විධායකය, ව්‍යාවස්ථාදායකය හා අධිකරණය ජනතා අවශ්‍යතා තේරුම් ගෙන එම අවශ්‍යතා ඉටු කළ යුතු යැයි මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ ජනපති මිනුවන්ගොඩදී අද පැවැසීය.

ජනපති එහි නව ප්‍රාදේශීය සභා ගොඩනැගිල්ල විවෘත කළේය.

කිසිවකුගෙන්වත් චෝදනා එල්ල නොවන ආකාරයට අධිකරණය සිය ගෞරයට රැකගෙන ක්‍රියා කළ යුතු බවත්, අධිකරණය කෙරෙහි ජනතා ගෞරවය විනාශ වී ගියහොත් රට පාලනයේ දී දුෂ්කරතා වලට මුහුණ දීමට සිදුවන බවත් ජනපති ප්‍රකාශ කළේය.

අධිකරණය දෙකට බෙදා දේශපාලනයට ලක් කිරීමේ උත්සාහයක් පවතින බවත්, පාකිස්තානයේ කළ දේ ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ කළ නොහැකි බවත්, ප්‍රරජාතන්ත්‍රවාදී ලෙස පත් කැර ගත් රජය පෙරළීමට මෙරට බුද්ධිමත් ජනතාව කිසිවිටක ඉඩ නොදෙනු ඇති බවත් ජනපති සඳහන් කළේය.

Source: Lankadeepa (Sri Lanka)

Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC) member and UNP Parliamentarian Lakshman Kriella said they reject the PSC report submitted to parliament this morning by Committee Chairman, Minister Anura Priyadarshana Yapa.

He siad that the submission of the report should be hailed as a world record due to the swiftness of the committee proceedings.

“We, as members of the PSC were given documents on the December 5, while CJ Shirani Bandaranayake was given documents that comprised of nearly 1000 pages on December 6 and was asked to return the next day with a prepared defense. On December 5, we were only given a list of documents and there was no mention of a list of witnesses despite repeated calls by us for one. Suddenly the PSC, without the opposition members and the Chief Justice, had come to its own conclusion and submitted a report today which speaks of bias. It was submitted in record speed baffling any rational thinking citizen. We reject the report and the proceedings in its entirety” he said.

Kiriella also said that it was clear from the start of the proceedings of the PSC that the government was on a witch-hunt.

” This was not an inquiry it was an inquisition. It was obvious that the government was on witch-hunt against the Chief Justice right from the beginning. We couldn’t speak about this as members of the PSC which is why we decided to walk out of it and tell the country what really was taking place” he said.

Meanwhile, PSC member and JVP MP Vijitha Herath also expressing his views said, he believes the entire process was biased against the Chief Justice and did not conform to even the basic tenets of a fair and impartial inquiry.

“This is why we all put forward certain conditions in order to ensure that the process and mechanism is free and fair. However it was not to be so. It was a one-sided affair where the complainant was the judge and the jury all in one,” Herath said adding, the process was fast forwarded to suit the expectations of the government and it was beyond belief as to how such conclusions were reached.

Herath called on the citizens of the country including professionals from all strata to rally against this draconian decision, in order to safe guard democracy, rule of law and the independence of the judiciary of this country.

“ All three tenets of a basic civilized society were violated through this process and this is an indictment on the citizens of this country. Therefore we call upon all citizens of this country to agitate against this very grave and serious violation which could lead to a breakdown in civil society itself” he said. (Hafeel Farisz)

Source: Daily Mirror (Sri Lanka)

අගවිනිසුරු ආචාර්ය ශිරාණි බණ්‌ඩාරනායක මහත්මියට එරෙහි දොaෂාභියෝග චෝදනා විමර්ශනයට පත්කළ විශේෂ කාරක සභාවේ වාර්තාව විවාද කිරීම සඳහා දින දහයක කාලයක්‌ ලබාදීමට තමන් කැමැති බව කතානායක චමල් රාජපක්‍ෂ මහතා පෙරේදා (08 දා) පාර්ලිමේන්තුවේදී කීවේය.

විශේෂ කාරක සභා වාර්තාව එම සභාවේ සභාපති අනුර ප්‍රියදර්ශන යාපා මහතා විසින් පාර්ලිමේන්තුවට ඉදිරිපත් කළ පසු එකී වාර්තාව විවාදයට ගන්නේ කවදාදැයි විපක්‍ෂ මන්ත්‍රීවරු විමසූ අවස්‌ථාවේදී කතානායකවරයා ඉහත ප්‍රකාශය කළේය.

විශේෂ කාරක සභා වාර්තාව පාර්ලිමේන්තුවට ඉදිරිපත්කර මාසයක්‌ ගතවූ පසුව ඒ පිළිබඳ විවාදයට ගත හැකිබව කතානායකවරයා කීය.

මෙම වාර්තාව විවාද කිරීමට දින පහක්‌ පමණ අවශ්‍ය බව විපක්‍ෂයේ සංවිධායක ජෝන් අමරතුංග මහතා කී පසු කතානායකවරයා කීවේ මෙය වැදගත් කරුණක්‌ බවත් එනිසා දින දහයක්‌ වුවත් විවාද කරන්න තමන් කැමැති බවත්ය.

විවාදයට දින දහයක්‌ ලබාදීමට කථානායකතුමා කැමැති වීම අගය කරන බව විපක්‍ෂ නායක රනිල් වික්‍රමසිංහ මහතා කීවේය.

ඉන් අනතුරුව ඇමැති විමල් වීරවංශ මහතා සහ මන්ත්‍රී අනුර කුමාර දිසානායක මහතා අතර උණුසුම් වාග් සංග්‍රාමයක්‌ ඇතිවිය. කෙසේ නමුත් විජිත හේරත් මහතා පාර්ලිමේන්තු සභා ගර්භයේ නැගී සිට විශේෂ කාරක සභාව පිළිබඳ දැක්‌වූ අදහස්‌ වාර්තා නොවන බව කතානායකවරයා පැවැසුවේය.

මුදල් අමාත්‍යාංශ වැය ශීර්ෂය විවාදයට ගත් ඊයේ දවස කලු දිනයක්‌ බව විපක්‍ෂ මන්ත්‍රීවරු ප්‍රකාශ කළහ.(අජිත් අලහකෝන් – අකිත පෙරේරා)

Source: Divaina (Sri Lanka)

A delegation of permanent representatives to the United Nations (UN), including ambassadors from Japan, Bangladesh, Nigeria and Romania, called on President Mahinda Rajapaksa at Temple Trees on Friday 07 December. The UN delegation visited Sri Lanka for a fact finding missionand held discussions with the President and other government officials.

During these talks, many issues related to Sri Lanka were discussed and the UN delegation appraised about the progress achieved by the Sri Lankan Government in resettling IDPs, demining, rehabilitation process of former carders, reconstruction and rebuilding endeavours in the Northern and Eastern provinces. President Rajapaksa also elaborated on the massive development thrust in the country.

The President was appreciated for his leadership skills in bringing peaceful environment and speedy development in the country.   The visit was jointly organized by the Government of Japan, Sri Lanka’s Permanent Mission to the UN and Columbia University in the City of New York.

Minister of External Affairs Prof G.L. Peiris, Secretary to the Ministry of External Affairs Karunathilake Amunugama, Sri Lanka’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations Dr. Palitha Kohona and Secretary to the President, Lalith Weeratunga were also present in the discussion.

By Janaka Alahapperuma
Pix By : Sudath Silva

Four opposition members of the Parliamentary Select Committee announced a short while ago that they withdrew from the committee and stated that they put forward four conditions before the Chairman of the PSC to further remain in the committee.

The opposition members were John Amaratunga, Lakshman Kiriella (UNP), Vijitha Herath (DNA) and R Sampanthan (TNA). Addressing a press conference at the Parliamentary complex MP Amaratunga said that the PSC does not allow the formal procedures on the impeachment.

MP Kiriella said that the members of Parliament who had signed the impeachment motion had not seen any proof before signing it as the PSC members themselves saw the documents only on December 5.

Opposition members later walked out of the committee room as the Chairman of the PSC refused to accept the conditions put forward by the opposition members.

According to a copy of the statement made available to the press,  the four members  said that they requested an opportunity be given  for  the lawyers of the Chief Justice to cross-examine complainants.

“It is also a matter of note that the Chief Justice has not been afforded the courtesies’ and privileges due to her office. We have made our position clear regarding these matters. It is the duty of the PSC to maintain the highest standard of fairness in conducting this inquiry. We also regrettably note that during these proceedings, the treatment meted out to the Chief Justice was insulting and intimidatory and the remarks made were clearly indicative of preconceived findings of guilt,” the statement signed by the four members said.

Source: Daily Mirror (Sri Lanka)

Another twenty nine Sri Lankans who sought political asylum in Britain were deported back to the Island accompanied by British Immigration/Emigration and police officers yesterday morning.

After the rejection of their applications for refugee status they were kept in several migrant refugee camps before being sent back on a special chartered flight from Heathrow airport under strict security.

British High Commission and the United Nations International Organisation for migrants had mediated in this deportation process. Each returnee was escorted by two officers of the British Immigration authorities and the British police.

Twenty five Tamils, one Muslim and three Sinhalese were among these returnees identified as residents of Kilinochchi, Jaffna, Vavuniya, Colombo and Wattala.

Some of them had visited the UK on student visas and overstayed. Some others had arrived in the UK during the war and sought political asylum while being employed in various sectors.

The majority of them had been in the UK for periods ranging from a year to ten years and reluctant to return to their homeland.

Since Britain commenced deporting asylum seekers in 2011, more than 200 Sri Lankans had been sent back on special flights.

After these returnees were handed over to the local Emigration authorities by their British counterparts, they were directed for further investigations by the CID unit of the Airport.

They were to be released after questioning by the state intelligence division. (Deepa Adikari)

Source: Daily Mirror (Sri Lanka)

Chief Justice Shirani Bandaranayake has walked out of the Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC) proceeding a short while ago stating that she has no faith in it, sources said.
Her lawyers also informed the committee that they had no faith in the PSC process and would not participate in its proceedings hereafter.

The PSC met today at 2.30 pm in the committee room 1 of the Parliamentary complex and the proceedings went on till 6 pm, with a small break for tea. There had however been a lot of arguments between the two sides.

The CJ’s lawyers protested saying documents had not been provided to her to prove the charges levelled against her.

It is learnt that some government ministers had made insulting remarks at the CJ during the proceedings. The CJ appeared for the third time, and the PSC is expected to meet tomorrow. (KB & YP)

Source: Daily Mirror (Sri Lanka)

අගවිනිසුරු ආචාර්ය ශිරාණි බණ්‌ඩාරනායක මහත්මියට අයත් බැංකු ගිණුම් සහ වත්කම් බැරකම් පිළිබඳ ප්‍රකාශවලට අදාළ ලියෑවිලි සියල්ල අදාළ ආයතනවලින් ගෙන්වාගෙන ඇති අතර එම ලේඛනවල පිටපත් දොaෂාභියෝගය විභාග කිරීමේ විශේෂ කාරක සභා සාමාජිකයන්ට ඊයේ (05 දා) ලබා දී තිබේ.

විශේෂ කාරක සභාවේ උපදෙස්‌ මත පාර්ලිමේන්තු මහලේකම්වරයා විසින් බැංකු සහ සෙසු ආයතන මගින් මෙම ගිණුම් වාර්තා ඇතුළු ලිපි ලේඛන ගෙන්වා ගෙන ඇති අතර ඊයේ අගවිනිසුරුවරියට එරෙහි දොaෂාභියෝග චෝදනා විභාග කිරීමේ විශේෂ කාරක සභාව රැස්‌වූ අවස්‌ථාවේදී එහි සාමාජිකයන්ට එම ලේඛන පිටපත් ලබාදී ඇත.

මෙම විශේෂ කාරක සභාවේ ක්‍රියාවලිය සාධාරණ ලෙස සිදු නොවන බව පෙනී යන්නේ නම් කාරක සභාවේ කටයුතුවලින් එක්‌සත් ජාතික පක්‍ෂය ඉවත්වන බව එම නියෝජිතයන් කාරක සභාවට ඊයේ දැනුම් දී ඇත. එසේ වුවොත් තමන්ද විශේෂ කාරක සභාවෙන් ඉවත්ව යන බව ප්‍රජාතන්ත්‍රවාදී ජාතික සන්ධානයේ සහ ද්‍රවිඩ ජාතික සන්ධානයේ නියෝජිතයන් දෙදෙනාද දැනුම් දී තිබේ.

මෙම විශේෂ කාරක සභාව අද (06 දා) පස්‌වරුවේ රැස්‌වන අතර අගවිනිසුරුවරිය ඊට සහභාගී වන්නීය. එහිදී අගවිනිසුරුවරියගේ පාර්ශ්වයටද ඉහත ලිපි ලේඛන පිටපත් ලබා දෙනු ඇතැයි වාර්තා වේ.

දොaෂාභියෝගය සම්බන්ධයෙන් වන විශේෂ කාරක සභාවට ඉදිරිපත්වන ලිපි ලේඛන සුරක්‍ෂිතව තබා ගැනීම සඳහාත්, කමිටු සාමාජිකයන්ට අවශ්‍ය අවස්‌ථාවලදී එම ලේඛනවල පිටපත් ලබා ගැනීමට හැකිවන පරිදිත් විශේෂ ලේකම් කාර්යාලයක්‌ද පාර්ලිමේන්තු සංකීර්ණයේ පළමු මහලේ ආරම්භ කර තිබේ.

විශේෂ කාරක සභාව ඊයේ පැය දෙකක පමණ කාලයක්‌ රැස්‌ව සාකච්ඡා කර ඇත.

ඉදිරිපත් කර ඇති චෝදනා සම්බන්ධයෙන් අතිරේක විස්‌තර ලබාදීම සඳහා සති පහක කාලයක්‌ ලබා දෙන්නැයි අගවිනිසුරුවරියගේ පාර්ශ්වයෙන් කර ඇති ඉල්ලීම පිළිබඳව තවදුරටත් සාකච්ඡා මට්‌ටමේ පවතී.

මෙම කාරක සභාවේ මාසයක කාලය ලබන 14 දායින් අවසන් වීමට නියමිත අතර පාර්ලිමේන්තුවේ නිවාඩු කාලය තුළදී කාරක සභාව රැස්‌ නොවන ලෙසට විපක්‍ෂය නියෝජනය කරන මන්ත්‍රීවරුන් ඉල්ලීමක්‌ කර ඇත.

එම ඉල්ලීම ලබා දෙන්නේ නම් විශේෂ කාරක සභාවේ කාලය තවත් මාසයකින් දීර්ඝ කිරීමේ යෝජනාවක්‌ කමිටු සභාපති අනුර ප්‍රියදර්ශන යාපා මහතා විසින් හෙට (07 දා) හෝ අනිද්දා (08 දා) පාර්ලිමේන්තුවට ඉදිරිපත් කරනු ඇත.

Source: Divaina (Sri Lanka)

Sri Lanka’s foremost exponent in classical music and household name Pandit W D Amaradeva celebrated his 85th milestone in life in the simple style characteristic of the man who bequeathed an indigenous music ethos to the nation during his near seven decade long artistic career, with wife and pillar of strength, Wimala at his side. Amaradeva was the foremost influence that pioneered what could be called a truly indigenous music genre immersed in the national ethos and cultural identity. His creations cut across over five generations of Lankan classical music lovers in their mass appeal and uniqueness.

Amaradeva’s renditions are still in vogue despite their antiquity and will remain timeless for generations more to savour.

Culture and the Arts Minister T B Ekanayake, Sri Lanka Arts Council Board chairman Prof Carlo Fonseka and Sri Lanka Music Panel chairman Rohana Weerasinghe with journalist Gamini Sumanasekera were present wishing the Thespian a long life at his home in Maharagama.

Amaradeva mimed some of his famous songs, which brought back nostalgic memories of the past for those present.

Appreciating the service of Pandith Amaradeva, Minister Ekanayake said it was a pleasure and honour to wish Pandith Amaradeva who is the greatest musician produced by the country. “I am here to convey the best wishes of President Mahinda Rajapaksa and the government to Pandit Amaradeva. He hailed from Moratuwa and became popular all over the country in a very short period. He won many international awards especially the Magsaysay Award and Padma Shri Awards,” Minister Ekanayake said.

Source: Daily News (Sri Lanka)

විනිසුරුවරුන් ගැන මාධ්‍ය විවේචන නතර කළ යුතුයි – විපක්‍ෂ නායක
මාධ්‍යය සදාචාරය රැකිය යුතුයි – කථානායක

අගවිනිසුරුවරියට එරෙහි දෝෂාභියෝගය සම්බන්ධයෙන් කතා කළ හැක්‌කේ ඒ පිළිබඳව කටයුතු කිරීමට පත්කර ඇති විශේෂ කාරක සභාවට පමණක්‌ බව කථානායක චමල් රාජපක්‍ෂ මහතා පාර්ලිමේන්තුවේදී ඊයේ (4 වැනිදා) පැවසීය.

දෝෂාභියෝගය සම්බන්ධව අනෙක්‌ අය කතා කිරීම සදාචාර සම්පන්න නැතැයි ද කථානායකවරයා සිහිපත් කළේය.අගවිනිසුරුවරියට එරෙහි දෝෂාභියෝගයට සම්බන්ධ කටයුතු පාර්ලිමේන්තුවට පමණක්‌ සීමා කරන ලෙස විපක්‍ෂ නායක රනිල් වික්‍රමසිංහ මහතා පාර්ලිමේන්තුවේදී ඊයේ (4 දා) කථානායකවරයාගෙන් කළ ඉල්ලීමට ප්‍රතිචාර දක්‌වමින් හෙතෙම මේ බව පැවසීය.

පාර්ලිමේන්තුව සහ අධිකරණය අතර ගැටුමක්‌ ඇතිකරගත යුතු නැති බවත් දෝෂාභියෝගය සම්බන්ධයෙන් මාධ්‍යය කරන විවේචන නතර කළයුතු අතර ඒ පිළිබඳව කටයුතු කරන ආකාරය ගැන මාධ්‍යයන්ට උපදෙස්‌ ලබාදෙන ලෙසත් විපක්‍ෂ නායකවරයා මෙහිදී කියා සිටියේය.

විශේෂ ප්‍රකාශයක්‌ කරමින් විපක්‍ෂ නායකවරයා තවදුරටත් මෙසේ ද කීය.

“ව්‍යවස්‌ථාවේ 107 වගන්තිය යටතේ චෝදනාවක්‌ ඉදිරිපත් කළ විට මාධ්‍යය කටයුතු කළයුතු ක්‍රමවේදයක්‌ තිබෙනවා. කාරක සභාවෙන් චෝදනා විභාග කොට ඉදිරිපත් කළ විට මෙම සභාවයි අවසන් තීරණය ගන්නේ. අද මාධ්‍යය සියලුම විනිශ්චයකාරවරුන්ට පහර දෙනවා. ඔවුන් විවේචනය කරනවා. විනිශ්චයකාරවරුන් සියලු දෙනාගේම ක්‍රියාකලාපය ගැන අපට ප්‍රශ්නයක්‌ නැහැ. මේවා මාධ්‍යයෙන් විවේචනය කරන එක නතර කරන්න ඕන.

අධිකරණයේ ස්‌වාධීනත්වය ගැන බලනවා නම් මේ කටයුත්ත අපි පාර්ලිමේන්තුවට පමණක්‌ සීමා කරමු. පාර්ලිමේන්තුව සහ අධිකරණය අතර ගැටුමක්‌ අපට නැහැ. අගවිනිසුරුතුමිය ගැනත් එක එක කතා කියනවා. “මැතිනිය ලඡ්ජයි” කියලාත් කියනවා. මෙහෙම කියන එකේන් වෙන්නේ අධිකරණය සමඟ ගැටුමක්‌ ඇතිවීමයි. රාජ්‍ය මාධ්‍යවලින් ගහන එකත් විශාල ප්‍රශ්නයක්‌. ලැප්ටොප් ගත්තු එක වහගන්න පෞද්ගලික මාධ්‍යයත් ගහනවා. මටත් බණිනවා. මට බණින්නේ ඇයි? ස්‌ථාවර නියෝග 142 අනුව ඔබතුමාට පුළුවන් මේ ගැන නියෝගයක්‌ ලබා දෙන්න.

විජයදාස රාජපක්‍ෂ මන්ත්‍රීතුමා කටයුතු කරන්නේ නීතිඥ සංගමයේ සභාපති හැටියටයි. එතුමාට ඒ අයිතිය තියෙනවා. ඒ නිසා මේ කටයුත්ත පාර්ලිමේන්තුවට කරන්න දෙන්න. පාර්ලිමේන්තුවේ බලතල ගැන මා කතා කරන්නේ නෑ. අවශ්‍ය වුණොත් කතා කරන්නම්. විනිශ්චයකාරවරුන්ගේ ගෞරවයත් අපි ආරක්‍ෂා කළ යුතුයි.

විපක්‍ෂ නායකවරයා ඉදිරිපත් කළ කරුණු සම්බන්ධයෙන් සොයා බලා අවශ්‍ය පියවර ගන්නා බව කථානායක චමල් රාජපක්‍ෂ මහතා මෙහිදී පැවසීය.

මේ ගැන කටයුතු කිරීමේදී මාධ්‍යයන්ට සදාචාරයක්‌ තියෙනවා යෑයි ද කථානායකවරයා වැඩිදුරටත් පැවසීය.

Source: Divaina (Sri Lanka)

The Government today asked Speaker Chamal Rajapaksa to take action against UNP MP Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe for his involvement in legally challenging the parliamentary process to impeach Chief Justice Shirani Bandaranayake.

The Speaker said he would examine the matter and take appropriate action.

Deputy Health Minister Lalith Dissanayake, raising a point of order referred to the Speaker’s ruling that court proceedings had no binding on Parliament and asked about Mr. Rajapakshe’s involvement in the judicial process against the Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC).

“I do not know how Mr. Rajapakshe as a member representing this august assembly has legally challenged this process. He has done it despite the Speaker’s ruling. It is true that he is the President of the Bar Association. But, he cannot do so as an MP,” Mr. Dissanayake said.

However Opposition Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe argued that in this instance Mr. Rakapakshe had acted as the President of the Bar Association and not as a legislator.(KB & YP)

Source: Daily Mirror (Sri Lanka)

The second appearance by Chief Justice Dr. Shirani Bandaranayke, before the Parliamentary Select Committee yesterday resulted in the entire area around the Parliament complex, in Kotte, being cordoned off and declared out of bounds for the media.

The Chief Justice arrived at the Parliament accompanied by seven lawyers around 10.10 a.m. and was escorted to the Committee room where the PSC began its proceedings at 10.30 a.m.

A group of protestors holding up posters with the words “Shame Madam!” had lined up along the Parliament roundabout and a large number of Police as well as some army personnel had been deployed for security.

Unlike during her previous appearance before the committee, journalists covering Parliament were strictly prohibited from entering the area where the Committee was in progress as well as lingering along the corridors.

During the pre-lunch sessions, which were held up to around 1.15 p.m. lawyers for the Chief Justice requested that a team of observers from the Bar Association of Sri Lanka (BASL) and the Commonwealth be allowed to observe the committee proceedings. However, the request was rejected.

Her lawyers also noted, as they had done on the previous occasion, that documentary evidence of the charges made against the Chief Justice had not yet been made available to them.

Another request to summon all 117 MPs who signed the impeachment motion against the Chief Justice, before the Committee is under consideration.

Meanwhile, the four Opposition members of the Committee said that they had requested the Speaker to adjourn sittings of the Committee for one month from Dec. 8 to January 8, when Parliament sessions for the year are to end after the Budget is passed.

They also said there was no clarity on the procedural progress of the PSC and that the Leader of the Opposition Ranil Wickremesinghe would raise the issue in Parliament this morning.

The post-lunch session of the PSC began around 2.30 p.m. with the Chief Justice’s lawyers returning after lunch while the Chief Justice arrived around 2.55 p.m.

The team of lawyers, who appeared for the Chief Justice included Romesh de Silva PC, Kandiah Neelakandan, Nalin Laduwahetty PC, Sugath Caldera, Riyaz Ameen, Iraj de Silva and Saliya Peiris.

By Saman Indrajith
Source: The Island (Sri Lanka)

Hirunika Premachandra told media outside the Chief Magistrate’s Courts today that Duminda Silva and his supporters must take responsibility if something happened to her or her supporters.

“If any sort of injury was caused to me or my supporters, then Duminda Silva and his gang must take the responsibility. We also must live in Kollonawa,” she said.

“The president had said that he was unaware of any conflict between Duminda Silva and my father. But now he knows that there was a conflict now that a killing had taken place. So I urged the president to take an action on this matter.”

She also said her office was attacked and her cut outs had been destroyed after she had organized a protest recently.(ISD)

Source: Daily Mirror (Sri Lanka)

The mother of a seven-day-old infant and three other women were arrested on charges of having been involved in the sale and purchase of the infant for Rs.5,000.

Urubokka police said among those arrested was the woman who bought the child at Urubokka in Bengamuwa on Sunday and the two women who negotiated the sale.

Police began their investigations after someone tipped them off that an infant born on November at the Kamburupitiya Andapana Government Hospital had been sold.

Police took into its custody the infant which had been born to a 27-year-old unmarried woman who is a resident of Keeripitiya.

She had sold this baby to a woman who did not have children. (Krishan Jeewaka Jayaruk)

Source: Daily Mirror (Sri Lanka)

Paritta chanting to bestow blessings throughout the New Year will be held at the Vihara

on New Year’s Day Tuesday 1st January 2013, commencing at 8.30am.

Sri Lanka said the emphasis by the international community that the island was now free from the dangers that constrained it during the time of the conflict, has been an important factor for those who left the country as refugees during the time of the conflict to return.

Addressing the 101st Council Session of the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) in Geneva, Sri Lanka’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations in Geneva Ravinatha Aryasinha had observed that emphasis by the international community that Sri Lanka was now free from the dangers that constrained it during the time of the conflict, has been an important factor for those who left the country as refugees during the time of the conflict to return, with the joint assistance of the host countries, and organisations such as the IOM.

He however said, “At the same time illegal people-smuggling rings continue to rob families not only of their hard-earned savings, but sometimes even their loved ones.”

Noting that the IOM, as well as a number of foreign governments had in recent months acknowledged that many Sri Lankans who continue to arrive on foreign soil illegally, were in fact economic migrants and not refugees, Ambassador Aryasinha said Sri Lanka remained committed to work with international partners toward raising awareness as to the dangers relating to illegal migration, with a view to end such practices.

Source: Daily Mirror (Sri Lanka)