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Former Defence Secretary and Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) presidential candidate Gotabaya Rajapaksa says that although he would work with the UN and human rights organisations in resolving contentious issues he could not recognize the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) resolution on Sri Lanka because it was ‘illegal.’

The 30/1 UN resolution titled, ‘Promoting reconciliation, accountability and human rights in Sri Lanka’ was co-sponsored by the present Sri Lankan government and adopted in 2015.

Addressing his maiden news briefing as a presidential hopeful at Shangri-La Hotel in Colombo, Gotabaya said that he will always work with the UN but would not recognize what it had signed with different governments.

The SLPP presidential hopeful was flanked by SLPP Leader, Opposition Leader Mahinda Rajapaksa and other party leaders.

“It was not a government of mine. My personal view is that it is not a legal document,” Gotabaya Rajapaksa has said when asked how he would follow up with commitments made through the UN resolution in 2015.

He further noted that as a party they had already rejected that resolution in public and that everyone knew that there was a stark difference between their policies and that of the incumbent government.

“We will work with UN and Human Rights organisations as well in solving issues but the resolution is not something we signed,” Gotabaya has said.

Mangala rejects Gota's claims!

After Mahinda’s defeat at the election on 08 January 2015, the new Government managed to reassert Sri Lanka’s sovereignty and regain Sri Lanka’s independent right to take charge of discharging the responsibilities of the Government towards its own citizens, Finance Minister Mangala Samaraweera said.

"As a result of taking charge of handling our own problems ourselves in consultation with all our own citizens, international action that would have followed as a result of the OHCHR Investigation on Sri Lanka that was established under the Mahinda Rajapaksa regime in March 2014 ceased. As a result of Sri Lanka taking charge of discharging its own responsibilities towards its own citizens, international efforts became focused thereafter on support for Sri Lanka’s efforts," Samaraweera said.

Contrary to Gota's narrative, there are no resolutions AGAINST Sri Lanka in the Human Rights Council anymore. The resolutions since 2015 are to work together with our partner nations in the world so that our citizens benefit from the best expertise in the world, and we work with all our citizens to set up processes that would help us put behind decades of distrust, violence and impunity and promote, protect and advance the human rights of all our citizens, the former foreign minister noted.

"I urge you to pause to think a little. If this resolution that Gota speaks of is against Sri Lanka – then there should be strictures on Sri Lanka through the resolution, or an investigation established as in March 2014 when Mahinda was President, or there should be sanctions. The resolutions from 2015, on the contrary, do no such thing. They have instead been the basis to secure economic benefits for all our citizens both in the short-term as well as in the long-term. They have been the basis for re-establishing and renewing trust and confidence of our own citizens. They have been the basis for establishing engagement with the international community to benefit our citizens, our administrators, our prosecutors, our forensic experts and our security forces with greater opportunities overall. They have been the basis for the doors of opportunity being open to us to develop Sri Lanka as a hub in the Indian Ocean and pursue a prosperous future for all," Samaraweera added. 

President Maithripala Sirisena has directed the relevant defence authorities to provide security for candidates contesting the upcoming presidential election.

The order was given at the Security Council meeting held yesterday (15).

There are 35 candidates contesting at this year’s presidential polls, which is scheduled to be held on November 16th.

The National Economic Council (NEC) set up by President Maithripala Sirisena was scrapped at the Cabinet meeting yesterday (15). President Sirisena chaired the Cabinet meeting.

The NEC headed by Prof. Lalith Samarakoon was set up by the President after faulting the Cabinet Committee on Economic Management (CCEM) headed by Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe of being ineffective and failing to address key economic issues.

The NEC under the purview of the President was meant to have played a role in economic policy making.  

Former President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga has accused the current leadership of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) of betraying the party and has pledged her fullest assistance to the ongoing struggle to safeguard the SLFP and its policies.

Kumaratunga made these comments in a public letter addressed to all SLFP supporters released yesterday (14).

“The opportunist leaders including of the country have dismissed the views of 95% of the party organizers and have gone ahead with an agreement with the conspirers purely based on personal gain,” Kumaratunga claimed.

“The SLFP has been a party that has respected and upheld democracy. Our party has not hosted murderers, fraudsters and the corrupt, the SLFP will not allow injustice to rule again,” the former president stressed.

She said it was the first time in history that the SLFP had not put forth a candidate for the presidential elections.

“We have created Presidents and Prime Ministers. My heart cries to see the fate that has befallen the SLFP,” she said.

Referring to the agreement signed between the SLFP and the Rajapaksa led the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP), she said that the agreement should be defeated as it has vested the party at the hands of a group of conspirators and that it was signed on October 10th, the very same day of the 19th death anniversary of the late Prime Minister and party leader, Sirimavo Bandaranaike.

Highlighting that such agreements would lead to the destruction of the SLFP, Kumaratunga urged all SLFP supporters to be more mindful at the forthcoming presidential polls.

“We have to rise against efforts made to destroy this beloved party. I extend my unstinted support to those who have started the fight to protect the party and its policies,” Kumaratunga said.

The SLFP last week signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the SLPP pledging its support to its presidential candidate Gotabaya Rajapaksa at the forthcoming presidential elections.

A test flight from India yesterday (15) landed at the new Jaffna International Airport ahead of the formal opening tomorrow (17).

India’s Alliance Air had made a successful landing on the new runway of the airport which will be declared open on Thursday as Sri Lanka’s third international airport.

The airport already accommodates domestic and military flights and has now been developed to facilitate larger international flights.

Alliance Air is to operate seven flights a week from Chennai to Palaly and Batticaloa in Sri Lanka.

The Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) parliamentarians who have decided to support the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) presidential candidate, Gotabaya Rajapaksa have decided not to attend rallies organized by the SLPP under the “pohottuwa” symbol.

The SLFP MPs have discussed the need to carry out a separate campaign under the SLFP banner in support of Rajapaksa’s candidature.

However, the SLFPers have also decided to attend the key SLPP rallies attended by Rajapaksa in the districts on his assurance that the SLPP loyalists would not jeer at the SLFP leaders on stage.

SLFP National Organizer, MP Duminda Dissanayake has told the media that the SLFP will only participate in some of the rallies organized by the SLPP and that the SLFP would carry out a separate campaign.

He has explained that it was vital to address the SLFP and SLPP party members separately.

Dissanayake has made these comments in response to a question posed to him on the crowds that hooted at him at Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s inaugural campaign rally held in Anuradhapura on the 9th.

He has said that a few supporters under the influence of alcohol had jeered at him.
According to Dissanayake, some party members were unaware of the importance of these two parties joining forces and that SLPP leaders could also face a similar situation in front of SLFP party members.   

A 30 day scholarship training programme under the 'Silk Road Project for Sri Lankan Media Talents - 2019', commenced on 10th October at the Chongqing Normal University in China.

The Sri Lankan media delegation received a high level welcome at the inauguration of the programme that was attended by the Heads of the University, academic staff and students.

A delegation of 20 media professionals covering print and electronic media attended this programme.

The training programme was coordinated by the Sri Lanka - China Journalists' Forum trough an exclusive Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signed with the Chongqing Normal University last year for an annual scholarship exchange programme of journalists for the Belt and Road Educational Project.

The MOU has also facilitated a group of media professionals from the University of Kelaniya to be included in this year's programme.

This 30 day training programme is currently being held at the Chongqing Normal University in China. The trainees will receive the Silk Road Scholarship Certificate at the end of the programme.

The full verdict would explain the reasons for the judges’ decision to dismiss the writ petition.

One of the petitioners, activist Gamini Viyangoda said his lawyers had informed him that the Court of Appeal was expected to explain its decision on Tuesday (15).

Viyangoda and activist Chandragupta Thenuwara filed the case against Rajapaksa’s citizenship, but the case was dismissed by the Court of Appeal.

Viyangoda and Thenuwara have already said they will look to appeal the verdict after perusing the reasons for the initial dismissal of the case by the Court of Appeal.

The two petitioners were confident that they had a valid case against Rajapaksa and his citizenship.

The two petitioners who filed the case against the SLPP presidential candidate have claimed they have received death threats and threatening phone calls and have lodged a complaint at the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) over the death threats that had been directed at them online through social media platforms since the dismissal of the petition by the Court of Appeal on October 4th.

The Election Commission (EC) has received a complaint stating that a candidate contesting the upcoming presidential election has violated the Code of Ethics announced by the Commission by using statements made by military officers.

The Centre for Monitoring Election Violence (CMEV) complaint states that despite the requirement of every candidate contesting the election to abide by the Code of Ethics set out by the Election Commission when conducting their election campaigns, a violation of the Code of Ethics had taken place in a newspaper advertisement.

Three newspapers had published full-page advertisements, which featured statements made by former Triforce Commanders about Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) presidential candidate, Gotabaya Rajapaksa.

However, among the statements of high ranking military officers published in the advertisement is a statement made by incumbent Army Commander, Lt. Gen Shavendra Silva on the 28th of December 2009.

Lt. General Silva is still the Army Commander on active duty and the use of his statement compromises the integrity of civil-military relations in Sri Lanka, CMEV has pointed out.
CMEV has added that the integrity of the election would be severely compromised if other candidates also adopted this practice.

The Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC) probing the Easter Sunday attacks is scheduled to convene on Thursday (17) to prepare the final report.

“The committee had requested time till 31 October to present the report to the Parliament. Since Parliament is to convene next on 23 October, we have now decided to present the final report on October 23rd or 24th,” PSC member, MP Dr. Nalinda Jayatissa has told The Sunday Morning.

PSC Chairman and Deputy Speaker of Parliament Ananda Kumarasiri earlier said the final report will provide a breakdown of what led to the incident and recommendations that should be adopted to prevent further incidents from taking place.

From its inaugural meeting held on May 29th, the committee had recorded statements from about 60 persons including President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe.