission was issued on Friday night.

On Monday or Tuesday we will issue appointments letters to each of the Commission members,” Fernando told the Sunday Observer.

He said that prior to beginning work, a secretary to the commission has to be appointed.

“We have requested the Chairman of the Commission, retired Supreme Court Judge Anil Gunaratne, to nominate a secretary. If the Chairman does not nominate a secretary, we will appoint one,” he said. Fernando said that before initiating functions, the Chairman and the Commission must sit together and discuss and decide on the staff and other required facilities.

A venue to house the Commission has also to be decided by the authorities and the Attorney General has to decide on the staff to be allocated to assist the Commission.

“After this, the Commission will publish a notification to the public stating the areas being covered by it and requesting complaints. After the complaints are received, it will be processed and inquired into accordingly,” he said. Fernando added that inquiring into allegations is a long procedure and that is the reason the Commission has been appointed for six months. The five-member Commission consists of retired Supreme Court Judge, Anil Gunaratne, Appeal Court Judge, Gamini Rohan Amarasekera, retired High Court Judge, Piyasena Ranasinghe, former Deputy Auditor General Mallawa Arachchige Don Anthony Harold and Director General of the Sri Lanka Accounting and Auditing Standards Monitoring Board, Wasantha Jayaseeli Kapugama, said a communiqué issued by the President’s Media division.

The Commission will probe allegations of malpractices within the period January 1, 2006 to January 31, 2018.

Source : Sunday Observer