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Marking a year of continuous protests in search of their loved ones, relatives of forcibly disappeared in the north and east of Sri Lanka called upon international powers to come to their assistance.

Tamils from Kilinochchi, Jaffna, Vavuniya, Trincomalee and Mullaitivu districts who came to Kilinochchi town were certain that their family members taken to custody by security forces are still alive.

“Foreign nations that assisted the government to conduct a war, have a duty to come and help us find our children who disappeared after they were taken by the military,” said several mothers

Many global powers including the US, UK, India, Israel, Pakistan and China helped Sri Lanka in the war that concluded in a massacre in 2009.

'Soft diplomacy'

Tamils fleeing the war were compelled to hand over thousands of their family members who were alive to the military and many others were abducted.

“We have evidence to prove that they are alive. If not, the government should tell us what happened to them”.

Several Tamil civil society organisations echoing the sentiment of the relatives have urged the international community and institutions take responsibility for finding a solution to enforced disappearances in Sri Lanka.

“The international community’s ‘soft diplomacy’ approach to Sri Lanka has only served to allow the government to place issues of truth, justice and accountability on the back-burner,” says a joint statement by the organisations.

Source : JDS

Sri Lanka's High Commissioner to the United Kingdom, Amari Wijewardena, has tendered her resignation, according to reports widely circulated in local media.

However, the Ministry in a press release today noted that the reports being circulated in the media attributed to the Secretary to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, stating that Sri Lanka’s High Commissioner to the UK, Mrs. Amari Wijewardene, has resigned, are incorrect.

Foreign Ministry in a release further stated that High Commissioner Wijewardene will conclude her contract on her own volition by 31 March 2018.

Amari Wijewardene was appointed as Sri Lanka’s High Commissioner to the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland in 2016. Prior to her appointment as High Commissioner, she was the Chairperson and Managing Director of the Swadeshi Group of Companies.

Sri Lanka has failed to show significant improvement in the Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) 2017, released by Transparency International, the global movement against corruption. The index ranks 180 countries and territories by their perceived levels of public sector corruption. Sri Lanka has moved up 4 places from 95th to 91st, far more importantly its CPI score has only risen by two points from 36 to 38, representing the slow rate of progress.

Transparency International Sri Lanka (TISL), the local chapter of the global movement, says they concerned by the fact that Sri Lanka's current CPI score of 38 is the same score that prevailed in 2014. Speaking on the country's performance in CPI 2017, TISL Executive Director Asoka Obeyesekere said, "A close analysis of Sri Lanka's positioning in the CPI from 2012 to 2017 shows that despite the institutional strengthening of anti-corruption agencies following the 19th amendment, consistent failure in implementation has led to very limited progress".

Sri Lanka has failed to show any significant progress in its CPI score year on year for the past 5 years – an increase or decrease of 6 points or more represents a significant change. Obeyesekere added, "it would seem that the anti-corruption drive has limited momentum. Citizens still face corruption when trying to avail of essential public services, ranging from waste collection to school enrollment. Therefore, the limited change in the perception of public sector corruption (CPI) reflects the limited change experienced by people in their everyday encounters with the state."

Progressive legal reforms such as giving citizens the right to freely access asset declarations of public representatives and the passage of the essential National Audit Bill have also been stalled in Cabinet, which is indicative of a lack of bureaucratic and political will.

Globally, New Zealand and Denmark have been ranked first and second, with CPI scores of 89 and 88 respectively. The index uses a points scale of zero to 100, where zero is highly corrupt and 100 is very clean. This year, the index found that more than two-thirds of countries score below 50, with an average score of 43. Sri Lanka's CPI score of 38 is well below the average score of 44 for the Asia-Pacific region. Among the SAARC member states Bhutan leads with a score of 67, followed by India (40), Sri Lanka (38), Maldives (33), Pakistan (32), Nepal (31), Bangladesh (28) and Afghanistan (15).

In its global press release on the launch of CPI 2017, Transparency International noted that an analysis of the results highlighted the relationship between corruption levels, the protection of journalistic freedoms and engagement of civil society. It found that almost all journalists killed since 2012 were killed in countries with high levels of perceived corruption. The analysis shows that in the last six years, more than 9 out of 10 journalists were killed in countries that score 45 or less on the Corruption Perceptions Index. This means that, on average, every week at least one journalist is killed in a country that is highly corrupt. In addition, one in five journalists that died were covering a story about corruption. Sadly, justice was never served in the majority of these cases.

Since its inception in 1995, the Corruption Perceptions Index, Transparency International’s flagship publication, is the leading global indicator of public sector corruption. The index offers an annual snapshot of the relative degree of corruption by ranking countries from all over the globe.

The Sri Lanka Army assured that there isn’t any terrorist involvement in the incident where a passenger bus caught fire after an explosion in Kahagolla, Diyatalawa, this morning.

The Military Spokesman said that 19 individuals were injured by the explosion and were rushed to the Diyatalawa Hospital. Out of the 19 injured, 7 individuals were Army personnel and 5 individuals were Air Force personnel.

The condition of two Army personnel is reportedly critical.

The explosion occurred after the passengers who were heading towards Diyatalawa were transferred to another bus at the Bandarawela town, the Sri Lanka Army media sources said. The Police are conducting further investigations.

Defence attaché Brigadier Priyanka Fernando who was filmed making a threatening throat-slitting gesture had been summoned to Sri Lanka, for a “discussion with the army commander” said military spokesman Sumith Atapattu.

Brigadier Fernando was initially suspended by the Sri Lanka ministry of foreign affairs on 6 February, only to be reinstated by a presidential directive in less than 24 hours.

Security concerns

Two weeks later, he has been requested to be in Sri Lanka by the army chief.

“This is not for any disciplinary action, this is not probe,” Brigadier Sumith Atapattu told journalists in Colombo.

“We need to take care of his security. We need to check whether he can carry on with his duties under this situation. We need to think about the embarrassment to the country.”

No decision has been taken to replace Brigadier Priyanka Fernando as the defence attaché in the Sri Lanka High Commission in London, the army spokesman added.

Source : JDS

A team of Thai experts arrived in Sri Lanka to look at the possibility of creating artificial rain in severe drought-affected areas of the island country, today.

The group consisting of Thai engineers visited the Castlereagh and Maussakele Reservoirs in the catchment areas of the Central Highlands to seek the possibilities of creating artificial rain as water levels in these reservoirs had seen a drastic drop.

Officials from the Power and Renewable Energy Ministry said that the team also planned to visit the main Victoria, Randenigala and Kotmale reservoirs.

Local media reports said the Thai engineers represent the only company in the world that has the patent to create artificial rain.

The company had created artificial rain when the island country was severely affected by a drought in 1981. Hundreds of families remain affected by months of severe drought due to the lack of rains and delayed monsoonal rains in the central parts of Sri Lanka.

Sri Lanka will launch a global marketing campaign starting from next month to attract more and more tourists to the country, an official here said on Thursday.

Speaking to Xinhua, Consultant to the Tourism Promotion Minister, Felix Rodriguez said that Sri Lanka had planned to increase its tourist arrivals up to 4 million by 2020.

"We received only around 2 million last year. If we are to increase it up to 4 million in another couple of years, it will be a challenging task," he said.

He said the digital promotion campaign would be launched next month, targeting tourists from China, India, France, Germany and Britain.

"Afterwards, we will go to the next step of advertising in global media outlets. We need to increase the frequency of our flight operations with various destinations in the region to facilitate increased arrivals," he said.

According to Rodriguez, Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe has appointed a committee to look into the development of tourism industry in the country.

Tourism is a growing industry in Sri Lanka, with the highest number of arrivals from the countries such as China and India.

The second cabinet reshuffle of the good governance government is set to take place today (21) or tomorrow (22) sources of the Presidential Secretariat said adding that any ministers with corruption allegations will not be given the same portfolios.

As a result the Cabinet reshuffle scheduled to take place might be postponed the source said when asked by isis.lk news.

He also said the revised ministerial portfolios of the UNP have not been sent to the President as of last night yet due to objections raised by certain Ministers of the UNP.

Ineffective Ministers to get same treatment :

The cabinet reshuffle is being done under the full supervision of the President and the Prime Minister th source said. Accordingly Ministers who also have not performed and proved to be ineffective will also not be given the same Ministerial portfolios.

Young Ministers to get powerful posts :

It is reported that the young MPs will be given powerful portfolios for the cabinet reshuffle that will take place tomorrow with several senior ministers are said to be at the risk of losing.

According to 'Divaina,' the changes will take place in Ministries, Law and Order, Highways, Fisheries and Aquatic Resources, Sports, Science and Technology Ministries.

Minister Counsellor (Defence) attached to the Sri Lankan High Commission in London, Brigadier Priyankara Fernando arrived in Sri Lanka today.

He was recalled for special consultations on the video published on social media capturing him making a ‘throat-slitting’ gesture in response to a Tamil group of protesters outside the Sri Lankan High Commission premises in London.

Brigadier Priyankara Fernando was immediately recalled from his service following the release of the video but was reinstated soon after, with the intervention of President Maithripala Sirisena.

Source : Daily News

Police Media Spokesperson Ruwan Gunasekara said that at least 19 persons have been hospitalised with injuries after a passenger transport bus caught fire in the early hours this morning at Kahagolla in Diyatalawa.

According to reports, the private bus with mostly Army and Air Force soldiers on board, had suddenly caught fire following a minor explosion at around 5.30 a.m. today. The Army Spokesperson notes that 7 among the injured are from the Army while 5 are from the Air force with the rest being civilians.

The condition of two soldiers are critical, the Army spokesman added. The injured passengers have been admitted to the Diyatalawa Hospital.

The People's Action for Free and Fair Elections (PAFFREL) will take legal action against candidates who breached the Election law at the recently concluded Local Authorities Elections.

PAFFREL Executive Director Rohana Hettiarachchi told the Daily News that 15 such candidates have been identified so far in the first round of information gathering.

“The candidates who bribed the voters are among them. All of them are from the main parties. However, we need to collect concrete evidence before filing cases and at times the people hesitate to come out and give evidence,” he said.

Commenting on the list of 80 corrupt candidates in the fray at the previous elections as identified by the PAFFEREL, he said the majority had been defeated, but about 10 such candidates had won while two of them had been nominated as Heads of LG bodies.

“All of them represent the main parties and we decided to write to the General Secretaries of those parties urging not to appoint them as Heads of those respective LG bodies,” he said.

He also regretted that the bill on 'Campaign Finance Upper Limitation for Elections', which the PAFFEREL took the initiation to draft, was handed over to the Government in August last year but did not proceed thereafter.

He said the Election watchdog groups have decided to collectively pressure the Government to adopt the legislation before the forthcoming Provincial Council Elections.

Source : Daily News

Sri Lanka's Opposition Leader R Sampanthan has slammed former president Mahinda Rajapaksa for his remarks during the recent poll campaign that a vote for the ruling UNP or SLFP would be a vote to revive the Tamil Eelam - a separate Tamil state.

Speaking in parliament, Sampanthan yesterday said that during the pre-poll campaign this message was propagated amongst the Sinhalese people in this country.

"They were told, 'this is a referendum for an Eelam.

If you vote for the Government or if you vote for the UNP, it will result in an Eelam being created.

So, do not vote for them'," said Sampanthan, also the leader of the Tamil National Alliance.

Sampanthan said his party in its election manifesto stated that it wants a political solution within the framework of 'undivided, indivisible single country".

"We only talked of a solution that is acceptable to our people, that is reasonable substantial power-sharing within the framework of a united, undivided, indivisible single country.

That was the propaganda we carried out in all our areas and when we did that, how dare president Rajapaksa say that Eelam could bloom after the election," the Tamil leader said.

Sampanthan stressed, "Eelam will bloom, not on account of us, but on account of your 'Lotus Bud'.

Your 'Lotus Bud' will bloom into an Eelam.

That is what will happen.

Therefore, please resist your temptation to achieve cheap political gain by carrying on such false propaganda".

Rajapaksa’s lotus bud party swept the poll in the Sinhala majority parts of the island winning 225 councils or two-thirds of the 340 councils.

The UNP won only 41 councils while the SLFP was a distant third with just 11 in the first electoral test of the unity government headed by Sirisena.

The LTTE, which led the separatist war for a separate Tamil homeland, was crushed by the Lankan military in 2009 with the death of its supremo Velupillai Prabhakaran.

(PTI)