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The United States (US) has expressed deep concern over the appointment of Lieutenant General Shavendra Silva as the new Army Commander by President Maithripala Sirisena and said it would undermine Sri Lanka’s international reputation.

The US Embassy in Colombo yesterday (19) said the allegations of gross human rights violations against him, documented by the United Nations and other organisations, are serious and credible.

“This appointment undermines Sri Lanka’s international reputation and its commitments to promote justice and accountability, especially at a time when the need for reconciliation and social unity is paramount,” the US Embassy in Colombo said.

Lt. General Silva replaces Lt. Gen. Mahesh Senanayake who retired from service on Sunday (18).

The new Army Commander, Lt. General Silva has been accused of war crimes linked to the final stages of the war in 2009 and his name has figured prominently in reports submitted to the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC).

Sri Lanka’s general public and majority of low ranking security forces personnel have expressed concern on Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s come back as presidential candidate as they have bitter memories of his old doctrine of allowing military to do civilian duties.

This doctrine, known as the military’s dual function, had been put into practice when Gotabaya was holding the Defense and Urban Development Secretary post with unprecedented power.

They noted that the people of this country cannot forget undermining the dignity of war heroes by deploying soldiers in cleaning roads and walking paths as well as carpentry, masonry and almost all aspects of civilian work.

From engaging in labour work of changing the landscapes of the Colombo city with its rapid remodeling and ‘beautification’ to growing vegetables in the North and East and other rural areas , Sri Lanka’s military had been demoralized.

This was aimed at systematically increasing Gota’s grip on the economy and business activities at that time, economic experts claimed.

Gota with the Army has made a significant impact on private ventures that are in competition mainly due to the cheap labour of service men and women the then Defence Ministry has been freely exploiting, they said.

Several leading businessmen have revealed that not only has the military invaded the local business space but also issued threats to businesses engaged in similar fields to refrain from raising issues with their involvement or turn competitive with the businesses run by the Defence Ministry.

They were not given additional payments of allowance for this work as Gotabaya Rajapksa has made dual function compulsory for low ranking army carders.

A leading NGO warned that the failure to differentiate military and civilian roles under Gotabaya’s rule if he is elected president could lead to “unwanted military rule nursed by a democratically elected government."

President Maithripala Sirisena has not yet been invited by the Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC) probing the Easter Sunday attacks to testify before it since the Committee has not yet sent a letter to the President inviting him to appear before the Committee.

Chairman of the PSC, Deputy Speaker Ananda Kumarasiri has said he had not sent the letter to the President.

“I have not sent the letter inviting the President yet. I want to meet with the Speaker and discuss the matter before I send the invitation,” the Deputy Speaker has told The Sunday Morning.

However, members of the PSC have expressed different views stating that a decision was reached among the Committee members to call on the President to testify before the Committee and they are under the impression that the relevant letter has been sent to the President.

MP Prof. Ashu Marasinghe has said the Committee had decided to invite the President to appear before it.

“We agreed to invite the President to appear before the Committee this coming week. However, I’m not sure if the Chairman sent the letter of invitation,” Prof. Marasinghe has said.

MP Dr. Nalinda Jayatissa has said the Deputy Speaker should have sent the letter inviting the President to testify before the PSC by now.

“We came to a unanimous agreement that we would be summoning the President this week to testify before the Committee. The Chairman should have sent it by now. It is wrong if he hasn’t,” the MP has said.

However, the PSC has this week summoned the three members of the Presidential Committee that was appointed to investigate the Easter bombings.

Accordingly, the three members of the Presidential Committee, Supreme Court Justice Vijith Malalgoda, former Inspector General of Police N.K. Illangakoon and former Ministry Secretary Padmasiri Jayamanne, will jointly testify before the PSC on Tuesday (20) at 3 p.m.

The amendments prepared to be added to the Presidential Elections Act according to the 19th amendment to the constitution in relation to the constitutional provision which states that a dual citizen cannot contest a Presidential election has not been presented to the cabinet. According to sources, there have been continuous delays to present the amendments to the cabinet due to pressure exerted by Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe.

The draft had been prepared over a year ago and the Attorney General's observations in relation to it had also been obtained. It is reported that when government stalwarts inquired on the matter, the Prime Minister had claimed it can only be presented to cabinet following a discussion and agreement with the President.

The Constitution notes how an election must be held including the time frame and qualifications. How to put into action those requisites mentioned in the Constitution is included in the Presidential Elections Act.

Accordingly, following a new constitutional amendment, the Presidential Elections Act must be amended to state how the Elections Commission must act.

The Commission does not have information on dual citizenship and the Department of Immigration and Emigration deals with such matters. Therefore, experts claim that without the necessary information in the Presidential Elections Act, there is a risk that the provision which states that a dual citizen cannot contest will not be put into action properly.

A government stalwart commenting on the Prime Minister’s failure to present the draft said it was done in the belief that Wickremesinghe would have an easy win if Gotabaya contested in the Presidential Election.

President Maithripala Sirisena last week sought a determination on whether the provincial council (PC) polls could be conducted in line with the previous proportional representation (PR) system, which existed before the enactment of the Provincial Councils (Amendment) Act in 2017, which introduced a hybrid of the PR and first-past-the-post systems.

The Supreme Court is to take up the request for observation on Friday (23) and is expected to deliver its opinion to the President before 30 August.

The President, in terms of Article 129 (1) of the Constitution, had referred to the Supreme Court the following questions for its consideration:

(a) In view of the review committee failing to submit its report to me in accordance with sub sections (13) and (14) of Section 3A of the Provincial Councils Elections Act No. 2 of 1988 as amended by Act No. 17 of 2017, (I query) whether, I, as President, can by proclamation forthwith publish the new number of electorates, (and) the boundaries and names assigned to each electorate so created in terms of the report of the Delimitation Committee submitted to the Minster assigned the subject of Provincial Councils?

(b) Whether the provincial council elections can be held under the Provincial Councils Elections Act No. 2 of 1988 as amended by Act No. 17 of 2017, once the proclamation referred in (a) above is published?

(c) Whether in the absence of such inability to hold such provincial council elections in terms of the present law, the said provincial council elections can be held under the law that was in force prior to the enactment of the Provincial Councils Elections (Amendment) Act No. 17 of 2017 in view of Section 6(2) of the Interpretation Ordinance?

Section 6(2) of the Interpretation Ordinance stipulates that “whenever any written law repeals in whole or part a former written law and substitutes therefore some new provision, such repeal shall not take effect until such substituted provision comes into operation”.

Meanwhile, the Supreme Court has requested the Bar Association of Sri Lanka (BASL) to submit observations if any on this matter by Wednesday (21).

Chairman of the Elections Commission, Mahinda Deshapriya has said that if the provincial council elections are to be held before the presidential election this year, the gazette calling for the provincial polls should be issued by August 17th.

The Trincomalee development master plan has been delayed owing to irregularities of the project planning officers assigned to this task by the Megapolis and Western Development Ministry.

The Ministry has commenced a Project of Preparation of a Master Plan with the objective of improving the agriculture, energy and tourism industries in the Trincomalee District.

A consultancy firm in Singapore had been selected as consultants for this project without following the Government's procurement guidelines.

Accordingly, an agreement had been reached for the preparation of the Master Plan of the Trincomalee District at a cost of US$ 982,000.

In terms of that agreement, the planning report should have been handed over within 09 months.

Nevertheless, the said report had not been handed over even by the end of the year 2017, a progress review report revealed.

Even though an amount of US$ 589,200 equivalent to LKR 90.29 million had been paid in 03 instances by the end of the year under review, the Master Plan of the Trincomalee District had not been prepared and handed over even by the end of June 2018.

The consultancy firm had failed to complete the said project within a period of 09 months as per the agreement and as such, it has been extended by another period of 08 months.

The Singaporean company had failed to provide the said plan within the period given for the preparation of the plan.

Even though the project was scheduled to be completed on 30 November 2017, the project had to be carried out by paying salaries to the staff up to 31 July 2018 due to delays encountered in the preparation of the plan.

Despite directives issued by the Attorney General (AG) and Acting Inspector General of Police (IGP) to the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) calling for the completion of probes on several high profile cases, the CID is faced with difficulties in concluding them.

Officers investigating several high profile cases are facing difficulties due to the lack of co-operation from officials of the Sri Lanka Army, it is learnt.

Investigating officers note that most of the high-profile probes have come to a standstill and cannot be taken forward without the support of the Army.

A senior officer attached to the Police Department has said the CID had no powers to visit Army camps and carry out necessary probes within such premises and has therefore requested relevant authorities to provide certain documents required to proceed with the ongoing probes.

Some of the key investigations that are being blocked due to the Army’s lack of co-operation are the probes on the murder of former Editor-in-Chief of The Sunday Leader Lasantha Wickrematunge, the disappearance of journalist Prageeth Ekneligoda, and the assault on journalist Keith Noyahr.

However, Attorney General Dappula de Livera has directed the Acting IGP to conclude five high profile cases and submit the files to the Attorney General Department. The five cases include the murders of Wickrematunge, Sri Lanka rugby player Wasim Thajudeen, and the 17 aid workers as well as the abduction of journalist Noyahr and the case involving 11 missing youths.

Meanwhile, Acting IGP Chandana Wickremeratne yesterday called on the CID to conclude these cases and submit the files to the Attorney General’s Department.

Thirteen Sri Lankans who attempted to travel to Australia illegally by boat have been deported today (15) by Australian authorities.

It is reported that these persons had left the island as a group on a multi-day fishing trawler. They are residents of Chilaw.

The group had arrived at the Bandaranaike International Airport at around 6:30 am.

They have been handed over to the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) unit at the airport by Immigration officials for further investigations.

Update: Major Gen. Shavendra Silva has been appointed as the new Army Commander by President Maithripala Sirisena.

He will be the 23rd Commander of the Sri Lanka Army.

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President to appoint new Army commander today?

President Maithripala Sirisena is expected to appoint a new Commander to the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) today (19) since the one-year extension of service granted to Army Commander Lt. General Mahesh Senanayake ended yesterday (18).

Lt. General Senanayake’s retirement has created a vacancy for the top post in the SLA.

The names of several Major Generals are at the top of the list of contenders for the position – Major Generals, Sathyapriya Liyanage, Shavendra Silva, Kumudu Perera and Nirmal Dharmaratne.

Military Spokesperson Brigadier Sumith Atapattu has said the President is expected to make the appointment of a new Army Commander, while Defence Secretary Retd. General Shantha Kottegoda has observed that the appointment of the new Army Commander would take place within these few days.

The government has allocated increasingly bigger volumes of funds over the last four years and especially under 'The Framework for Economic Development Master Plan' for the long term growth and development of the Northern Province.

The Framework for Economic Development Master Plan was launched in February 2019 by Finance Minister Mangala Samaraweera.

“This government has set apart massive funds for the development of Northern province and more projects are to be launched,” said the Minister of Industry and Commerce, Rishad Bathiudeen on Thursday (15).

He was addressing the ceremonial opening of a new hospital wing in Vavuniya . The new health facility was declared open by Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe together with Health Minister Rajitha Senaratne and Minister Rishad Bathiudeen.

Bathiudeen’s announcement comes ahead of an Economic Development Analysis of the North, devised by the Central Bank of Sri Lanka in the first quarter of 2019.

"Health, education and housing have been the key sectors that has displayed great improvements in this Province in the last four years. Many new school buildings too have now been completed and they are ready for opening," he added.

The GSP Plus trade concessions granted to Sri Lanka by the European Union (EU) will be subject to scrutiny this month by a delegation of the EU scheduled to visit the country this month.

The EU delegation will assess Sri Lanka’s compliance with the conditions under which the GSP Plus trade concessions has been granted.

Deputy Head of the Political Section of the Delegation of the EU to Sri Lanka and the Maldives Anne Vaugier Chatterjee has told The Sunday Morning that a GSP Plus Monitoring Mission will be in Sri Lanka during the last week of August.

Meanwhile, Ambassador-designate of Sri Lanka to the EU Grace Asirwatham had reportedly discussed details on the visit of the GSP Plus Monitoring Mission to Sri Lanka with European Commission Head of the South and South East Asia Division of the Directorate General of Trade (DG Trade) Peter Berz.

Accordingly, Ambassador Asirwatham has discussed Sri Lanka’s desire to further expand bilateral trade with the EU and to increase the utilisation level of the GSP Plus facility granted to Sri Lankan exporters.

Sri Lanka had committed to comply with 27 conventions related to human rights and labour rights in order to be eligible for the EU GSP Plus trade facility.

However, concerns have been raised recently on several human rights violations in Sri Lanka, especially those related to conventions mentioned by the EU, especially the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and capital punishment.

Minister Ajith P. Perera in an interview with The Hindu newspaper has made a case for United National Party (UNP) Deputy Leader, Minster Sajith Premadasa’s candidacy at the presidential election saying the UNP cannot win an election only with the support of the Colombo elite.

Perera has said that this is the reason why the UNP should field Premadasa as its presidential candidate.

“Though he is western-educated, Sajith Premadasa is very grounded and has a connect with ordinary citizens in a way that no other UNP leader has,” Perera has observed.

“We can’t win an election with just the Colombo elite supporting us,” Perera has said.

“The majority of our MPs are with him, and a majority of our working committee members want him to contest. Backbenchers have also decided to support him,” he has further noted.