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Project Management, Youth Affairs and Southern Development Minister Sagala Ratnayaka said the government, over the past three years, has launched over 55,000 development projects in various part of the country and it has spent over Rs. 1 million on each project.

"It's tragic that we have failed to communicate this effectively to the public. Development communication must be at the heart of the government propaganda," Ratnayaka said today (26), addressing a meeting on developing infrastructure in rural areas.

Home Affairs Minister Vajira Abeywardena, Prime Minister's Secretary Saman Ekanayake, Secretary of the Ministry of Media and Finance Dr. R. H.S. Samaratunga, Secretary to the Ministry of Project Management, Youth Affairs and Southern Development Gamini Seneviratne and Additional Secretary to the Prime Minister Saman Athaudahetti were also present at the meeting.

"There is a dire need for a comprehensive campaign on what we have done for the public. The people at the grassroots level are unaware of the crucial decisions made at the top level. These issues need to be corrected. One would say it's too late now, but we must understand the importance of these corrective measures," he added.

"Development alone is not enough to stay on top of our game. The due value should be given to communication as well," Ratyanaya said, adding that immediate measures have to be adopted to fill this 'communication-gap'.

It is reported that IP  of the Police Narcotics Bureau who is accused of being connected to assassinating the inmates of the Welikada Prison is not being arreste Neomal Rangajeewa due to political interference.

When the incident occurred at the Welikada Prison, Rangajeewa who was accompanied by a group of security personnel had selected prisoners to get rid of while they were said to be having a prepared list at hand as proven at the hearings of the Committee appointed in 2015 to investigate the Welikada Prison incident.

However, the Defense Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa was also accused of issuing orders for the killings..

While there are many accusations against Rajapaksa such as that of relating to the MiG deal, assassination of Lasantha Wickrematunga, the shootings by the Army in Rathupaswala and the financial monument by constructing the Rajapakse monument however there appears to be no proper investigation.

Political Deal!

According to reliable sources, government parties with have made a deal with Gotabaya which is preventing investigations while police inspector Rangajeewa is being protected according to the same political deal.

Powerful government intervention!

Rajapaksa also continues to file fundamental rights petitions preventing legal action being taken against him while it is said he is being protected through a powerful government intervention.

Nothing will happen till 2019!

Police Inspector Rangajeewa is said to have already filed a petition before the Supreme Court asking for the prevention of his arrest and reliable sources say that the Supreme Court will decide accordingly.

Accordingly, due to the current political deals if is unlikely that regard to the corruption of the government in the past will be looked at It is also reported that the law will not take action regard to the killings of the same period.

The Sri Lankan Navy has sent back more than 2000 Tamil Nadu fishermen who were fishing illegally in Sri Lanka's territorial waters on Sunday. The fishermen, however, have accused the Navy of snapping their fishing nets.

Detention of Indian fishermen by Lankan authorities is frequent, as they often cross the International Maritime Boundary Line for fishing in its waters. On March 3, over 2,500 fishermen from Rameswaram were allegedly sent back by the Lankan Navy while they were fishing near Katchatheevu.

Sri Lanka has long fumed over poaching and illegal fishing by Indian fishermen stating that it depletes the catch of its own fishermen.

The main aim of the no-confidence motion should be to push the government to call for an immediate election, team of political thinkers for Basil Rajapaksa has stressed.

According to sources this team had been in charge of all the political schemes to ensure a ‘pohottuwa’ win in the recent local government elections.

One of the main advisors to Basil Rajapaksa, senior lecturer at the University of Peradeniya, Prof. Charitha Ratawatte writing regarding the no-confidence motion to a sinhala daily has said the victory of the no-confidence motion is to strengthen the fight to go for an early general election.

''The win of getting rid of Ranil becomes for fruitful for the joint opposition if a general election can be called in agreement to appoint a new” he said.

Hopes of pohottuwa supporters:

Writing further Prof. Herath said the JO should understand the hopes of their party members while adding that in his opinion they are equally against Ranil as well as SLFP members in the cabinet headed by him.

Therefore hopes of the members will not be fulfilled by appointing Nimal Siripala nor Karu as PM he further added.

- Read Charitha Herath’s complete article from here

Prof. Charitha Herath’s analysis

Australia’s ball-tampering crisis in their Test series in SA hit the national conversation on Sunday when Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull laid into Steve Smith’s side.

"It seemed completely beyond belief that the Australian cricket team had been involved in cheating," Turnbull was quoted as saying by the Melbourne Age.

"After all, our cricketers are role models and cricket is synonymous with fair play.

"How can our team be engaged in cheating like this? It beggars belief."

Smith admitted on Saturday that he and the rest of what he called Australia’s "leadership group" had roped Cameron Bancroft, the most junior member of the team, who is playing his eighth Test, into a plan to try to roughen the ball by rubbing it with sticking tape loaded with sand taken from the pitch. Smith and Bancroft confessed after the latter was caught redhanded by television cameras before tea on day three of the third Test at Newlands on Saturday.

Cameras showed Bancroft with a yellow object in his hand.

On Sunday, Smith and vice-captain David Warner stepped down from their positions for the rest of the Newlands Test. The captaincy was passed to wicketkeeper Tim Paine, who is playing his 12th Test. Smith has been fined his whole match fee and banned for the Wanderers Test, which starts on Friday. Bancroft has been hit with a 75% fine and three demerit points — one short of a ban.

Turnbull had what he called a "frank discussion" with Cricket Australia (CA) chairman David Peever. "I have expressed to him very clearly and unequivocally my disappointment and my concern about the events in SA," Turnbull said.

"He has said to me that CA will be responding decisively, as they should. It’s their responsibility to deal with it, but I have to say that for the whole nation — who holds those who wear the baggy green up on a pedestal about as high as you can get in Australia — this is a shocking disappointment.

"It’s wrong and I look forward to CA taking decisive action soon."

CA CE James Sutherland said in Melbourne on Sunday that Australian cricket fans "have every reason to wake up and not be proud of the Australian team. It’s a sad day for Australian cricket.

"Activities on the field yesterday in Cape Town are neither within the laws of the game or within the spirit of the game."

CA has tasked its head of integrity, Iain Roy, and team performance manager Pat Howard with coming to SA to lead their investigation. Roy and Howard were instrumental in the sacking of Mickey Arthur as Australia’s coach before the 2013 Ashes. "We have a responsibility to take this further and to understand more about the issue," Sutherland said.

"We need someone to go over there and talk to the relevant people and understand the detail and then we’ll make appropriate decisions on the next steps.

"We are in the middle of a game and that game needs to conclude but in the course of the next couple of days we’ll get to the bottom of this." SA’s team manager, Mohammed Moosajee, described the series as "intriguing on the field but somewhat theatrical off the field".

The International Cricket Council has yet to say what it will do about the case.

Moosajee said the Australians had followed a sensible course of action after being exposed as cheats.

"I can’t really talk for them, but when the evidence is as damning as it was, it’s sometimes better just to come clean," he said.

"That’s probably what they were thinking," Moosajee said.

Namal Rajapaksa, the eldest son of former President Mahinda Rajapaksa, who is indicted in Sri Lanka on money-laundering charges, did not have a valid visa to travel to the US, the US Government said after the young MP was prevented from boarding a flight to Texas from Moscow’s Domodedovo International Airport last week.

“Mr Namal Rajapaksa, 31, did not have a valid visa to travel to the US and without valid travel documents, airline carriers do not normally allow international passengers to board flights destined to the US, US Border Patrol told the fact-checking website Polygraph.info, run by Voice of America. “All travellers arriving to the United States must possess valid travel documents. For foreign nationals, this includes a current passport and a valid visa or visa waiver issued by the US Government,” US Border Patrol said, in its comment to Polygraph on why the Sri Lankan MP was denied entry. When contacted, a US Embassy Spokesperson in Colombo, however, said the Embassy does not comment on individual visa matters.

On Thursday (22), Namal Rajapaksa tweeted that he had been barred entry to the US when he was attempting to board a flight from Moscow.

“Valid reason yet to be given,” he claimed on Twitter.

Rajapaksa told the Reuters news agency that the US had a right to refuse his entry, but added that they could have informed him earlier. On his official Twitter account, Rajapaksa Junior hinted that the refusal of entry could be linked to his travel from Russia, where he was “observing” the Russian presidential election. “Sure it has nothing to do with my name, being part of #lka opposition or my travel from #Russia,” the 31-year-old MP tweeted from the Moscow airport.

However, authoritative sources said that Rajapaksa was in possession of knowledge of his US visa status, when he attempted to board the flight.

Rajapaksa’s US visa was revoked because he is currently only trial in Sri Lankan court on money laundering charges, and this had been notified to him in writing long before he attempted to board his Emirates flight from Moscow, highly placed sources told the Sunday Observer.

Rajapaksa said was attempting to travel to the US to attend the funeral of his aunt, late Dr Yatendra Rajapaksa who was married to Dudley Rajapaksa. He was to fly to Houston, Texas from Moscow on Wednesday night. Namal Rajapaksa told Reuters that he had a ‘valid’ multiple-entry visa for the US, even though US Border Patrol has now refuted this claim.

Namal Rajapaksa’s passport had been impounded by court in connection with the money-laundering charges he is currently facing. The former President’s son had his passport released temporarily to him by court for two months, to undertake travel to Russia and Nepal in his capacity as a parliamentarian.

The son of former President Rajapaksa and six others are on trial at Colombo High Court on charges of money laundering to the tune of Rs. 30 million between 2013-2014, through Namal Rajapaksa’s financial services firm, Gowers Corporate Services Private Limited.

Rajapaksa has denied any wrongdoing, and claims the charges are part of a political witch-hunt.

In its story on the US visa controversy, Polygraph said it was not the visit to Russia that had kept the Sri Lankan politico out of the US, despite Rajapaksa’s hints in his tweet.

Polygraph.info is a fact-checking website produced by Voice of America (VOA)​ and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. On the Polygraph website ‘About’ page, the news site says VOA and RFE/RL journalists research and analyse quotes, stories, and reports distributed by government officials, government-sponsored media and other high-profile individuals. “The reporters separate fact from fiction, add context, and debunk lies.”

Source : Sunday Observer

Police and politicians backed by the country's former strongman president Mahinda Rajapaksa joined anti-Muslim riots that rocked Sri Lanka's Kandy district this month, according to witnesses, officials and closed-circuit television (CCTV) footage.

Scores of Muslim mosques, homes and businesses were destroyed as mobs ran amok for three days in Kandy, the central highlands district previously known for its diversity and tolerance.

The government declared a state of emergency and blocked social media platforms for a week to control the unrest. It was the first state of emergency imposed in Sri Lanka since the end of a decades-long Tamil separatist war in 2009.

The role of police and some local Buddhist politicians suggests the Sri Lankan government lost control of elements of its security forces, and that the violence was more than a spontaneous outbreak fuelled by fringe Buddhist extremists and hate-speech spread on social media.

Mr Rajapaksa has denied that he or other leaders of his party were involved. Police said the allegations against officers and politicians were being investigated.

Victims and witnesses, whose accounts were partly backed by CCTV footage, described members of an elite paramilitary police unit, the Special Task Force (STF), assaulting a Muslim cleric and leaders. Local STF commanders declined to comment.

"They came to attack," said Mr A.H. Ramees, a cleric at a mosque where worshippers say they were beaten by police who were supposed to be protecting them.

"They were shouting. There was filthy language. They said all the problems were because of us, that we were like terrorists."

Mr Ruwan Gunasekera, a spokesman for the national police force, including the STF, said a special investigation unit was "probing the deficiencies of the police in the incident". A second unit was examining the role of political actors, he said.

The riots were the latest example of rising Buddhist nationalism and anti-Muslim sentiment in the region and have unnerved Sri Lanka's multi-ethnic coalition government, which ousted Mr Rajapaksa in an election in 2015, according to analysts and two sources familiar with the government's deliberations.

Buddhists make up about 70 per cent of Sri Lanka's 21 million people. Hindus account for around 13 per cent, while Muslims make up about 9 per cent of the population.

Sri Lanka's Law and Order Minister Ranjith Madduma Bandara has said the violence in Kandy was "well organised" and pointed the finger at members of Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP), a political party backed by Mr Rajapaksa that scored a huge victory in local elections last month.

Flanked by senior leaders at a press conference earlier this month, Mr Rajapaksa said the accusations were politically motivated and the government instigated the violence to "get the Muslim vote" and to distract from its inadequacies.

The violence in Kandy was triggered by an attack on a Buddhist truck driver by four Muslim men after a traffic dispute on Feb 22.

As he lay in a coma, calls for retribution and anti-Islam polemics flooded social media and the government ordered the deployment of the STF. Rioting erupted after his funeral 11 days later.

An excerpt of CCTV footage from the first day of attacks showed police letting a large group of men through the cordon protecting the Noor Jummah mosque in Digana, a Kandy township.

The men rush into a multi-storey building opposite the mosque. A local SLPP politician, Mr Samantha Perera, can be seen pointing at the higher floors of the building.

Mr Perera confirmed he was the person shown in the footage. He said he was trying to calm the rioters and only found out later the mosque had been attacked.

Cabinet spokesman Rajitha Senaratne said Mr Perera was under investigation for "attacking Muslim-owned shops and mosques with stones". At least three other SLPP politicians were being investigated and another SLPP councillor has been arrested for setting fire to a mosque, he said. All deny any involvement in the violence.

REUTERS

A five-member committee has been appointed to make necessary recommendations and proposals to increase railway ticket prices.

The committee has been appointed by General Manager of Railways, S.M. Abeywickrama while it will be headed by Additional General Manager of Railways Vijaya Samarasinghe along with four other officers of the Department of Railways.

According to Department sources prices of Railway, tickets will be increased after the upcoming Sinhalese and Hindu New year.

Prices of railway tickets have not been increased since the year 2008.

Nuwan Udaya Gunathilaka alias ‘Kudu’ Nuwan has been arrested with a hand grenade, in Kadawatha by the Special Task Force (STF) today.

‘Kudu’ Nuwan was a suspect in the attack on the Sri Lanka Rupavahini Corporation (SLRC) on December 27, 2007.

The STF said that there were cases pending against him for murder, sexual assaults, extortion, drug peddling and underworld activities.

The 39-year-old suspect was handed over to the Kadawatha Police. He was produced in the Mahara Magistrate’s Court.

An individual was arrested by the Police Narcotic Bureau (PNB) at Kotahena today for being in possession of foreign liquor worth some Rs 50 million.

The 44-year-old suspect has been identified as a resident in R A de Mel Mawatha, Colombo 3 Police said. The Police had made the arrest on a tip-off received.

Police said 15,431 bottles of wine and champagne were among those seized. The suspect was later released on Police bail. The PNB is conducting further investigations the Police said.

A letter from the Colombo Zonal Education office requesting Principals of Colombo schools to give due respect for Parliamentarians and PC members who attend to special school functions has caused a social media stir.

In a letter dated February 20 which is now being shared online had been sent to all schools within the territory of Colombo Zonal Division, Zonal Education, Director P.N. Silva had ordered the principals to invite Parliamentarians and PC members, who represented the area to special school functions and principals were bound to give Members of Parliament due respect when they attended such events.

Attached to the letter was a list of Provincial Council (PC) members, who represented Colombo Zonal Education Development Structural Committee.

Ceylon Teachers Union (CTU) General Secretary Joseph Stalin was quoted as saying that the move was an insult to the Principals.

“By ordering school Principals to respect politicians, the Colombo Zonal Education office had risked the State officials’ dignity and respect. With such move schools could be entirely politicized,” he said.

Sinha Mela 2018 organized by the Sinha regiment of the Sri Lanka Army is set to be funded by salaries of soldiers belonging to the regiment sources say. The move has left the soldiers irked as it has been decided by the top brass of the regiment that Rs. 7500 will be levied from their salaries in order to fund the event. According to inside sources, the amount will be levied in exchange for free tickets to the event.

However many soldiers have been left upset at the significant amount set to be cut from their monthly wages with soldiers from every battalion expected to make the compulsory contribution. According to one officer of the regiment Rs. 5000 was levied from their salaries for a previous Sinha Mela event and they were promised that facilities at the regiment will be improved. “However this was not done,” he said adding that he was unsure as to what the funds from the event was utilized for.

The regiment is currently being headed by Major General Piyal Wickramaratne.

However, when questioned regarding the matter at the cabinet briefing this week Military spokesman Brigadier Sumith Atapattu said it is not compulsory for a soldier to make a contribution.