News

The much delayed but very much hyped “Park and Ride” facility is to be recommenced from this Friday in the New Year 2021 onwards, this time from the Makumbura Multimodal Transport Hub, the State Ministry of Vehicle Regulation, Bus Transport Services revealed.

“The collapse of this case marks yet another sorry milestone in the Sri Lankan authorities’ continued failure to ensure justice for crimes committed during the armed conflict. The Attorney General’s Office has not indicated any interest in re-opening the investigation into the murder.

“Those aligned with the state must not continue to enjoy impunity for historic abuses. Without accountability, Sri Lanka will never be able to turn the page on this dark chapter. The authorities must immediately launch a new thorough, effective and impartial criminal investigation and bring those responsible for Joseph Pararajasingham’s murder to justice.

“However, given the repeated failures of past domestic accountability mechanisms, we are not holding our breath. The international community must step up to end the cycle of impunity and advance accountability for human rights violations in Sri Lanka.”

Background

Joseph Pararajasingam MP was shot dead while attending mass at St Mary’s Church, Batticaloa on Christmas Eve 2005.

One of the five persons suspected of criminal responsibility for the murder was MP Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan (alias Pillayan), the leader of Tamil Makkal Viduthalai Pulikal (TMVP), a government-aligned political party. The Criminal Investigations Department arrested Chandrakanthan in connection with the murder in 2015.

In February 2020, the Sri Lankan government withdrew its support for the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) resolution committing the country to promoting reconciliation, accountability and human rights.

The Eastern Container Terminal (ECT) in the Colombo Port is still under threat of being leased out to foreign companies by the government.

Accordingly, former general secretary Akila Viraj Kariyawasam has been appointed as the assistant leader while Palitha Range Bandara has been appointed as the new general secretary. Former minister Vajira Abeywardena has been appointed as the chairman and ASM Misbah has been appointed as the treasurer.

D. M. Swaminathan and Arjuna Ranatunga have been appointed as the senior vice chairmen of the UNP while Daya Gamage, Sagala Ratnayake, and Sunethra Ranasinghe have been appointed as vice chairmen.

Navin Dissanayake will retain his role as the national organiser of the UNP.

Meanwhile, Nalaka Kolonne has been appointed as the deputy secretary general of the UNP.

The Working Committee also approved the appointment of Dr. Karunasena Kodithuwakku as the head of the policy and research division.

Sandith Samarasinghe has been appointed as the secretary of the Committee on International Affairs and Local Government.

The mobile unit will administer PCR tests and provide vital health services to 100 people daily in Moneragala communities hit hard by the pandemic. The mobile unit enables safe sample collection by avoiding direct contact and can be used in future for testing other communicable diseases, including dengue.  

"By making COVID-19 tests and other health related services accessible to rural communities, the United States is helping mitigate some of the profound human and economic losses caused by the pandemic," said U.S. Ambassador to Sri Lanka Alaina B. Teplitz.

The donation was funded by the U.S. Government's development arm the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) through its Social Cohesion and Reconciliation project.  

The U.S. Government has provided USD 6 million in aid to reduce the spread of COVID-19 in Sri Lanka. The assistance is helping to prepare laboratory systems; activate case-finding and event-based surveillance; support technical experts for response and preparedness; support risk communication; and address infection prevention and control.

The Finance Ministry has been directed to streamline services of the Customs management and staff while improving productivity and modernisation of standard operating procedures.

 A letter sent by Presidential Secretary Dr. P.B. Jayasundera to the ministry emphasised the urgent need of commitment of all Custom employees to make a positive paradigm change in the department before the end of the first quarter this year.

The directive has come from President Gotabaya Rajapaksa informing that if they fail to comply, then he (President) would take alternate measures to restructure the organisation.

Dr. Jayasundera further pointed out that according to views and observations of various eminent persons in the import and export sector as well as comments of policy planners and audit inspections, no one can be satisfied with the present unpleasant situation of the department.

“It is really frustrating and not pleasurable,” he has stated in a strongly worded letter adding that no one can tolerate such a deplorable situation.

Various allegations have been leveled against Customs over alleged fraudulent transactions in import and export trade as well as private bonded warehouse dealings by businessmen in connivance with Custom officers.

This will be carried out under the supervision of the Panel of Management appointed by the Monetary Board (Panel of Management), subject to several strict conditions, in the public interest and in the interests of the depositors of the Company.

This operation of the finance company is  limited for  period of three (03) months from 13th January 2021 to 12th April 2021, in terms of Section 31(5)(a) of Finance Business Act, No. 42 of 2011 (FBA), only for the purpose of repayment up to fifty percent (50%) of the remaining deposits of the Company (repayment plan), Central Bank announced on Tuesday (12).

Due to the various irregularities taken place and inability of the Board of Directors and the Senior Management of SFSP to address the resultant issues, the Monetary Board, on 02nd January 2018, issued Directions to the directors of the Company and appointed a Panel of Management to oversee the affairs of the Company.

Even though the Monetary Board directed the Board of Directors of SFSP to bring suitable investor(s) to revive the Company, no viable investment proposal was available and the financial condition of the Company continued to deteriorate.

In the meantime, 30% of SFSP deposits was repaid in 2018 and 2019. Having considered the continuously deteriorating financial condition and non-availability of a viable revival plan, the Monetary Board decided to suspend the business of SFSP in terms of Section 31(1) of FBA, with effect from 13th July 2020.

During the period of suspension, payment of compensation for the insured depositors under the Sri Lanka Deposit Insurance and Liquidity Support Scheme (SLDILSS) was commenced Issued By Date through the island wide branches of the People’s Bank.

By end 2020, a sum of Rs. 834.1 mn has been paid for 25% of the insured depositors out of the total of 9,660, up to a maximum of Rs. 600,000/- per insured depositor. Such amounts cover 84.9% of the Rs. 982.9 mn of eligible compensation under SLDILSS.

Issuing a not-so-veiled threat against Fernando, President Rajapaksa warned that Buddhist monks were always telling him to stop being “President Gotabaya” and assume the role of “Defence Secretary”.

“"Remember when Prabhakaran started his tricks and attacked me at the Pittala Junction? I finished that job by killing him and sprawling him out like a dog and bringing him across the Nandikadal Lagoon – I can be that person too," he said at an event in Ampara.

10th January 2021

Mr. C.D. Wickremeratne,
Inspector General of Police,
Police Headquarters,
Colombo 01

Dear Mr. Wickremaratne,

Yesterday, I saw video footage of President Nandasena Gotabaya Rajapaksa delivering remarks at an event in Uhuna, Ampara. In his remarks, the President refers to me by name and addresses speeches made by me in Parliament in which I referred to his first name, Nandasena. The President stated that he has a peaceful side and a dark side, and that he is perfectly capable of returning to his dark roots from his tenure as Secretary of Defence.

As you can see from the annexed video clip and transcript, the President fails to differentiate between a seditious, genocidal terrorist tyrant and a legislator exercising his fundamental right to freedom of speech in Parliament. He must be reminded that I have never engaged with terrorists. I have never bribed terrorists to prevent the Tamil people from voting. I have not embraced Karuna Amman, who has butchered more police officers than any man who ever lived. Above all, I am, and have always been, a citizen of Sri Lanka and no other country.

The President clearly insinuates that he is capable of having me “killed like a dog” if I continue saying things that displease him. So long as he continues to fail in his duties, I must do my own duty by continuing to say things that displease him, whatever the risk to my life. Therefore, I must bring this matter to your urgent attention. Given the serious nature of the threat made by President Nandasena Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who is also Commander-in-Chief of the security forces and Minister of Defence, I have no reason to doubt him when he implies that he is capable of doing me harm.

But I am stunned that the President is so agitated simply because I mentioned his first name. Presidents have long been called by their names or initials. No one has been threatened with death for using the names “JRJ”, “Premadasa”, “DB”, “Chandrika”, “Mahinda” or “Sirisena”. Unless the President proves otherwise, I find it difficult to believe that members of the Buddhist clergy have truly advised him to resort to violence. My understanding as a Catholic is that Buddhism shuns violence and espouses peace.

I am painfully aware that many journalists, activists and Members of Parliament who criticized the President when he was Defence Secretary have since either disappeared or been assassinated. In many of these cases, the attacks were preceded by implied threats or frivolous litigation initiated by politicians and officials including Nandasena Gotabaya Rajapaksa. Indeed, it is ironic that the President turned his guns on me exactly 12 years after Lasantha Wickrematunge, one such man who fearlessly expressed his thoughts and opinions, was assassinated.

I ask that you kindly arrange without delay, to provide me with adequate security against this grave threat to my life and to my duty to speak freely on behalf of the 2.8 million voters who supported the Samagi Jana Balawegaya. It is my fundamental right to say what I wish without fear of being summarily executed like a terrorist.

Mr. Wickremaratne, I must remind you that you are the Inspector-General of Police for the Republic of Sri Lanka, not the personal servant of Nandasena Gotabaya Rajapaksa. Protecting the life and liberty of Members of Parliament discharging their duties is not a personal favour I am asking of you, but an exercise of your solemn duty to defend the Constitution of the Republic, which you are sworn to do. As a career police officer, I trust that you do not want to be remembered as the IGP who oversaw the first assassination of a Sri Lankan Parliamentarian since the end of the civil war.

For the record, this is the first time I have ever received a credible death threat. I am used to democratic politics, where politicians engage each other and debate their ideas and opinions. This is my first experience of a political opponent trying to terrorize me into silence using fear and the threat of violence. Since I refuse to be silenced, if I am killed, I must assume it will be at the behest of the only man who has ever threatened to kill me.

In the hope that it will result in additional pressure on Nandasena Gotabaya Rajapaksa to desist from the criminal course of action he appears to be contemplating, I am copying this letter to the Speaker of Parliament, the Attorney General, heads of foreign missions in Colombo and the United Nations Special Rapporteurs on Freedom of Opinion and Expression, and on Extrajudicial, Summary or Arbitrary Executions.

Yours faithfully,

Harin Fernando MP

Multinationals and local companies are to be given state lands for mega agriculture projects with tax concessions thrown in under a controversial deal involving forest lands, which unlike forest reserves, are not protected.

The government is planning to hand over thousands of acres of forest lands to five multinational companies after abolishing the circular No. 5/2001, limiting arbitrary allocation of ‘other’ (unreserved) forest lands, environmentalists and local communities say.

According to the circular, any allocation of forest lands for development activities requires the approval of a special review board which has not been followed since the circular is invalid.

Official sources said arrangements are underway to amend the various land acts and ordinances to legally clear two million acres of forest land under the cover of granting one acre each of freehold title to around 1.2 million villagers, most of them farmers.

The balance 800,000 acres of forest land has been identified for mega modern agri- production projects of multinational and local companies, the sources revealed, adding that this segment has drawn opposition.

Meanwhile a national agricultural plan is to be devised soon with the aim of expediting agricultural modernisation as far as technically feasible industrial modes in food crop production, a top Agriculture Ministry official told the Business Times.

Agricultural products and processing will be provided concessions up to a maximum of 10 years under the Strategic Development Law.

Under the budget proposals 2021, individuals and companies engaged in farming, including agriculture, will be exempted from taxes for the next five years.

Investments exceeding USD 10 million in the areas of agricultural products, and processing will be provided with concessions up to a maximum of 10 years under the Strategic Development Law

The approval of the Cabinet of Ministers has already been given to amend the Land Development Ordinance to change the methods of preparing a new grant and revising available conditions.

This new amendment will fulfill all the objectives of the State Lands (Special Provisions) Bill of the previous regime where all government lands which were leasehold interest are to be given as outright grants to the poor.

This bill was not passed in parliament as it had been rejected by various sections of the people and the then opposition during the previous regime.

But its contents including the setting up of a land bank with digital data of all lands are to be implemented under the new amendments to the Land Development Ordinance by the present regime.

A Land Data Infrastructure (LDI) and Land Information Service System (LISS) in Sri Lanka will be established through a South Korean grant of USD 60.33 million under a technical assistance programme.

“If implemented, the project will enable the Government to integrate the land parcel fabrics into LDI and LISS and enhance the ability to manage the city administration using land information service systems for 24 municipalities,” the official said.