News

Several allies of the United National Front (UNF) have informed United National Party (UNP) Deputy Leader, Minister Sajith Premadasa that they will support him to form a broad alliance to contest the forthcoming presidential election.

It is learnt that these parties have agreed to support Premadasa’s candidacy even if he is not given the go ahead from the UNP.

A senior Premadasa loyalist said the UNF representatives have given this assurance to Premadasa during a meeting they have held on Wednesday (18).

The term of the Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC) probing into the Easter Sunday attacks has been extended till October 31st.

Meanwhile, President Maithripala Sirisena is set to appear before the Committee on Friday (20).

Parliament last month extended the term of the PSC till September 30th as the PSC had requested an extension in order to complete its inquiry and submit its final report to Parliament.

The PSC was appointed by a resolution passed unanimously by Parliament on May 22nd. The PSC’s term was originally only for a period of three months.

JVP Propaganda Secretary, MP Vijitha Herath has said the JVP would not form alliances with any political party, but any party willing to join the JVP was most welcome to join the National People’s Power (NPP) movement led by the JVP.

“We are open to discussion with the SLFP and any other party if they are willing to join us under the NPP,” Herath has said.

According to the MP, the National People’s Power movement presidential candidate MP Anura Kumara Dissanayake is the only candidate the JVP will support at the forthcoming polls.

Herath’s comment comes in the backdrop of comments being made by members from various political parties that they are in discussion with the JVP to form an alliance and get their support for the forthcoming presidential election.

Kariyawasam said the UNP leadership had informed him that the relevant decision would be taken next week following discussions.

The party leadership earlier stated that the UNP’s presidential candidate will be decided once the presidential election is announced by the Elections Commission by the party’s Working Committee.

However, UNP Deputy Leader, Minister Sajith Premadasa and his loyalists have called for the Working Committee as well as the parliamentary group to be convened to decide on the UNP’s presidential candidate.

UNP leader, Prime Minister Wickremesinghe, Deputy Leader, Minister Premadasa and Speaker Karu Jayasuriya are currently the frontrunners vying to become the UNP’s presidential candidate.

Meanwhile, the Elections Commission has announced that the next presidential election would be held on November 16th, 2019.

The report has also accused over 50 officers of the Terrorism Investigation Division (TID) of the Sri Lankan police of being involved in torture.

The new study by the ITJP focuses on the TID of the Sri Lankan police and has identified 58 alleged torturers, including those in command positions, named by the 73 victims interviewed. Among them are police officers identified in UN reports dating back more than a decade; one was even a UN peacekeeper.

“TID officials allegedly involved in torture were named by a UN expert in 2007, by a UN investigation in 2015, by Sri Lankan NGOs and human rights lawyers for decades and now in 2019 by the ITJP in court documents submitted in California in support of the case under the Torture Victims Prevention Act against former defence secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa – but no action is ever taken. The alleged torturers continue to survive every regime change,” the report states

“The indifference to repeated allegations of police torture is shocking and makes a mockery of Sri Lanka’s stated commitment to security sector reform, let alone transitional justice,” the ITJP’s Executive Director, Yasmin Sooka has noted.

The new report by the ITJP details systematic brutal torture and sexual violence against men and women detained over the last decade by the TID, focusing on the TID office in Colombo and detention site in Boossa in Galle.

The report can be read with the 24 dossiers on individual policemen named by victims which forms part of a US court submission in the Gotabaya Rajapaksa case filed by Hausfeld law firm in the US.

“Torture is so endemic in the Terrorism Investigation Division that it is impossible for anyone working in this unit not to have been complicit,” Sooka has said. “Until the alleged perpetrators are prosecuted, members of the TID should be barred from international training programmes, UN peacekeeping and other forms of international assistance. Training programmes alone will not address the rot in this unit of the security forces.”

Detainees describe being chained together and bused to TID sites or abducted in white vans, stripped naked, subjected to anal examinations, interrogated in rooms equipped for torture with blood stained walls, forced to confess to things they hadn’t done and warned not to tell inspectors about the torture. The seventy three victims in the report, who include twenty-one civilians, describe being beaten, kicked, punched, whipped, suspended in stress positions, asphyxiated with plastic bags soaked in petrol and chilli, subjected to water torture, burned with cigarettes, branded with hot metal rods, and subjected to rape and other forms of sexual violence. Some were held in multiple detention sites run by different security units for years; others abducted by the TID after being released from prison or the “rehabilitation” programme for ex combatants. At least twenty of the victims interviewed attempted suicide after the torture.

UNF party leaders will convene at 6 p.m. today for talks that would focus on the presidential candidate, the United National Party (UNP) said.

Meanwhile, the UNP says the party’s presidential candidate will be picked next week.

UNP leader, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, Deputy Leader, Minister Sajith Premadasa and Speaker Karu Jayasuriya are the frontrunners vying to become the UNP’s presidential candidate.

President Maithripala Sirisena has reportedly requested all Cabinet ministers to submit their views on the recommendations made by State Minister of Finance, Eran Wickramaratne on restructuring SriLankan Airlines on the basis of a public-private partnership.

The State Minister in his report to the ministers has noted that the financial position of the national carrier and pointed out that the amount owed by SriLankan to the state banks and the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC) stood at Rs.102.55 billion or US$ 582 million as at April 30, 2019, with an annual interest payable of US$ 62 million.

He has pointed out that the ballooning debt was a contingent liability on the Treasury impacting the country’s credit rating and that the debt component was reaching one per cent of the Gross Domestic Product -- an amount equivalent to Rs.7,300 for every citizen.

The State Minister has further noted that the national carrier required an additional sum of US$ 250 to 300 million in new capital to update the fleet, business practices, competition and tourism demand, but the Treasury was unable to provide such an amount.

Wickramaratne has added that SriLankan would have a cash deficit of US$ 874 million within the next five years but the new restructuring would enable the airline to break even within a few years.

Deshapriya said nominations for the elections would be called for on October 7 and there will be a two week-period for nominations.

He added that cash deposits for the elections will commence from today (19) till noon on October 6 and deposits will be accepted between 9 a.m and 11 a.m.

Wickremesinghe and the TNA held a discussion yesterday (17) evening on an invitation extended by the UNP leader.

During the meeting, Wickremesinghe has also told the parliamentary group of the TNA that he was ready to introduce a new constitution within a year based on the consensus reached at the Constitutional Assembly (CA).

The Prime Minister was accompanied by Health Minister Rajitha Senaratne at the meeting.

After the meeting, TNA MP M.A. Sumanthiran has told the media that the TNA had made significant compromises on its position to reach a consensus on constitution-making.

He has said the TNA would also agree to forge ahead based on a consensus reached to evolve a new constitution.

Meanwhile, TNA leader R. Sampanthan has told the UNP leadership that picking a presidential candidate for the UNP is a matter the UNP needs to resolve soon.

He has explained that once the UNP decides on its presidential candidate, the TNA will want to know what his plan is to address the Tamil issue and overall policies before making a decision.

The TNA has also said that it will hold discussions with all political parties contesting the forthcoming presidential election and decide who it will support.
The TNA has already held several rounds of discussions with presidential hopefuls and meetings have taken place on an unofficial level with the UNP presidential hopeful, party Deputy Leader, Minister Sajith Premadasa, Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) Leader and MP Anura Kumara Dissanayake.

Activists, Ven. Dambara Amila Thero and Chandraguptha Thenuwara have challenged the President’s decision before the Supreme Court by filing a Fundamental Right (FR) petition yesterday (17).

The petitioners have stated that the President is legally entitled to hold only the portfolios of Mahaweli, Environment and Defence under the 19th Amendment to the Constitution.

The petitioners have noted that the President has violated the Constitution by taking SLRC under the Ministry of Defence and that such action has also violated the fundamental rights of the petitioners.

They have sought the Supreme Court to declare the taking over of SLRC under the Ministry of Defence as a violation of the country’s Constitution.

President Sirisena last week issued a gazette notification announcing that the SLRC will be taken under the purview of the MOD with immediate effect.

He later stated that the move was aimed at resolving the management issues that were driving the institution in to bankruptcy.

However, media associations condemned the move claiming it was a threat to media freedom and that it would create a bad precedent when a media institution is taken under the Ministry of Defence.

Chongqing party boss Chen Min’er, a high-ranking Chinese Communist Party official yesterday (18) met Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe for talks in Colombo.

The discussion was focused on strengthening bilateral ties between China and Sri Lanka.

Chen Min’er has told the Prime Minister that Chongqing city is keen to invest in several sectors in Sri Lanka.

Both sides had also discussed the need to strengthen the trade relationship between Sri Lanka and Chongqing city.

The discussions had also focused on regional issues including on security matters in the Indian Ocean.

A protege of Chinese President Xi Jinping, the Chinese official is leading a Chinese delegation to Sri Lanka on a three-day official visit.

Chen is reportedly seen as a rising political star on the mainland. He was appointed Communist Party Secretary of Chongqing in 2017, and became a member of the 25-person Politburo – the Communist Party’s top decision-making body – later that year at the 19th Party Congress.

The meeting had taken place at the Office of the Elections Commission yesterday at 2 p.m.

The meeting was chaired by Chairman of the Elections Commission, Mahinda Deshapriya.

UPFA General Secretary Mahinda Amaraweera told the media after the meeting that the Elections Commission had requested political parties to adhere to an environment friendly, violence free, and fair campaigning policy.

The Commission had also taken up suggestions from the political parties with regard to the forthcoming elections from respective political parties.

Apart from the presidential election, the party secretaries were also briefed on the legal nature of the postponed provincial elections.