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The crucial role of minority votes in the Presidential Election - 2024The crucial role of minority votes in the Presidential Election - 2024 Sri Lanka is approaching one of its most pivotal presidential elections, scheduled for September 21, 2024. This election is a significant event for the nation, marked by economic turmoil, political uncertainty, and a growing desire for systemic change. With 39 candidates vying for the presidency, the contest has narrowed down to three leading figures: incumbent President Ranil Wickremesinghe, opposition leader Sajith Premadasa, and Anura Kumara Dissanayake (AKD), the leader of the National People’s Power (NPP); with the fourth-force being Namal Rajapaksa of Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP). However, the complexity of the race, coupled with a fractured electorate, has raised the possibility that no candidate will secure the necessary 50% +1 of the votes in the first...
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Anti-terrorism Bill will be changedThe highly controversial Antiterrorism Bill is subject to amendments and changes in Parliament and as such no one should have any fear or feeling of threat from the proposed Bill, Justice Minister Dr. Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe said. The government is aware of concerns raised by the global and local community on certain provisions contained in the draft of the Anti-terrorism Bill and the Government is ready to alleviate them by discussion, compromise and flexibility, he added. Addressing a news conference at the Information Department auditorium, Minister Rajapakshe said the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) passed in 1979 under President J.R. Jayewardene’s rule as a temporary measure to counter the emerging separatist insurgency. The PTA has been misused and exploited by successive Governments since then for their personal and political...
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WhatsApp adds option to use the same account on multiple phonesWhatsApp users are no longer restricted to using their account on just a single phone. Today, the Meta-owned messaging service is announcing that its multi-device feature — which previously allowed you to access and send messages from additional Android tablets, browsers, or computers alongside your primary phone — is expanding to support additional smartphones. “One WhatsApp account, now across multiple phones” is how the service describes the feature, which it says is rolling out to everyone in the coming weeks.
Setting up a secondary phone to use with your WhatsApp account happens after doing a fresh install of the app. Except, rather than entering your phone number during setup and logging in as usual, you instead tap a new “link to existing account” option. This will generate a QR... -
CBK commends Dr. Shafi’s noble gesture of donating past salary to buy essential medicineFalsely accused by racist elements for alleged illegal sterilisation, Kurunegala Teaching Hospital doctor says racism will not take country or organisation forward except make poor people suffer more; calls on all to make Sri Lanka racism-free Former President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga has commended Dr. Mohamed Shafi Shihabdeen over his gesture of donating the past salaries amounting to Rs. 2.6 million during his suspension and imprisonment on false charges to buy essential medicines. Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga
Dr. Mohamed Shafi Shihabdeen
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Dr. Shafi donates arrears of his salary to purchase medicines for hospitalsDr. Shihabdeen Mohamed Shafi, the doctor at the Kurunegala Teaching Hospital has decided to donate arrears of his salary amounting over Rs. 2.67 million for the purchase of essential medicines for hospitals.
Dr. Shafi who was on compulsory leave on charges of performing infertility surgery, has received a cheque of over Rs. 2.67 million salary arrears from the Health Ministry last week.
The salary arrears include the basic salary, interim allowance, cost of living, and allowance in lieu of pension for the period of compulsory leave imposed on Dr. Sihabdeen.
Dr. Shafi who was employed at the Kurunegala teaching hospital was arrested on May 25th, 2019, on charges of performing infertility surgery.
On July 25, 2019, the Kurunegala Magistrate’s Court ordered that the doctor be released on bail.Govt. used Sinhala-Buddhist shield to its maximum benefit Ven. Galkande Dhammananda TheraThis Govt. nurtured thug-like monks promoted them and deployed them in various places Certain monks have severe psychological wounds If society isn’t healed cases of domestic violence, harassment and child abuse will be on the rise Reconciliation was about having workshops, providing a report and earning dollars Accountability has not been included in the Constitution or the Judicial system Terrorism sprouts in a country that has no justice Ven. Galkande Dhammananda Thera who currently heads the Walpola Rahula Institute for Buddhist Studies has been addressing issues related to social justice and harmony while promoting an inclusive and plural society. Having gathered a wealth of experience during the height of war for instance and having encountered various incidents during his lifetime, Ven. Dhammananda Thera has...Read More...Health ministry to pay back-wages for Dr. Shafi before July 10The Ministry of Health today gave an undertaking before the Court of Appeal that the salary and allowances payable to Dr. Shafi Shihabdeen will be paid before July 10 this year. The Ministry of Health gave this undertaking pursuant to a writ petition filed by Dr. Shafi Shihabdeen, who was at the centre of the controversy surrounding the alleged sterilisation of female patients. The Director General of Establishment at the Ministry of Public Services had earlier informed the Court that the basic salary, interim allowance, cost of living and allowance in lieu of pension could be paid to Dr. Shafi Shihabdeen, for the compulsory leave period. Meanwhile, the petitioner expressed willingness to attend the preliminary inquiry before Director of Kurunegala Teaching Hospital Dr. Chandana Kendangamuwa. Taking into consideration the facts,...Sri Lanka court orders release of lawyer held for two yearsA Sri Lankan court has ordered the release on bail of a lawyer arrested over his alleged links to the 2019 Easter Sunday bombings and held for nearly two years on charges rights groups say lacked credible evidence. Hejaaz Hizbullah was arrested in April 2020 and accused of being linked to the attacks on churches and hotels that left 279 people dead. But after prosecutors failed to provide evidence of his involvement in the attacks, blamed on a local group, he was instead Read More...Hejaaz Hizbullah leaves from remand custodyAttorney-at-law Hejaaz Hizbullah today left from remand custody after fulfilling his bail conditions before Puttlalam High Court.Read More...
He was incarcerated for 22 months for allegedly committing offences come under the Prevention of Terrorism Act.Last Monday (07), the Court of Appeal ordered to release Hizbullah on bail pursuant to a revision application filed on behalf him.Hizbullah was ordered to be released on a cash bail of Rs.100,000 with two sureties of Rs.500,000 by Puttlalam High Court Judge Kumari Abeyratne. He was further ordered to report to the DIG office of Puttalam Police Division every second and fourth Sunday of every month.An indictment under the Prevention of Terrorism Act and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) Act has now been served on Hejaaz Hizbullah. According to the indictment, Hizbullah...හිජාස් ගෙදර යයි
(නිමන්ති රණසිංහ සහ හිරාන් ප්රියංකර ජයසිංහ) ත්රස්තවාදය වැළැක්වීමේ පනත සහ සිවිල් හා දේශපාලන අයිතීන් පිළිබද ජාත්යන්තර සම්මුති පනත ප්රකාරව චෝදනා ලැබ වසර දෙකකට ආසන්න කාලයක් රක්ෂිත බන්ධනාගාර ගත කර සිටි නිතීඥ හිජාස් හිස්බුල්ලා මහතා අභියාචනාධිකරණ නියෝගය ප්රකාරව ඇප මත මුදාහැරීමට පුත්තලම මහාධිකරණය අද (09)...- 1
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All the political parties affiliated to the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) representing the Tamil community especially in the North and East, have pledged their full support to New Democratic Front Presidential candidate Sajith Premadasa. Five days ahead of the election, the Daily Mirror interviewed TNA MP and leading lawyer M. A. Sumanthiran who explained the reasons for the decision to support Premadasa and why the Tamil community would resist the return of Rajapaksas to power. Excerpts;
Q The Gotabaya Rajapaksa camp alleged that there are translation differences among Sinhala, Tamil and English versions of Sajith Premadasa’s manifesto with regard to the solution on ethnic issue. What is your view?
There are no differences. Sajith has agreed for the same constitutional process that has now reached the draft stage. One cannot conclude without knowing the manifesto and the journey of its process. So in that process there are two interim reports and this is how the words have been used. In Sinhala the word ‘Ekeeya’ is being used. In Tamil and English the equivalent words for unitary is not used. So ‘Ekeeya’ is used in the sense where it is one country. And there is a definition is given. In the interim report also it is clearly explained and a definition has been given. So the definition is not unitary neither federal. It merely says it’s one undivided and indivisible country in which powers of governance are in the centre and province as laid down in the Constitution. You don’t have to give it a label of any sort. India is not described as a unitary or federal state. Many countries in the world don’t describe these terms. We in Sri Lanka did not describe it until 1972. Soulbury Constitution never mentioned about unitary neither did it say federal. So you can have your own terms. The word Ekeeya denotes one, and just in case it is misunderstood as unitary that has been defined in the draft. But that doesn’t conclude as federal. What we wanted to do was to resolve the issue rather than hanging on with empty labels. I agree on the content and that we managed to do. And if you were to have some consensus, we had to annul that label. But we agreed to used the word ‘Ekeeya’ in Sinhala as literary meaning of that word only means one, nothing else. And Mahinda Rajapaksa should know this as his representatives were in the steering committee. We had long discussions on this. And now to come up with this statement as if he has discovered something new, is a move to deliberately mislead the people.
"If Gotabaya wins, our worry is that the process might not only be stopped but the land that have been released might be taken again"
Q So do you mean that Mahinda Rajapaksa is not telling the truth...
He is playing a racist card and trying to excite the people by showing that deliberate misleading is taking place. In fact, over a period of three and-a-half to four years, these have been discussed and consensus was reached. And it was in writing and has been made public. So Mr. Rajapaksa is deliberately trying to whip up the Sinhala nationalistic feelings against the others.
Q You have decided to support NDF Presidential Candidate Sajith Premadasa. Do you think this is the view and the decision of the entire Tamil community you represent?
Yes. When the election results come, you would see it. It is both ways. We have listened carefully to the sentiments of our people in making that decision and our people also carefully heed our advice when they vote. So it is a two-way process.
Q What about the divisions in the Tamil political arena?
There are no divisions in the Tamil political circuit. The TNA represents the Tamil people and nobody else does. We have 16 MPs out of 18 Tamil members representing the North and East. Even the other two; namely Douglas Devananda and Vijayakala Maheswaran were not elected for one seat. They came in through the highest number of floating votes. Therefore no one can say that there is disunity and there are others outside. We represent the Tamil people and there are others who were not elected. You won’t see this kind of unity in any other community in the country. So we have been given the mandate by the Tamil people, not anybody else. But we do consult with the others and we never stand against unity. We discuss with other political formations all the time but responsibility of making decisions eventually rest in our hands.
"we must first settle the issues and do the Constitutional reforms. And if that is done then, we will certainly invite the diaspora to come and invest"
Q Before 2015 the Nothern people complained that their lands have not been returned and in 2015 the govt said most of the lands were returned to their original owners. Do you agree with this and are you satisfied with the government policy on this issue?
A lot of lands have been returned. Government claims that 90 percent of private lands have been returned. It may not be 90 percent but about 80 percent. That is a huge achievement. Because at the end of 2013, the then government had stopped the process of releasing lands. And it had issued notice to acquire the remaining lands. But that process was stalled and more lands were released and there are still more to be released. But large portions have been released to the people’s for occupation. And that is a big triumph for us.
Q Do you believe if Sajith Premadasa is elected, the process would be continued?
Yes, it should continue because the process is still underway now. But if Gotabaya wins, our worry is that the process might not only be stopped but the land that have been released might be taken again.
Q There were some complaints by the Nothern people that there were heavy military presence in the peninsula. How do you react to these complaints?
For the past four years to five years, we have not seen heavy military presence. They are in the barracks. They hardly come out. That is in Jaffna. But in Vanni and a few other places, there were more prominent military presence. However, over the period of time it has been downsized.
Q There are also fears circulated specially in the South with regard to the opening the Palali airport for international flights attributing political reasons for it. What is your view?
We used to have flights from Palai to India up to the early 1980s. They were stopped because of the hostilities. Now that the way is over the flights should have started long time ago. Infact Mahinda Rajapaksas time when the Indian consulate in Jaffna was opened Minster S. M. Krishna came and at the opening ceremony he mentioned this that we must start the flights again. So it is high time that we started it.
"There are no divisions in the Tamil political circuit. The TNA represents the Tamil people and nobody else does. We have 16 MPs out of 18 Tamil members representing the North and East"
Q What about the issue of disappearances in the North? This has not being solved?
The disappearances issue is one that has been dragged on most without any result. But the Office of Missing Person was established, moneys were allocated and work has started but the progress has been very very slow leading the relatives being disillusioned. But the disappearance issue itself is a difficult issue and ten years on when there is no signs of anybody, how does one resolve it. Of course there should be investigation in each case. The relatives must know what happened to that person, so that this office is supposed to do. They still don’t seemed to have got their act together for various reason.
Q It is not only in the North and East but we saw there were alleged abductions and disappearances took place in South even in Colombo as well. There is an ongoing case of 11 Tamil students who were abducted. There were allegations of the involvement of Navy as well. What is your view?
Yes that has been found out as some people in the Navy did it for ransom. And the CID investigated and provided reports to the Magistrate. And there again there is evidence of interference in the processes. I saw that seven person had been indicted for the disappearance of journalist Prageeth Ekneligoda. But that is taking too much time because of kind of people who are involved in it.
Q But President promoted, a very senior Naval officer who is alleged to be involved in the incident?
Yes this happened when he comes under pressure to give into their side. But if it under Rajapaksa there won’t be that flip-flop and that all will be all in one direction that it will happen.
" In fact, over a period of three and-a-half to four years, these have been discussed and consensus was reached. And it was in writing and has been made public. So Mr. Rajapaksa is deliberately trying to whip up the Sinhala nationalistic feelings against the others"
Q There were hopes specially under last governments that the Tamils in the foreign countries would come back to Sri Lanka and invest and develop specially the North and East. What have you got to say about this?
That hasn’t happened to the levels we expected. But there seemed to be good reasons for that. People are still very apprehensive that the political situation here has not been estabilised. So if there is a political solution, a new constitution something like that, then I think that will give them adequate confidence to come back and invest.
Q If Sajith Premadasa, the candidate you support wins would you invite the Tamil community to come back to Sri Lanka?
No, we must first settle the issues and do the Constitutional reforms. And if that is done then, we will certainly invite the diaspora to come and invest.
http://www.dailymirror.lk/opinion/Rajapaksas-are-playing-the-Racist-card-TNA/231-177590
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