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A committee comprising ministers Dr. Rajitha Senaratne, D.M. Swaminathan and Ajith P. Perera was appointed to expedite measures against corruption and fraud, the Prime Ministers Office said. The secretary to the Ministry of Law and Order will function as the secretary to the committee.

Meanwhile, Co-cabinet spokesman Dr. Rajitha Senaratne said that the prime minister only took over the Ministry of Law and Order for two weeks and that Minister Sarath Fonseka will be appointed to that position, despite the objection of some senior police officers.

Ajith P. Perera who was sworn in as the Minister of State Minister of Prison Reforms, Rehabilitation and Drug Prevention during yesterday's cabinet reshuffle is said to have met Prime Minister Ranil Wickramasinghe to express his displeasure regarding the ministerial portfolio presented to him.

According to political sources, Minister Ajith P. Perera had visited Temple Trees to convey his displeasure to the Prime Minister and claimed he would resign if a change in the ministerial portfolio is not done within the next 24 hours.

Prior to the Cabinet reshuffle, Perera served as Deputy Minister of Power and Energy and Renewable Energy. Political sources say he has now requested for the same ministerial portfolio he previously held.

However, after a lengthy discussion is it said that parties had agreed to appoint Perera as the State Minister of Power and Energy.

Meanwhile, sources at the Presidential Secretariat say that another swearing-in ceremony will be held today to revise certain positions of the cabinet reshuffle held yesterday (25) based on the demand of the UNP leadership.

Accordingly, political sources confirm that Ajith P. Perera will be sworn in as the State Minister of power and renewable energy today (26).

Dubai Police said today that the initial investigation shows that Bollywood actress Sridevi drowned in the bathtub of her hotel room.

They found traces of alcohol in her body and this may have led to the accident.

“The investigation is still going on to determine the circumstances surrounding the accident as the forensic report only says that she drowned,” an official told Gulf News.

The police are trying to piece together the sequence of events and find out who was with her when the incident happened.

(Gulf News)

A master plan for Sri Lanka’s Colombo Airport Ratmalana developed and approved by Cabinet last week has envisioned the positioning of the airport as the ‘Exclusive Gateway to Colombo, Sri Lanka’ by year 2030, the Sunday Observer learns.

According to the plan which lays out a comprehensive implementation program to achieve this goal, capacities and capabilities at the airport are to be developed under five key strategic areas, namely, corporate jet operations, domestic aviation hub, regional aviation training hub, regional airport operations and Fixed Base Operations (FBOs) and Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul (MRO) investments.

“The Airport has great potential to attract the niche market of corporate jet traffic and cater to the exclusive passenger profile it serves. Further, significant interest has been shown by foreign investors to establish aviation related operational bases for FBOs and MRO operations at the Airport,” Executive Director, Airport and Aviation Services Ltd (AASL), Johann Jayaratne said. According to informed sources, 136 international corporate jet movements were entertained at the airport last year showcasing its potential as the international gateway for corporate jets carrying high profile tourists, businessmen, and other high net worth individuals.

“We are particularly looking for a world class corporate jet FBO to establish itself at the Airport, thereby, adding considerable value to this niche market,” he said.

Meanwhile, Jayaratne pointed out that the Colombo Port City development will benefit greatly by the Ratmalana Airport’s advancement by facilitating corporate jets, as this will holistically blend with the domestic aviation hub located at the airport.

“The close proximity of the Airport to the Port City and access to any part of the country through the domestic aviation network are all pluses to the international businessmen visiting the Port City,” the AASL Executive Director highlighted, noting that the combination of international corporate jet operations linked to the domestic aviation network further strengthens the tourism industry.

Jayaratne outlined that in addition to the corporate jet operation, there is also a growing demand by new domestic airline operators to establish themselves at the Airport. According to him, some of these operators will be, establishing training facilities for Pilots and Aeronautical Engineers.

Colombo Airport Ratmalana is the domestic aviation hub in Sri Lanka facilitating all 15 registered domestic airlines in the country. The Airport also provides hangar facilities to 10 operators and handles approximately 70 aircraft movements per day.

Source : Sunday Observer

An individual is reportedly missing after a vehicle plying from Bandarawela to Mahiyanganaya plunged off the road and into the Vienna canal in Mahiyangana, this morning.

Four individuals including the driver and a woman have escaped the tragedy. The woman who escaped was admitted to the Mahiyangana Hospital due to minor injuries.

Mahiyangana Police is conducting a search for the missing individual. The area is known to be accident prone Police said.

Some United National Party (UNP) Ministers today slammed the cabinet reshuffle of UNP Ministers saying it was a joke.

State Minister Vasantha Senanayake said that the swap of some cabinet portfolios held by UNP Ministers was the first part of a television comedy episode.

Senanayake said that the second part of the episode will be seen soon.

The State Minister said that he was not sure if the public will cry, laugh or throw stones at what took place today. He said that the public expected real change in the cabinet reshuffle and that was not seen today.

Deputy Minister Ranjan Ramanayake said that some UNP members were not happy with the portfolios they received. Ranjan Ramanayake said that he would have been happy with a better Ministry post yet he has had to continue as the Deputy Minister of Social Empowerment and Welfare.

He also said that Ajith P Perera, who was appointed State Minister of Prison Reforms, Rehabilitation and Drug Prevention did not seem happy.

Source : Colombo Gazette

To critics of Mahinda Rajapaksa, local-council elections that were held in Sri Lanka on February 10th felt like a horror film, as the controversial ex-president rose from his silk-lined political coffin to declare victory. And what a victory it was for Mr Rajapaksa, a brash populist whose exit in 2015 after ten bloodstained and corruption-tainted years in power was widely heralded as a bright new dawn for the civil-war-battered island republic. His party won no fewer than 239 out of 340 contests. Some commentators have described it as the biggest electoral upset in Sri Lankan history. Mr Rajapaksa swiftly declared that the current national government had lost its legitimacy and should resign.

That is unlikely. The coalition headed by the prime minister, Ranil Wickremesinghe, may be ineffectual and unpopular, but it still holds a solid majority in parliament. Elections for the legislature are not due before 2020. Even if Mr Wickremesinghe’s conservative United National Party (UNP) gets jilted by its junior partner, the centrist Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP)—which happens once to have been Mr Rajapaksa’s own party—it could probably hang on as a minority government, reliant on smaller parties that loathe the former president even more than they dislike Mr Wickremesinghe.

Most likely the coalition government will continue to bumble along in clumsy cohabitation with President Maithripala Sirisena, a former minister under Mr Rajapaksa who in 2015 split the SLFP to challenge and narrowly defeat his boss. Fortunately for the prime minister, changes to the constitution that were designed to prevent a repeat of Mr Rajapaksa’s excesses have stripped Sri Lankan presidents of most powers. That means Mr Sirisena has only the wherewithal to obstruct, not to topple, Mr Wickremesinghe’s government.

Humiliating though its electoral drubbing appears, the coalition may take comfort from something else. The council polls were the first to be held under a new system that combines first-past-the-post with proportional representation. Under the old rules Mr Rajapaksa’s new party vehicle, the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP), could indeed claim to have won a crushing victory even though it got just 44.6% of votes. In practice, under the new rules it will have to find partners to run any council where it has less than 50% of seats. Government supporters are also keen to point out that both in percentage and in total numbers, Mr Rajapaksa got fewer votes to “win” this election than he did in the election in 2015 that he lost to Mr Sirisena.

But the ruling coalition cannot afford to be complacent. Its poor showing, particularly for Mr Sirisena’s SLFP, reflects more than a surprise groundswell of support for Mr Rajapaksa. Many of those who voted to oust the former president in 2015 have been so disappointed by his replacement that this time they did not bother to vote. Critics of the yahapalanaya or “good governance” coalition cite numerous weaknesses, from its failure to enact a promised new constitution and its lack of progress in punishing crimes dating from the civil war of 1983-2009, to its abstinence from economic reforms and its failure to investigate Mr Rajapaksa or his extended family despite widespread allegations of corruption and human-rights abuse.

Still, it may be that the next time Sri Lankans vote, fear of Mr Rajapaksa’s return could prompt even critics of the government to turn against him. “Those who chose not to cast their lot with imperfect beasts have now to contend with monsters,” commented a human-rights lawyer, Gehan Gunatilleke, in a local newspaper.

There are many Sri Lankans who do not regard Mr Rajapaksa as a monster but rather as a hero, particularly among the island’s Buddhist, ethnically Sinhala majority. He was the person who led them to victory in the long civil war with the Tamil minority. They want a strong man like him back at the helm. In fact, says Alan Keenan of the International Crisis Group, a think-tank, the former president never really went away. His grassroots support remained, nurtured by the well-financed family political machine. “He has a strong core constituency, a clear narrative and a good set of issues,” says Mr Keenan, “whereas the government has to pull together a range of minority constituents—Tamils, Muslims, Sinhala liberals—and find something to deliver to each one.”

The prognosis: Sri Lanka is set on a bumpy course. With Mr Rajapaksa gleefully stoking Sinhala chauvinism, the country could slip backwards into the kind of polarisation that led to its long civil war.

This article appeared in the Asia section of the print edition under the headline "Beasts and monsters". (The Economist)

The Ministry of Law and Order has been assigned to the Prime Minister on a temporary basis and it is to be assigned to another minister within the next 2-3 weeks, sources from the Prime Minister's Office said.

The sources further say that the prime minister temporarily assumed the responsibility because of the objections raised by the SLFP to hand over the Ministry to Ministry Field Marshal Sarath Fonseka as proposed by the UNP.

It is also expected that a final decision will be made following a discussion with the SLFP members and Minister Fonseka.

Although reports stated that a broad cabinet reshuffle was afoot after the local government elections, the cabinet reshuffle that was held today (25) was limited to only a few ministries.

However, UNP sources say that there is an internal opposition to the changes that took place including the transfer of the Ministry of Law and Order to the Prime Minister.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein has called on the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) to explore other avenues, including the extension of Universal Jurisdiction, to foster accountability in Sri Lanka.

In his report on Sri Lanka to the 37th session of the Human Rights Council, which meets in Geneva from 26 February to 23 March 2018, the High Commissioner reiterates his appreciation for the constructive engagement of the Government of Sri Lanka with the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) and United Nations human rights mechanisms since January 2015.

However, Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein said that as he noted in March 2017, this constructive collaboration must be accompanied by the implementation of key commitments.

He says the fulfilment of the transitional justice commitments made under Human Rights Council resolution 30/1 has been virtually stalled for more than a year.

Progress with some confidence-building measures has often been insufficient and inconclusive, and the structures set up to coordinate implementation have not consolidated enough or did not receive sufficient political support to move things forward.

In statements and reports issued since 2015, the High Commissioner, while expressing concern over the lack of progress on accountability and reforms, was encouraged by the positive improvement of the general human rights situation.

However, 2017 was marked by intermittent inter-ethnic tensions and attacks on minorities which are unlikely to dissipate completely.

While the Government has managed to steer many of these worrying events in a positive direction, this type of violence in a country that has experienced cycles of extreme violence roughly every 10 years is deeply troubling, particularly when accompanied by hate speech, misinformation and agitation through social media and political manipulation.

The continuing allegations of torture and surveillance and the lack of sufficient progress in implementing critical confidence building measures, such as the release of land, the repeal of the Prevention of Terrorism Act and the solution to the pending cases under the Act, have antagonized key constituencies that could be instrumental to the Government's reform efforts, the High Commissioner's report on Sri Lanka said.

The High Commissioner urges the Human Rights Council to continue to play a critical role in encouraging progress in accountability and reconciliation in Sri Lanka.

He also called on Member States to explore other avenues, including the application of universal jurisdiction, that could foster accountability.

(NewsIn.Asia)

In a rare acknowledgement of failure in its screening process, the United Nations has stopped a Sri Lankan military commander from going for a peacekeeping mission in the middle east.

Up until several rights watchdogs and Tamil organisations wrote to the head of UN peacekeeping urging to stop Lieutenant Colonel Rathnappuli Wasantha Kumara Hewage, he was scheduled for deployment to Lebanon on 18 February 2018.

Detailing the commander’s wartime record in a period when extensive violations of international humanitarian law and human rights law perpetrated by the Sri Lankan security forces, the letter condemned the UN for failing to screen Lieutenant Colonel Hewage.

On Monday, the UN confirmed that the officer’s deployment to lead the 12th Force Protection Company (FPC) for the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) has been put on hold “pending a review of the matter”.

“A decision regarding deployment of this officer will be made once the review is complete,” said a spokesman for the UN Secretary-General Farhan Haq in New York, responding to a question by investigative journalist Matthew Russell Lee.

The UN had gone back to the Sri Lanka government for a background check on Wasantha Hewage.

“We are in communication with the Permanent Mission of Sri Lanka regarding the officer’s background and Sri Lanka is cooperating fully with our inquiries. The United Nations takes reports of potential human rights violations very seriously. As a matter of policy, we are committed to ensuring that all personnel serving with the UN meet the highest standards of efficiency, competence and integrity, including respect for and commitment to human rights."

Sri Lanka’s own human rights commission had been responsible for screening potential peacekeepers.

Bloody military attack

The letter to UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO) protesting the deployment of Lt. Col. Hewage highlights that he was present as a major in the Puthukkudiyiruppu frontline after taking over duties “as the Commanding Officer of the 14th Battalion on 20th February 2009”.

This was after his active participation in the bloody military assault on Kilinochchi as the Acting Commander of 4 Sinha Regiment, which functioned under the 57 Division led by Major General Jagath Dias.

Acknowledging receipt of the protest letter, UN Spokesman Stephane Dujarric last week told Matthew Russell Lee in New York that DPKO was considering “available information from within and outside of the UN system” in reviewing the background of personnel to be deployed.

“Member States that provide UN personnel to peacekeeping operations also have the responsibility to certify that the personnel they nominate have not been involved, by act or omission, in violations of international humanitarian or human rights law or have been repatriated on disciplinary grounds from any UN operation,” he added.

Sri Lanka military says that two batches of the Lebanon-bound Sri Lanka Army's 12th Force Protection Company (FPC) for UNIFIL left the island this weekend.

The final group from the contingent of 150 Army personnel is to leave on 6 March.

Source : JDP

The two-day Technical Group Meeting of the G- 24 countries will be held tomorrow at the Bandaranaike Memorial International Conference Hall.

Over 45 delegates consisting of Secretaries of Ministry of Finance and the Governors of the Central Bank or their representatives at a very senior level from the member countries will participate at this two-day technical committee meeting. The Group of 24 (G24), a chapter of the Group of G-77 countries, was established in 1971 to coordinate the positions of developing countries on international monetary and development finance issues and to ensure that their interests were adequately represented in negotiations on international monetary matters.

The G – 24 group, which is officially called the Intergovernmental Group of Twenty-Four on International Monetary Affairs and Development, receives the secretariat services from the IMF. Its meetings usually take place twice a year, prior to the International Monetary and Financial Committee and Development Committee meetings, to enable developing country members to discuss agenda items beforehand.

The G-24 Bureau is the executive arm of the G-24 and consists of the Chair, First Vice-Chair, Second Vice-Chair, and two previous Chairs. Currently, the Bureau is headed by Minister of Finance and Media Mangala Samaraweera.

The G-24 Technical Group Meeting (TGM) serves as the main forum for discussing the key work program priorities of the Group and preparing for the plenary meetings of Ministers and Deputies. The TGM is also a forum for peer learning, and sessions include discussions of the country and regional experiences.

The 2018 TGM covers as its first theme debt management and sustainability. In this regard, the discussions will focus on key debt management and sustainability challenges faced, and strategies used, by policymakers, both in terms of addressing macroeconomic linkages and improving liability management. The second and related theme will be mobilizing external sources of capital in light of current, tightening global and market conditions.

This will involve sessions on the role of trade and investment agreements in boosting investment opportunities and the challenge of managing capital flow volatility, with a special session on the potential role of SDRs in improving the international monetary system. The discussions in the TGM will focus on the challenges faced by policymakers in these areas and the multilateral actions necessary to support domestic policy efforts.

A spike in post-election violence has been recorded around the country, with the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP), a party backed by former President Mahinda Rajapaksa that performed well at the recently concluded local government elections largely responsible for the violations, election monitors said. Of the 47 violence-related complaints received by the Centre For Monitoring Election Violence (CMEV) in the post-election period up to date, 26 are against the SLPP while 12 were against the United National Party (UNP).

According to statistics gathered by the CMEV majority of the violence perpetrated against women were also by SLPP members. While 20 violence-related incidents instigated against women were reported, 18 of the complaints were against the SLPP.

According to the National Coordinator of the CMEV, Manjula Gajanayake, while the Police did a commendable job during the pre-election period and on the election day to contain violent incidents, however, the monitors have now observed a certain reluctance on their part in taking action against the wrongdoers.

“We must give them credit for their role in ensuring a peaceful election,” he said adding that however Police inactivity has increased in the post-election period. “We cannot see the actual involvement of the Police in taking action against these offenders,” he said.

According to him, Police appear to be reluctant to take action particularly in local government areas won by the SLPP. He also says people have not reported many incidents to the Police as they believed no action will be taken but opted to report these incidents to election monitors instead.

According to Gajanayake compared to the last two elections held in Sri Lanka, there appears to be a moderate increase in post-election violence incidents.

However, speaking to the Sunday Observer, Police Spokesperson SP Ruwan Gunasekara said the Police have continued to take action against any wrongdoers and have commenced investigations into these incidents.

“Some investigations have concluded and perpetrators were arrested,” he said.

However, according to SP Gunasekara, the Police only considers the day following the election, that is February 11 as the post-election period according to the election laws.

“Incidents which have taken place thereafter will be dealt according to the normal laws such as the penal code,” he said.

Source : Sunday Observer