Yearly Archive: 2015

The police hadn’t been able to establish a prima facie case to proceed with the investigation  into an allegation that a section of the army sought to help former President Mahinda Rajapaksa remain in power in spite of his defeat at the Jan.8 presidential poll, authoritative sources told The Island  However, Police Headquarters spokesman ASP Ruwan Gunasekera told The Island that the investigation had been concluded and the findings submitted to Attorney General Yuwanjana Wanasundera Wijayathilake for further action.

 The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) recorded several statements, including that of former Army Commander the then Lt. Gen. Daya Ratnayake in connection with the investigation. The CID also questioned the then External Affairs Minister Prof. G.L. Peiris because of him being present at Temple Trees on the presidential election night.

The four-party Tamil National Alliance (TNA) on Saturday insisted that it wouldn’t cooperate under any circumstance with the  electoral reforms meant to reduce the number of elected representatives from the Northern and Eastern electoral districts.

Nine members are elected from the Jaffna electoral district, whereas six enter parliament from the Vanni electoral district comprising Mannar, Vavuniya and Kilinochchi districts. Sixteen are elected from the Eastern Province comprising the electoral districts of Trincomalee (4), Digamadulla (7) and Batticaloa (5).The TNA comprised the Illankai Thamil Arasu Kadchi (ITAK), TELO, PLOTE and EPRLF.

The Nation learns that although the committee appointed to probe the controversial Bond Issue by the Central Bank recommended an inquiry into the involvement of the Bank of Ceylon (BoC), no action has been taken so far.

The Committee found that there was no direct involvement of Governor Arjun Mahendran but clearly implied the possibility of complicity indirectly. 

First of all, welcome to Sri Lanka. Don’t worry, it’s all heart and not courtesy. This country has embraced one and all. Invader, interferer, brigand, smuggler, embezzler, immigrant, condescending missionary determined to ‘save’ the heathen, marauder, city-sacker, control-freak, you name it, we got them all. 

This you must know: when we say ‘friend’ we mean it. It is not diplo-speak. We don’t refer to ‘long-standing friendly relations’ even as we plot control and extraction. We don’t advocate, insist and enforce with or without the stated or unsaid ‘this is for your own good’. We recognize all this, though. We know that power lies in the ability to make others inhibit our version of their reality as Philip Gourevitch observed in his collection of essays on Rwanda, ‘We wish to inform you that tomorrow we will be killed with our families’.