තවත් 6 දෙනකු සමග ඇමැති පුත් මාලක රිමාන්ඩ්

කොළඹ ජැයික්‌ හිල්ටන් හෝටලයේදී යුද හමුදා මේජර්වරයකුට අමානුෂික ලෙස පහරදී තුවාල සිදු කර ඔහු සතුව තිබූ රාජකාරි ගිනි අවිය සහ රන් මාලය කොල්ල කෑ බව කියන සිද්ධිය සම්බන්ධයෙන් චෝදනා ලැබ සිටි ඇමැති මර්වින් සිල්වා මහතාගේ පුත්‍රයා වන මාලක සිල්වා ඇතුළු හත්දෙනකු ලබන 24 වැනිදා දක්‌වා රක්‍ෂිත බන්ධනාගාරගත කරන ලෙස කොටුව මහෙස්‌ත්‍රාත් කනිෂ්ක විඡේරත්න මහතා ඊයේ (17 වැනිදා) නියෝග කළේය.

මෙම සිද්ධියට සම්බන්ධ සැකකරුවන් හත්දෙනා කොම්පඤ්ඤවීදිය පොලිසිය වෙත ඊයේ (17 වැනිදා) පෙරවරුවේ භාර වූ අතර පසුව කොළඹ අපරාධ කොට්‌ඨාසය මගින් ඔවුන් කොටුව අධිකරණය වෙත ඉදිරිපත් කරන ලදී.

මෙම සැකකරුවන් අතර හිටපු ඇමැතිවරයකු වූ මනෝ විඡේරත්න මහතාගේ පුත්‍රයා වන රෙහාන් විඡේරත්න ද සිටින බව පොලිසිය පවසයි. මේ අතර බන්ධනාගාරගත කළ මාලක සිල්වා සහ රෙහාන් විඡේරත්න යන සැකකරුවන් හැර අනෙක්‌ සැකකරුවන් 5 දෙනා ලබන 24 වැනිදා හඳුනාගැනීමේ පෙරෙට්‌ටුවක්‌ සඳහා ඉදිරිපත් කරන ලෙසද මහෙස්‌ත්‍රාත්වරයා නියෝග කළේය.

ඉකුත් 09 වැනිදා අලුයම 3.30 ට පමණ කොළඹ ජැයික්‌ හිල්ටන් හෝටලයේදී පහර කෑමට ලක්‌ වූ යුද හමුදා බුද්ධි අංශයේ මේජර්වරයා මේ වන විටත් යුද හමුදා රෝහලේ ප්‍රතිකාර ලබමින් සිටියි.

මෙම සිද්ධිය සම්බන්ධයෙන් බන්ධනාගාරගත කළ සැකකරුවන් අතර මාලක සිල්වාගේ මිතුරන් දෙදෙනකු සහ පෞද්ගලික ආරක්‍ෂක නිලධාරීන් තිදෙනකු ද සිටින බව පොලිසිය පවසයි.

යුද හමුදා බුද්ධි අංශ මේජර්වරයා රාජකාරි කටයුත්තක්‌ සඳහා කොළඹ ජැයික්‌ හිල්ටන් හෝටලය වෙත ගොස්‌ ආපසු යද්දී හෝටලයේ පහළ මාලයේදී සැකකාර මාලක සිල්වා ඇතුළු කණ්‌ඩායමට මුණගැසී ඇත.

ඒ අවස්‌ථාවේ මාලක සිල්වා හමුදා මේජර්වරයාගෙන් දුම්වැටියක්‌ ඉල්ලා තිබේ. මේජර්වරයා ඔහුට දුම්වැටියක්‌ ලබාදී ඇති අතර පසුව ඔහු ගිනිපෙට්‌ටියක්‌ද ඉල්ලා ඇත.

තමා සතුව ගිනිපෙට්‌ටියක්‌ නැති බව මේජර්වරයා පැවැසූ අවස්‌ථාවේ කෝපයට පත්වූ මාලක සිල්වා “ගින්දර නැත්නම් සිගරැට්‌ තියාගන්නෙ මොකටද යකෝ” කියමින් ඔහුට පහරදී තිබේ.

එහිදී මාලක සිල්වා සමග සිටි සෙසු පුද්ගලයන්ද මේජර්වරයාට ඉතාම අමානුෂික ලෙස පහරදී ඇති බව පරීක්‍ෂණවලදී අනාවරණය විය.

මෙම සිද්ධියෙන් පසු මේජර්වරයාගේ රාජකාරි පිස්‌තෝලය සහ රන් මාලය අතුරුදන් වූ අතර පසුව රියෑදුරකු මාර්ගයෙන් එම පිස්‌තෝලය පොලිසිය වෙත භාරදී තිබිණි.

මෙම සිද්ධියට සම්බන්ධ සැකකාර මාලක සිල්වා ඇතුළු සැකකරුවන් අත්අඩංගුවට ගැනීමට විශේෂ පොලිස්‌ කණ්‌ඩායම් දෙකක්‌ යොදවා සිටියත් ඔවුන් අත්අඩංගුවට ගැනීමට නොහැකි විය.

ඊයේ පෙරවරුවේ සැකකරුවන් සියලු දෙනා කොම්පඤ්ඤවීදිය පොලිසිය වෙත භාරවූ අතර පසුව ඔවුන්ගෙන් ප්‍රකාශ සටහන් කරගෙන කොටුව අධිකරණය වෙත ඉදිරිපත් කරනු ලැබීය.

කොළඹ අපරාධ කොට්‌ඨාසයේ අධ්‍යක්‍ෂ ආර්. එල්. රණවීර එහි ස්‌ථානාධිපති හේමන්ත දික්‌ඕවිට, කොම්පඤ්ඤවීදිය පොලිස්‌ ස්‌ථානාධිපති මාලන් පෙරේරා මහත්වරුන් විසින් සැකකරුවන් අධිකරණය වෙත ඉදිරිපත් කර තිබිණි.

සැකකරුවන් විශේෂ බන්ධනාගාර ආරක්‍ෂාවක්‌ යටතේ වැලිකඩ බන්ධනාගාරය වෙත රැගෙන යනු ලැබිණි.

Source: Divaina (Sri Lanka)

අනවසර තුවක්‌කුවක්‌ සොයා ගිය වන නිලධාරීන් සමග ආදිවාසීහු ගැටෙති

දඹානේ ආදිවාසීන් සහ වනජීවී නිලධාරීන් අතර පෙරේදා (15 දා) රාත්‍රියේ සිදුවූ ගැටුමකින් වනජීවී නිලධාරීන් දෙදෙනකු සහ ආදිවාසියකු තුවාල ලබා මහියංගන රෝහලට ඇතුළත් කර ඇත. වනජීවී නිලධාරීන් කණ්‌ඩායමක්‌ අනවසර තුවක්‌කුවක්‌ අල්ලා ගැනීම සඳහා  ආදිවාසියකුගෙන් ප්‍රශ්න කිරීමේදී මෙම ගැටුම සිදු වී ඇති බව මහියංගන පොලිසිය කියයි.

ලැබී ඇති ආරංචි අනුව ඌරුවරිගේ පුංචිබණ්‌ඩා නමැති ආදිවාසියා රෝහල්ගත වී ඇති අතර වනජීවී නිලධාරීන් වන කේ. නානායක්‌කාර සහ වසන්ත කුමාර යන වනජීවී නිලධාරීහු දෙදෙනාද රෝහල්ගත වී සිටිති.

මෙම තත්ත්වයට සමථයකට පත්කිරීම සඳහා ආදිවාසී නායකයා සහ වනජීවී නිලධාරීන් අතර සාකච්ඡා පවත්වාගෙන යන නමුත් මෙතෙක්‌ විසඳුමක්‌ ලැබී නැත.

මහියංගන පොලිසිය මගින් එම ප්‍රදේශය තුළ ආරක්‍ෂාව තරකර ඇත.

නෝමන් පලිහවඩන, කන්දකැටිය – ජී. චතුරංග,
බණ්‌ඩාරවෙල – කරුණාරත්න පල්ලේගම

Source: Divaina (Sri Lanka)

Court of Inquiry wasn’t appointed to implicate the officer – Army

Acting Military Spokesman Brigadier G. V. Ravipriya said the Court of Inquiry was not appointed to implicate the officer who was allegedly assaulted by Malaka Silva, but to probe into the details of the incident

Responding to a statement made by ex-Army Commander Sarath Fonseka in which he claimed the military is trying to take action against the officer involved inthe incident, Brigadier Ravipriya said the appointment of the Court of Inquiry is a routine action and assured that it does not imply the officer in question would be reprimanded.

“There are various claims being circulated about the incident. So the Court of Inquiry was appointed only to gather a true account of the incident,” he added.

Meanwhile, commenting on the accusation against the Army, on their inaction to arrest the culprits of the incident, Brigadeir Ravipriya said it is not the Army’s duty to conduct investigations into the incident.

“The Police have initiated an investigation into the incident and the Army cannot interfere with it as we are not provisioned to implemented civil law,” he said.

By Lakna Paranamanna
Source: Daily Mirror (Sri Lanka) 

‘The Buddhist’ exposes the country’s pathetic state

What have we achieved during the Sambuddhatva Jayanthi Year commemorating the 2600th year of the Enlightenment of the Buddha? In a hard hitting editorial in ‘The Buddhist’ – the Colombo YMBA journal, well-known Buddhist commentator Rajah Kuruppu sums it up : “A deterioration of moral values, escalation of corruption, breakdown of law and order, and a rapid rise of murder, rape and robberies.” An impressive record indeed!

Lamenting that pre-planning for the event was half-hearted and did not have the same commitment as in the case of the Buddha Jayanthi Year (1956) when preparations were made several years ahead, Mr. Kuruppu discusses the outcome. “Crime far from declining (as it happened during the Buddha Jayanthi) has accelerated. Murder, rape and theft have substantially risen. Corruption has become the order of the day.

“The pernicious, detestable and inhuman practice of ragging of freshers in Universities has continued over a long period of time. A Government that has successfully overcome and defeated a terrorist organisation, considered to be the most brutal in the world, is unable to end this totally unacceptable practice although efforts are being made recently in this direction.

“A most unfortunate development in this connection was the reported violent ragging at a university of Buddhist monks in Anuradhapura where one victim had to be hospitalised. This was in the Sambuddhatva Jayanthi Year!
“In Sri Lanka, as in many other countries in the world, corruption has been on the increase in the last few decades. In the Sambuddhatva Jayanthi Year far from a decrease an increase is unfortunately observable. It has developed into such high proportions that the need for corrective action is urgent and imperative. In the past we have experienced further escalation of corruption with every change of Government.

“An area of serious concern is the breakdown of law and order where certain people are very much above the law. The close link between the politicians and the underworld engaged in the trafficking of drugs and other unethical practices harmful to the nation is a dangerous development of recent times.. In view of political influence the law enforcing authorities are helpless against illegal and harmful actions of the underworld. With strong governmental connections they appear to brazenly violate the laws of the land.

“The political strength of the Government with a two thirds majority in Parliament enables it to bring significant changes to the Constitution. This together with the sweeping success of the Government coalition at the Presidential elections three years ago followed by the even greater electoral success at Parliamentary and local government elections has led to an element of conceit and arrogance on the part of the governing forces. They do not extend adequate consideration for the views of others, both within and without the Government.

“It is in the nature of man when in authority to lose his sense of balance and think that he could get away with anything. Such an attitude would not be in the long term interest of those in authority as well as the nation. It is in such situations that one should reflect on the benefit of the noble quality advocated in Buddhism, namely, ‘Upekkha’, or balance of mind which would enable one to face both success and failure with the sense of detachment and not be carried away by them. One could also reflect that even near absolute political authority that may exercise at a given time is subject to impermanence and change.” The Editorial suggests that we should attempt to change the tide in favour of morality, less corruption, strengthening law and order, and reducing violence.

The bumper issue of ‘The Buddhist’ the Vesak Issue recently released, is neatly presented and shows an improvement in quality year after year. It records an impressive list of activities of the YMBA over the year and learned articles by renowned writers. Dr Ananda W.P. Guruge discusses what impressed him in the Teachings of the Buddha. Bhikkhu Bodhi sums up a message for a globalised world. Bhikkhu Pasanno (USA) gives a basic lesson on meditation. Olcott Gunasekera writes on the place of rituals in Buddhism. There are more.

Sir Baron Jayatilaka Memorial Oration by Dr Anula Wijesundera is reproduced. She highlights the consequences of alcohol consumption in Sri Lanka, reminding that at Sri Jayewardenepura General Hospital where she worked, alcoholism was the leading cause of deaths among males admitted to her unit annually for many years. She presented facts and figures over the past year and a half and concluded that Sri Lanka has sadly transformed from ‘The Granary of the East’ during the time of King Parakramabahu to ‘The Brewery of the World’ despite NATA and the ‘Mathata-thitha policy’ of the Government.

‘The Buddhist’ – published as a quarterly since 1888 – is distributed free among the YMBA members. Considered the oldest Buddhist publication, it should be made available to a much wider audience and built up to be the Voice of the Buddhists throughout the world. This can easily been done by uploading it to the YMBA website.

By D. C.  Ranatunga
Source:  Sunday Times (Sri Lanka)

Malaka never assaulted an army officer – Mervyn (Inc.Vedio)

Minister Mervyn Silva said that his son Malaka Silva did not assault any army officer as reported.

Addressing a press conference in Colombo, Minister Silva however said that Malaka would have assaulted a man. “My son had never assaulted an army officer; he would have assaulted a man, but definitely not an army officer,” the minister said adding that “even in your childhood you had fought with others, in the younger age you would have fought and even at my age you would have had a fight with someone.  That cannot be stopped, because we are human beings and it applies to my son too.”

He also said that if something had been done by his son, police could take proper action.

The minister told a news conference that the Kaliamman Kovil would not be allowed to hold the animal sacrifices scheduled for October, 16.
“The police will take necessary measures to ensure that the rituals are stopped,” the minister said.

Thun Hela Jathikaya Secretary the Ven. Omarpe Kassapa Thera said they had filed a complaint at the Chilaw police station because the temple had not obtained the necessary clearance from authorities to hold the ceremony.
“This is not a religious matter, we accept the right to practice the religion of his or her choice, but this is illegal and has to be stopped,” the Thera said.

By Nabeela Hussain
Source : Daily Mirror (Sri Lanka)

More video: http://www.dailymirror.lk/news/21918-malaka-never-assaulted-an-army-officer-mervyn.html

Special banquet for CPA Conference delegates at Temple Trees

Foreign delegates attending the 58th Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA) Conference in Colombo attended a special banquet hosted by President Mahinda Rajapaksa and First Lady Shiranthi Rajapaksa at Temple Trees on Wednesday 12 September.

Pix by: Sudath Silva

This is an ongoing tradition that the head of the state of the hosting country of the CPA annual conference to organize a banquet in honour of the Leaders of Delegations, Executive Committee Members and their Spouses.

The delegates were warmly greeted by the President and the First Lady. Several cultural events including traditional dancers and drummers displaying Sri Lanka’s pride added colour to the evening event.

Ministers, Members of Parliament, Ambassadors and many distinguished guests graced the occasion. Pictures are seen here, President Mahinda Rajapaksa and Mrs Rajapaksa greeting CPA delegations and other distinguished guests including CPA Secretary General Dr William F Shija.

By Janaka Alahapperuma

 

Sri Lanka undecided on nuclear power

The government is still undecided on using nuclear power to meet the electricity needs of the country, Power and Energy Minister Champika Ranawaka said today.

Addressing a media briefing in Colombo today the Minister said that the authorities are carrying out a feasibility study on nuclear energy.

However he said no final decision has been taken on switching to nuclear power.

“You see the problems at Kundankulam,” the Minister said laughing. Kundankulam is the site of a nuclear power plant in Tamil Nadu.

Residents in the area have voiced opposition to the power plant despite the Tamil Nadu government insisting it is safe.

Meanwhile the Minister expressed full confidence over the Chinese built coal power plant after it resumed operations following an unexpected breakdown.

He said that the Norochcholai coal power plant is expected to meet 60 percent of the country’s electricity demands once the full project is completed.

“The allegation that the power cuts were solely because of the breakdown of the Norochcholai coal power plant is not correct. The power cuts were because there was no rain. Blaming me, the Ceylon Electricity Board, China or the Chinese engineers was not fair,” Ranawaka said.

Image: Ranawaka
Source: Colombogazette (Sri Lanka)

Paralympic​s bronze medalist Pradeep Sanjaya meets the President (inc.Pix)

Lance Corporal Pradeep Sanjaya who did Sri Lanka proud by winning a Bronze Medal at the London Paralympic Games recently met President Mahinda Rajapaksa at Temple Trees today on 13 September.

Pix by: Sudath Silva

A Lance Corporal of the Sinha Regiment of the Sri Lanka Army, Pradeep succeeded in boosting Sri Lanka’s image by winning the bronze medal in the 400 metres sprint in T-46 in 49.28 seconds for the first time in Sri Lanka’s history.

Sri Lanka’s first ever Paralympics medalist Lance Corporal Sanjaya was promoted to the rank of Staff Sergeant of the Army by the President and gifted Rs. 4.5 million and a block of land in Meerigama area to build up a house at the occasion. The donation was jointly funded by Sri Lanka Army (Rs 3 million) and Sports Ministry (Rs 1.5 million). The Ministry of Housing, Construction, Engineering Services and Common Amenities will undertake construction of a new house with the coordination of the Sports Ministry.

Kandy District athletic coach and Pradeep Sanjaya’s trainer Jansz Dissanayake was also rewarded with cash award of Rs 325,000 by the President.

Sports Minister Mahindananda Aluthgamage, Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, Army Commmander Lt. Gen. Jagath Jayasuriya , Secretary to the Sports Ministry Anura Jayawickrama, Chairman of the Paralympic Committee (Sri Lanka) Brigadier Rajeev Wijesinghe, Ministry officials and family members of Pradeep Sanjaya were also present on the occasion.

Duncan White bagged the Silver Medal in the 400 metres in 1948 London Olympics. Susanthika Jayasinghe succeeded in winning the Silver Medal in the 200 metres during the Sydney Olympics in the year 2000. After these historic achievements, it was Pradeep Sanjaya, who sacrificed one of his arms on behalf of the country in the Kilinochchi battlefield, succeeded in bringing fame to his motherland at the 2012 London Paralympic Games. He will also receive the due respect and honour of the all sports fans as well the nation for the magnificent contribution he had made to enhance Sri Lanka’s image in the world through the field of sports.

Pictures are seen here the President takes a closer look at Pradeep’s Paralympic Bronze Medal and another precious medal he has won in his married life.

By Janaka Alahapperuma

ඕනෑම කණ්ඩායමක් පරාජය කිරීමේ හැකියාව අපට තියෙනවා – බංග්ලාදේශ නායක මුෂ්ෆිකර් රහිම්

ආසියානු කුසලාන තරගාවලියේදී ශ්‍රී ලංකාව හා ඉන්දියාව පරාජය කිරීම නිසා සිය ක්‍රීඩකයන් දැඩි විශ්වාසයකින් පසුවන බවත් විස්සයි20 ලෝක කුසලාන තරගාවලියට ඉදිරිපත්ව සිටින සමහර කණ්ඩායම්වලට වඩා බංග්ලාදේශය ශක්තිමත් බවත් නායක මුෂ්ෆිකර් රහිම් පවසයි.

එම තරගාවලියේදී ඉතා හොඳින් ක්‍රීඩා කිරීමෙන් පසුව තම කණ්ඩායම සහභාගි වන පළමු ප්‍රධාන තරගාවලිය මෙය බවත් දවසේ තුන් ඉරියව්වෙන්ම දක්ෂ ලෙසින් ක්‍රීඩා කළොත් ජය නියත යැයිද රහිම් ඊයේ කොළඹ සිනමන් ග්‍රෑන්ඩ් හෝටලයේදී දෙස් විදෙස් මාධ්‍යවේදීන් හමුවේ කියා සිටියේය.

උපරිමයෙන් තරගයට අනුගත වීම විස්සයි20 ක්‍රීඩාවේදී ඉතා වැදගත් බව කී බංග්ලාදේශ නායකයා, වමතින් දඟ පන්දු යවන්නන් හා තුන් ඉරියව්වෙන්ම කැපී පෙනෙන ක්‍රීඩකයන් තම කණ්ඩායම සතුව සිටින බව අනාවරණය කළේය.

“අපට දක්ෂ දඟ පන්දු යවන්නන් ඉන්නවා. පල්ලෙකැලේ තණතීරුව වඩාත් හොඳ වේග පන්දු යවන්නන්ට බව අපි දන්නවා. දක්ෂ වේග පන්දු යවන්නන්ද අප සතුව ඉන්නවා. අපේ ක්‍රීඩකයන් කිහිප දෙනෙක් ශ්‍රී ලංකා ප්‍රිමියර් ලීගයේ සෙල්ලම් කළා. එයාලා මේ පිට්ටනිවල දස්කම් දැක්වුවා. ඕනෑම කණ්ඩායමක් පරාජය කිරීමේ හැකියාවක් අපට තිබෙනවා” යැයි රහිම් වැඩි දුරටත් කීවේය.

වර්නන් ගුණසේකර

Source: Dinamina (Sri Lanka)

Afridi says morale of Pakistanis is high

Dashing batsman and the third highest wicket taker in international Twenty20 cricket, Pakistan’s Shahid Afridi said that the series win against Australia boosted their morale ahead of the World T20 tournament which starts next Tuesday in Hambantota.

“If you played a game against a world class team and we won the series. The morale is very high now. We have two warm up games ahead of the tournament and we will try to adjust ourselves to these conditions” said the former Pakistani skipper.

Pakistan is a team that has shown some outstanding colours throughout the years. They were the World T20 runner up in 2007 and went on to win the championship in the next edition of the tournament.

Asked what he thinks about that, Afridi said that it was a great occasion for them. “I still remember the semi-final and the final. I was the man of the match in both big games.”

Playing in the top level in T20 cricket, Pakistanis are T20 experts. “If we look at our team members, they like playing positive and they are also aggressive.

They like playing lots of cricket and we started playing this kind of cricket about 20- 25 years ago in the club level. So we know how to play this game” Afridi said.

Pakistan open their Group D campaign on Sept. 23, when they meet New Zealand at Pallekele. The third team in their group is Bangladesh.

The 32-year-old cricketer is one of the world’s most experienced players at the moment, having played 349 ODIs, 27 Tests and 50 T20 Internationals. Having grabbed 58 wickets, Afridi is the third-highest wicket-taker in the game’s shortest format, behind his teammates, Saeed Ajmal and Umar Gul.

Meanwhile experienced Pakistani campaigner Abdur Razzak said that their experience at the recently concluded Sri Lanka Premier league was a good one. “It was a good experience. Cricket was played at a very high standard” he added.

Razzak said that they are ready for the warm up matches against India and England, after successfully taking on Australia in a three-match T20 series few days ago.

“Everybody is confident and our team is geared up. We have only two warm up games, against India and England. So hopefully we would do well and ready to for the T20 World Cup.

Source: Daily News (Sri Lanka)

සේනාධිනායක සම්මාන!

ලන්ඩන් – 2012 පැරාලිම්පික්‌ තරගාවලියේ මීටර 400 ඉසව්වේ ලෝකඩ පදක්‌කම දිනා ශ්‍රී ලංකා යුද්ධ හමුදාවටත්, පොදුවේ සකල ශ්‍රී ලංකාවටත් ඉමහත් ගෞරවයක්‌ ගෙනදුන් ශ්‍රී ලංකා යුද්ධ හමුදා සිංහ රෙජමේන්තුවේ ලාන්ස්‌ කෝප්‍රල් නිල හෙබවූ ප්‍රදීප් සංජය, එසැනින් ද්විත්ව උසස්‌වීම් ලබා සැරයන් ධුරයට පත් වුවද, ඉනිදු සෑහීමට පත් නොවූ, සේනාධිනායක ජනාධිපති මහින්ද රාජපක්‌ෂ මහතා විසින් ප්‍රදීප් සංජයට මාණ්‌ඩලික සැරයන් ධුරයට උසස්‌ කිරීමට උත්සුක විය.

Source: Divaina (Sri Lanka)

President Mahinda Rajapaksa promoted Paralympic bronze medal winner Pradeep Sanjaya to the post of staff Sergeant and gifted him Rs. 4.5 million rupees and a block of land.

Source: Daily Mirror (Sri Lanka)

’18’ සම්මත කර ගැනීමෙන් මෙරට ප්‍රජාතන්ත්‍රවාදය අහෝසි වුණා

ශ්‍රී ලංකාව තුළ ප්‍රජාතන්ත්‍රවාදය ස්‌ථාපිත කර ඇතැයි ජනාධිපතිවරයා ජාත්‍යන්තරයට ප්‍රකාශ කළද 18 වැනි ආණ්‌ඩුක්‍රම ව්‍යවස්‌ථාව සම්මත කර ගැනීම නිසා මෙරට ප්‍රජාතන්ත්‍රවාදය සම්පූර්ණයෙන්ම අහෝසි වූ බව ගම්පහ දිස්‌ත්‍රික්‌ එක්‌සත් ජාතික පක්‍ෂ පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත්‍රී රුවන් විජේවර්ධන මහතා ඊයේ (13 වැනිදා) පැවැසීය.

එම 18 වැනි ආණ්‌ඩුක්‍රම ව්‍යවස්‌ථාව ගෙන ඒමට කටයුතු කළ ජනාධිපති මහින්ද රාජපක්‍ෂ මහතාම මෙරට ප්‍රජාතන්ත්‍රවාදය පිළිබඳව කතා කිරීම පුදුම සහගත බවත් අද රට තුළ ප්‍රජාතන්ත්‍රවාදය සහ නීතිය වල් වැදී ඇති අතර ආණ්‌ඩු පක්‍ෂයට වෙනම නීතියකුත්, විපක්‍ෂයට සහ රටේ ජනතාවට වෙනම නීතියකුත් ක්‍රියාත්මක වන බවද හෙතෙම කීය.

වත්මන් රජය මෙරට තුළ ප්‍රජාතන්ත්‍රවාදය වෙනුවට කැලෑ නීතිය ස්‌ථාපිත කොට ඇති බවත් විපක්‍ෂ නායක කාර්යාලයේදී ඊයේ (13 දා) පැවැති මාධ්‍ය හමුවේදී පැවසූ රුවන් විඡේවර්ධන මහතා අද ජනතාව ඉදිරිපිට ඇත්තේ අවනීතිය, දූෂණය, වංචාව වැනි දේවල් බවද කියා සිටියේය.

අකිත පෙරේරා
Source: Divaina (Sri Lanka)

Visiting Sinhalese do not face difficulty – Jaya

Chief Minister Jayalalithaa today defended her action of sending back home Lankan football players, indicating it was a symbolic gesture to express opposition to the delay in Tamils getting justice but said her government is “determined” to ensure that Sinhalese visiting the state as tourists and pilgrims don’t face any difficulty.

“I banned Sri Lankan football players from being trained in Tamil Nadu to express the state’s opposition and sentiments as Lankan Tamils have not received justice so far,” she said claiming this had drawn her praise from Tamils the world over.

“However, my government is determined and working to ensure Sinhalese visiting the state as tourists and pilgrims do not face any difficulty,” she said at a function in Tamil Nadu.

On Sept 3, over 150 Sri lankan pilgrims on a visit to a holy shrine faced protests from local pro-Tamil outfits who allegedly attacked their convoy, forcing their early return, a day after Jayalalithaa had ordered sending back home a Lankan football team.

Her action came against the backdrop of her consistent opposition to India training Lankan military personnel, saying that nation’s forces had committed war crimes against Tamils.

Jayalalithaa’s arch rival DMK chief M Karunanidhi had flayed her action, saying his party was not averse to India’s cultural and sporting ties with Sri Lanka, but to training of Lankan defence personnel by India.

Taking a dig at Karunanidhi, she said while he had not questioned Centre on matters that were against Tamils, he was, however, slamming her action aimed at Tamils’ welfare.

“When Tamils were being killed in Lanka (during Army-LTTE war),Centre acted in favour of that government and its army.It has not strongly opposed Indian fishermen being attacked by Lankan Navy and he who is unable to question the Centre for these is flaying my efforts aimed at Lankan Tamils,” she said without naming Karunanidhi.

She recalled her efforts, such as the state assembly passing a resolution demanding that India lead other countries to impose economic sanctions on Colombo for ensuring equal status to Tamils besides asking Centre not to train Lankan military personnel in India.
Jayalalithaa was speaking at a function here to mark the launch of various government initiatives.

Source: PTI

Northern development impresses C’wealth visitors

The Commonwealth Parliamentary Conference delegation which toured the North yesterday, commended the government on its resettlement work and development in the former war zone.

New Zealand National List MP Kanwaljit Singh Bakshi said the resettlement process in the North was impressive and the government’s approach in the development process in the area was in the right direction.

“This is also so with the reconciliation effort,” he said.

Bakshi said the houses given to IDPs were of a high standard and it was important the IDPs had a good home.

“We see a lot of things happening everywhere. We have to forget the past and live with the present for the future,” he said.

South African Parliamentarian Patricia Mahlo said the Northern development process was excellent and the government was doing a commendable job.

“Roads are being well constructed. This is so with everything else. Anybody can visit Sri Lanka. The country has a peaceful environment.”

Parliamentarian of Calgary, North-East Canada, Devinder Shory said sections in Canada say the Security Forces in Jaffna outnumber civilians here, but from what he witnessed the Forces’ presence was minimal.

The delegates of around 55 from Canada, Barbados, Bangladesh, India and South Africa and Commonwealth Parliamentary Association Secretary – General Dr William F Shija also participated. The delegation was received at the Palali Airport by Minister Douglas Devananda, Jaffna Mayor J Yogeshwari and Security Forces Headquarters Commander, Jaffna, Major General Mahinda Hathurusinghe.

Thereafter, they were accompanied to a briefing on the development activities in Northern Province.

The delegation later visited the historic Nallur Temple.

Source: Daily News (Sri Lanka)

SL must honour its promises – C’wealth

The Commonwealth charged that if the Government of Sri Lanka failed to deliver on its promises to the international community regarding reconciliation, then the very credibility of the Commonwealth would be challenged.

“It would be singularly unfortunate if the international community was to lose faith in the will and ability of the Sri Lankan government to resolve peacefully and collectively its domestic challenges. This might put the Commonwealth itself in a delicate position for it would give ammunition to those critics who claim that it lacks the influence necessary to define itself as a major intergovernmental force,” said Sir Alan Haselhurst MP, the Chairman of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA) Executive Committee, yesterday.

Sir Alan offered Sri Lanka the Commonwealth’s support and technical assistance in the reconciliation process. “CPA can work discreetly with Sri Lankan Members of Parliament in a structured programme embracing capacity-building, post-conflict reconciliation and constitutional and electoral workshops to help them maximise their role in the delivery of peace and accord,” he said.  He made these comments at the Lakshamn Kadirgamar Memorial Lecture.

He said the Commonwealth had confidence in Sri Lanka’s ability to solve its issues in a timely manner. “CPA’s presence here in conference is a testimony to our belief in your intent to embed our Commonwealth values deeper into your constitution as your settlement progresses,” he said.

By Dianne Silva

Source: Daily Mirror (Sri Lanka)

 

Food Festival – Heathrow Athula Dassana International Buddhist Temple

Athula Dassana International Buddhist temple held a food festival successfully at the Church of our Lady, Queen of Afostles, The green Heston road, TW5 0RL on Sunday 9th September 2012. It was a special day for all Sri Lankans and for everybody from other communities. Devotees and other members of the community could remember the past event of food festival of the last year organised by this temple under the guidance of the head of the temple Ven. Wanduramba Kassapa Thero.

The second year running  of food festival event to meet people from different communities, and chance to taste Sri Lankan traditional foods.

The main sponsor of the event was Mr Ranga Ranasinghege (Tilina Sri Lanka Exchange).They gave us  great support for success of this event. Our co – sponsors were the VMD solicitors, SL Bits bakery, Atlas shipping Line Company and Desawan radio.

The chief guests were Father. Simon T D Nguyen, Hounslow Councillor Mrs Amar Grewal, solicitor Daminda Gunatilake, Film producer Jayantha Jayathilake and they lighted the traditional oil lamp.

We were delighted to have a great selection of the traditional Sri Lankan foods. It’s mainly taste of buffet with including traditional Sri Lankan foods and also with other tastes.   As well as had a  opportunity to buy all of the foods, with  Sri Lankan sweets,   and other short eats and drink on offer price, as they wish. At the last part of event there was a raffle draw and all  had a chance to win something. The lucky winners won the gift vouchers which were donated by the sponsors for the food festival event.

More than 300 visitors came to taste the Sri Lankan foods. There was a wide range of Sri Lankan food and drinks. And many devotees of the temple and sponsors  gave great support for success of this event.

The Athula Dassana temple opened on the 7th July 2011 and held number of various religious, cultural and social services to the community.

58th Commonwealth Parliamentary Conference

President Rajapaksa declares open the 58th CPA Conference in Colombo By Janaka Alahapperuma from London.

President Mahinda Rajapaksa officially inaugurated the 58th Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA) Conference at the Nelum Pokuna Mahinda Rajapaksa Performance Arts Theatre this morning on 11 September. Upon arrival at the main entrance, President Rajapaksa was cordially welcomed by the current Chairman of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association. Chamal Rajapaksa. The President accompanied with the First Lady Shiranthi Rajapaksa. Commonwealth Secretary General Kamalesh Sharma, Chairperson of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association International Executive Committee Sir Alan Haselhurst, Secretary General of the CPA Dr William A Shija and the Opposition Leader of the Sri Lanka parliament Ranil Wickramasinghe also joined to welcome the President. Over 1,000 delegates including 800 speakers and parliamentarians from 54 Commonwealth countries are participating in the Conference.

  • Impressions of Sri Lanka in foreign countriesare based on un-verified facts, deliberately manipulated disinformation and fictionscarried out by individuals who once supported terrorism
  • Same elements continue to sow the seeds of division and separatism through various media, and also influence politicians in their new countries of domicile, to act against Sri Lanka, based on such disinformation.
  • Sri Lanka is one of the earliest members of the CPA. Our parliamentary democracy has been continued through the past 81years since Sri Lanka is the first country in Asia to have universal franchise,from as far back as 1931
  • Sri Lanka has produced the world’s firstwoman Prime Minister.  This fact has enabled to enhance women’sparticipation in the democratic process in the country. President Rajapaksa, the Vice Patron of the Commonwealth ParliamentaryAssociation
presided over the inaugural session said that it has been possible to conductthe summit in Sri Lanka due to the peaceful environment prevailing in thecountry.   He added that the conference is extremely important to show theinternational community the manner democracy has been established in thecountry after defeating three decades long terrorism. It has been proventhrough the recent provincial council election that the democratic rights ofthe people in the country have been preserved.  The President further saidthat the Northern Provincial Council election will be held in next year.  Addressing the CPA Conference, the President stated more than 300,000persons affected by terrorism have already been resettled in theirvillages.  The government is in the process of taking maximum measures forthe welfare of the masses.  Sri Lanka has achieved an economic growth of 8percent last year.  The President added that the government hascommenced implementing the recommendations of the Presidential commission onLessons Learnt and Reconciliation (LLRC), appointed to look into the incidentsthat had taken place during the terrorist era.
He further said the impressions of Sri Lanka in foreign countries are basedon un-verified facts, deliberately manipulated disinformation and fictions carriedout by individuals who once supported terrorism. They influence politicians intheir new countries of domicile, to act against Sri Lanka.

“These same elements continue to sow the seeds of division and separatism through various media, and also influence politicians in their new countries of domicile, to act against Sri Lanka, based on such disinformation. These are people who claim to speak for Sri Lanka or a section of our people, while slandering the country from their shelters abroad”, the President charged.

“They do not bother to contribute to the reconciliation and development taking place here. But worse, they do not even contribute to the progress of the people whose cause they claim to champion, from their activities abroad. You can now see the truth and return to your countries with a deeper and richer understanding of Sri Lanka.”

He further said that democracy or representative democracy is today competing for headlines with various emerging national or regional springs. We must be cautious of all these strategies that experience shows have not helped real democracy to take root and thrive.

As one of the earliest members of the CPA, Sri Lanka is glad to host this important international parliamentary conference and that our parliamentary democracy has been continued through the past 81 years since Sri Lanka is the first country in Asia to have universal franchise, from as far back as 1931, President Rajapaksa said on the opening day of the conference at the Nelum Pokuna Mahinda Rajapaksa Performance Arts Theatre.

Speaker and current CPA Chairman Chamal Rajapaksa said; “This will be the biggest event to be held in Sri Lanka since the end of terrorism and an opportunity for the country to showcase firsthand the progress made, to global policy makers”. This year’s conference under the theme ‘Ensuring a Relevant Commonwealth for the Future’ would discuss the common problems of the zonal member countries and would find solutions collaboratively, the Speaker said. Among the issues that will be discussed are rule of law and human rights, role of parliaments, conflict resolution and peace- building, gender-responsive governance, terrorism, and youth unemployment.

The Philatelic Bureau of Sri Lanka has issued a commemorative postage stamp and First Day cover to mark the 3rd CPA Conference in Colombo. Posts and Telecommunications Minister Jeevan Kumaratunga handed over the First Day Covers to the President, CPA and Commonwealth delegates at the opening ceremony. Ministers, parliamentarians, Secretary General of the Parliament Dhammika Dassanayaka, government officials, large number of distinguished guests and local and foreign journalists were present at the occasion.

The 32nd small branches conference and its executive committee meetings were held at Galadari Hotel yesterday. Today is the fifth day of the Conference of Commonwealth Parliamentarians and presiding officers of state or provinces. A cultural show featuring Sri Lanka’s traditional dances and songs native to various parts of Sri Lanka was held at the Nelum Pokuna Arts Theatre yesterday (Monday 10) for the delegates.  Deputy Speaker Chandima Weerakkody said artistes from various parts of the island performed traditional dances and songs. It was followed by a dinner hosted by Speaker Chamal Rajapaksa for over 1200 invitees, delegates, 225 members of the Sri Lankan Parliament and dignitaries representing the country in various spheres. This is the third time Sri Lanka hosts the CPA conference in Colombo. Previously Sri Lanka has hosted the CPA Conference in 1974 and 1995. The Conference sessions will be held until 15th September.  Sri Lanka is scheduled to host next Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in 2013.

Pix by: Sudath Silva

Full speech delivered by President Mahinda Rajapaksa at the ceremonial opening of the 58th Annual CPA Conference held in Colombo is as follows.

Hon. Speaker of the Parliament of Sri Lanka and President of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Conference

Secretary General of the Commonwealth Secretary General of the CPA   Excellencies   Members of the CPA Distinguished delegates and   Honoured Guests

As the current Vice Patron of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association, I am pleased to welcome all delegates to this 58th Commonwealth Parliamentary Conference in Colombo and honoured to address you on this occasion. This is an organization with a long and distinguished history in the annals of modern democracy. It was begun in 1911, as the Empire Parliamentary Association, when the British Empire was at the height of its strength, when the Sun never set upon it. Later, as the success of key freedom movements from imperialism and colonialism succeeded, as in India and Sri Lanka – then Ceylon, it was changed to the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association, as we know it today. Sri Lanka, as one of the earliest members of the CPA, is glad to host this important international parliamentary conference for the third occasion. It is also important to recall that Sri Lanka is among the members of the CPA, having one of the oldest traditions in parliamentary democracy, being the first country in Asia to have universal franchise, from as far back as 1931.We have continued this tradition of parliamentary democracy through the past 81 years, protecting it from those who plotted against it, both in uniform and through insurrection. More recently, we protected our democratic system, and the democratic rights of all our people, against what has been correctly described as the most ruthless terrorist organization in the world. At a time of clashes between democracy and terror, we have shown the world that terrorism can be effectively defeated, and the cherished values of democracy restored to people who were denied it for nearly three decades.

Excellencies, Honoured Guests,
You are meeting here today, just three days after democratic elections were successfully conducted to three Provincial Councils in the country, and you may be observing how the people have freely expressed their choice. Sri Lanka’s long tradition of parliamentary democracy has seen governments change via the ballot, and constitutions being similarly changed and amended. It is also noteworthy that among the first things done after the defeat of terrorism, first in the Eastern Province, and later in the entire country, was to quickly hold local government, provincial and national elections to obtain a proper mandate from the people, large sections of whom were deprived of their franchise by the forces of terror. In fact I myself sought a second term in office, even before the expiry of my first term, to obtain a truly national mandate, because the terrorists whose agents are still active in some parts of the world, denied many people in the North and East the right to vote, the first time I sought the Presidency in November 2005. We will also hold elections to the Northern Provincial Council next year upholding the principles of democracy.

The many successful aspects of post-conflict developments have drawn much attention to Sri Lanka, especially the speed with which nearly 300,000 Internally Displaced Persons were re-settled. Another important aspect has been the efforts at national reconciliation, after a bloody conflict that dragged on for nearly three decades. It took less than two years from the end of the conflict to set up the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC). It was to learn from the lessons from the conflict, understand how we could avoid such situations again, provide justice to those who had been affected, and, most importantly, seek the path of reconciliation as a nation, through our own experiences. The recommendations of the LLRC are already being implemented, according to a well worked out Plan of Action that we have presented to the nation and the world.

Excellencies, Honored Guests,
With our undoubted commitment to parliamentary democracy, we have a keen interest in the work and progress of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association. Your efforts to promote parliamentary democracy by enhancing knowledge and understanding of democratic governance, and interest in building an informed parliamentary community among the member nations, has our strongest support. The many educational programmes on parliamentary practice and procedure, the efforts at studying matters of regional importance in the development of democracy, the study of democratic systems in the world’s smallest nations, the efforts to train knowledgeable and efficient parliamentary staff, are all in keeping with the goal of strengthening democracy in the world. A matter of special importance is the work of the Commonwealth Women Parliamentarians to increase female representations in Parliament and recognizing the importance of gender considerations in all activities of the CPA.

As the country that produced the first elected woman Prime Minister of the world, Sri Lanka is particularly interested in the moves to assist in encouraging the professional contribution of women in democratic bodies, from local authorities to parliaments. As an organization that seeks to strengthen representative democracy, your efforts to ensure the conduct of free and fair elections are most encouraging. Similarly, your focus on countries with new or revived parliamentary systems is very useful, especially with the high intake of new members to parliaments after each election.

Distinguished Guests
The vast resources of human experience available to the CPA, which has 175 branches and17,000 parliamentarians at the most recent count, places it, in an excellent position to contribute to better understanding of practice and procedure in parliaments, examine international trading systems, and look at new policies on science in an age of rapidly advancing technology. It will also be extremely useful to explore increasing trade among Commonwealth countries and devise ways to facilitate such trade.

Excellencies, Honored Guests,
I have no doubt that the CPA has achieved much success in realizing the aims of its Strategic Plan 2008 – 2012, especially in assisting Members and Branches to adopt good practice of democratic governance and strengthen the institution of Parliament. You have no doubt helped the Commonwealth deepen its democratic commitment, in big and small nations by promoting best principles of representative government that removes barriers to equality in gender, community, faith and other aspects that seek to limit democracy. This Conference in Colombo will discuss and decide on the CPA’s new Strategic Plan for the next four years. This is a good time to think of strengthening the core values of democracy. Our work should not be confined to theories and concepts but should look at the more practical aspects that affect the people. Our emphasis on the will of the people should lead us to give the most importance to policies that best serve the interests the people. There is the need to give the highest priority to the welfare of the people, to economic progress and development that positively impact on the lives of people. In this context, it will be interesting to look at Sri Lanka’s own record of success through democracy. Our achievements in education and health stand out as examples to other countries and societies. Our 96 per cent literacy is a proud record that has come from the blend of democracy, with a great tradition of education that came down from Buddhism and later advanced through the Christian churches. Similarly, our success in providing free health services to all also comes from a great tradition of healing that was advanced through democracy.

It is also important to note that Sri Lanka achieved 8 per cent GDP growth last year, and the year before, after 6 and 7 per cent growth earlier even during the battle against terrorism because of our commitment to the people and the values of democracy. It is our strong belief that therecannot be peace without development. The reverse is also true; there cannot be development without peace. These are all subjects of much relevance today. One must look forward to this conference recognizing the proper priorities in furthering the democratic process. You will no doubt take into consideration the current global realities that often seem to threaten proper and effective democracy, and also seek to challenge the sovereignty of nation states.

Distinguished Delegates,
Your presence in Sri Lanka gives you a good opportunity to see for yourselves the progress of democracy in our country, after the major threat it faced under terrorism. This is important in the context of the barrage of lies being spread about Sri Lanka today. As you will see, there is full freedom of travel to any part of the country. You can also speak to anyone, from Government or the Opposition and different communities. I urge you to make use of this opportunity to learn of the real Sri Lanka, in its post-conflict era, when the highest priority is given to nation building through reconciliation.

It is unfortunate that today, many impressions of Sri Lanka in foreign countries, are based on un-verified facts, and wrong or deliberately manipulated disinformation, carried out by those who once supported the forces of terror. These same elements continue to sow the seeds of division and separatism through various media, and also influence politicians in their new countries of domicile, to act against Sri Lanka, based on such disinformation. These are people who claim to speak for Sri Lanka or a section of our people, while slandering the country from their shelters abroad. They do not bother to contribute to the reconciliation and development taking place here. But worse, they do not even contribute to the progress of the people whose cause they claim to champion, from their activities abroad. You can now see the truth and return to your countries with a deeper and richer understanding of Sri Lanka.

Honored Guests,
In seeking to advance democracy in the world, which is the commitment of the CPA, it is also important to appreciate the different cultures and values of each country where democracy has been rooted, or is growing. The Commonwealth is a rich diversity of nations with the common bond of democracy. It is also a rich diversity of cultures, traditions and values. There are countries where culture and heritage date back to many millennia. There are others with shorter histories and traditions. Democracy will truly blossom when these differences are best understood and respected in all our dealings with each other. It is necessary for all of us to be anchored in the true meaning and concept of democracy – which is the will of the people – freely expressed. Recently, we saw fears of this in the very Mother of Democracy, in the early stage of the current financial crisis in Europe. There is also an unfortunate trend we see of efforts to impose democracy on people and States. There are many who seem to think of regime change as the necessary path to democracy, without seeing theconsequences of such action that stare at us today. We are also aware of how Human Rights can be made a slogan by the worst violators of such rights, to threaten traditional democracies. Democracy, or representative democracy, is today competing for headlines with various emerging national or regional springs. There is also the hum of drones that seek to bomb democracy into place with a carpet of destruction. We must be cautious of all these strategies that experience shows have not helped real democracy to take root and thrive.

It is necessary to bear in mind that democracy does not foster hatred within societies, among communities and among nations and countries. Democracy stands for unity of purpose in a spirit of mutual understanding. In conclusion, I wish to state that having your conference in a vibrant democracy, where the will of the people has been cherished, and protected for eight decades and more, there is every hope that your deliberations, amidst the well springs of democracy that prevail in our land, will produce the best results for parliamentary democracy in the Commonwealth and the world.

It is our strong belief that there that your deliberations, amidst the well springs of democracy that prevail in our land, will produce the best results for parliamentary democracy in the Commonwealth and the world.

May you be blessed by the Noble Triple Gem!

Serving the Sri Lankan community – A Consular Mobile Service organized by Sri Lanka High Commission in the UK

The High Commission of Sri Lanka in London held a full day mobile service at Judgemeadow Community College in Leicester on 2nd September 2012 to provide consular services to the Sri Lankan community living in the Leicester area. The services included registration of births, renewal of passports, acceptance of applications for new passports and other consular services.

This was organized under the guidance of Mr. Chaminda Kularatne (Attorney-at-Law) Head of the Consular and Immigration Division of the High Commission of Sri Lanka in London in collaboration with the “Sri Lanka Muslim Diaspora Initiative UK” , which is present across Britain.

A large number of individuals from all communities in Sri Lanka and residing in Leicester, Manchester and Birmingham benefited from this mobile service. This is part of a wider programme to take the High Commission’s services directly to the Sri Lankan community. This is the second mobile service conducted this year. The High Commission intends to provide similar mobile assistance in other cities of Britain in the future.

As part of this, a mega cricket tournament was also organised, bringing together the Sinhalese, Tamil and Muslim communities in the UK.

High Commissioner, Dr. Chris Nonis also participated at this event and thanked the organising committee for making it a reality .He shared with the gathering details about the recent progress and development inSri Lankaand encouraged members of all the communities to get together and contribute towardsSri Lankain the post conflict era.

Staff of the Consular and Immigration Division of the High Commission volunteered their services to make the event a success.

High Commission of Sri Lanka
London
11th September 2012.

මුස්‌ලිම් කොංග්‍රසයෙන් රජයට කොන්දේසි

නැගෙනහිර පළාත් සභාවේ එක්‌සත් ජනතා නිදහස්‌ සන්ධානයට බලය පිහිටුවීම සඳහා සහාය ලබාදීමට ශ්‍රී ලංකා මුස්‌ලිම් කොංග්‍රසය විසින් ආණ්‌ඩුවට කොන්දේසි මාලාවක්‌ ඉදිරිපත් කර තිsබේ. නැගෙනහිර පළාත් ඇමැති මණ්‌ඩලයේ ඇමැති ධුර දෙකක්‌ කොංග්‍රසයට ලබාදීම, සන්ධානයට හිමි ප්‍රසාද මන්ත්‍රී ධුරයක්‌ කොංග්‍රසයට ලබාදීම, මධ්‍යම ආණ්‌ඩුවෙන් එක්‌ ඇමැති ධුරයක්‌ හා නියෝජ්‍ය ඇමැති ධුරයක්‌ හෝ නියෝජ්‍ය ඇමැති ධුර 03 ක්‌ කොංග්‍රසයට ලබා දීම ප්‍රධාන කොන්දේසි අතර වන බව එම පක්‍ෂ ආරංචි මාර්ග පවසයි.

මෙයට අමතරව බලය බෙදා හැරීමේදී අනුගමනය කළ යුතු කරුණු ද රජයට ඉදිරිපත් කර ඇතැයි වාර්තා වේ.

මේ කොන්දේසි සන්ධානයේ නියෝජිතයන්ට ඉදිරිපත් කර ඇතැයිද ජනාධිපති මහින්ද රාජපක්‍ෂ මහතා සමග සාකච්ඡා කිරීමෙන් පසුව අවසන් එකඟතාවකට පැමිණීමට නියමිත බවද වාර්තා වෙයි.

මෙම කොන්දේසි පිළිබඳව පක්‍ෂයේ නැගෙනහිර පළාත් නියෝaaaජිතයන් දැනුවත් කර ඇති අතර ඊයේ රාත්‍රි පක්‍ෂයේ උත්තරීතර මණ්‌ඩලයට ඉදිරිපත් කිරීමටද නියමිතව තිබිණි.

මේ අතර දෙමළ ජාතික සන්ධානයට සහාය ලබාදී මහ ඇමැති ධුරය ලබා ගත යුතු බවට පක්‍ෂයේම තවත් පිරිසක්‌ යෝජනා කර ඇතැයි වාර්තා වේ.

රනිල් ධර්මසේන

Source: Divaina (Sri Lanka)

No restrictions on visiting UN team: GL

The team from the United Nations Human Rights High Commissioner’s Office due to visit the country on Friday will be free of restrictions, External Affairs Minister G.L Peries said today.

“The team that is to visit will not be restricted in anyway, they will be allowed to travel anywhere they wish and engage with various parties. We will provide full visibility and transparency—there is no need to hide anything,” he said at a news conference.

He reiterated the fact that the team arriving in the island as a precursor to the visit of Human Rights High Commissioner Navi Pillay was in no way related to the resolution adopted against Sri Lanka at the UNHRC sessions in March.

The Minister also claimed that there had been no “shift” in the government’s stance towards a visit by Ms. Pillay.

By Dianne Silva

Source: Daily Mirror (Sri Lanka)

‘ලෝක ප්‍රජාතන්ත්‍රවාදයට ශ්‍රී ලංකාව ආදර්ශයක්‌’ – පොදුරද මඬුලු පාර්ලිමේන්තු සංගම් සමුළුව අමතමින් ජනපති කියයි

ලෝක ප්‍රජාතන්ත්‍රවාදය සඳහා ශ්‍රී ලංකාව ආදර්ශයක්‌ බව ජනාධිපති මහින්ද රාජපක්‍ෂ මහතා ඊයේ (11 දා) පොදු රාජ්‍ය මණ්‌ඩල පාර්ලිමේන්තු සංගමයේ පනස්‌ අටවැනි සමුළුව නිල වශයෙන් ආරම්භ කරමින් නෙළුම් පොකුණ රඟහලේදී ප්‍රකාශ කළේය.

මෙරට ප්‍රජාතන්ත්‍රවාදය අභියෝගයට ලක්‌ව ඇතැයි ඇතැම් රටවලින් චෝදනා එල්ල වූ බව ද ඒවාට ශ්‍රී ලංකාව නිසි පිළිතුරු සපයා ඇතැයි ද හෙතෙම කීය.

යුද්ධයකට මැදි වී සිටි මෙරට නැඟෙනහිර පළාතේ ජනතාවට සිය අභිමතය පරිදි ස්‌වකීය නියෝජිතයන් තෝරා පත්කර ගැනීමට මැතිවරණයක්‌ ද පසුගියදා පැවැති බව ජනාධිපතිවරයා මෙහිදී කියා සිටියේය.

ඒ ආකාරයෙන්ම උතුරේ ජනතාවට ලබන වසරේදී සිය පළාත් සභාව සඳහා නියෝජිතයන් පත්කර ගැනීමට අවස්‌ථාව සපයන බවත් හෙතෙම වැඩිදුරටත් පැවැසීය.

පොදු රාජ්‍ය මණ්‌ඩල රාජ්‍ය නායක සංගමයේ මහ ලේකම් කමලේෂ් ෂර්මා මහතා, පොදු රාජ්‍ය මණ්‌ඩල පාර්ලිමේන්තු සංගමයට අයත් රටවල් පනස්‌ හතරේ කථානායකවරු ඇතුළු එම රටවල මැති ඇමැතිවරුන් අටසිය පනහකට ආසන්න පිරිසක්‌ මෙම සමාරම්භක උත්සවයට පැමිණ සිටියහ.

පොදු රාජ්‍ය මණ්‌ඩල පාර්ලිමේන්තු සංගමයේ සභාපති කථානායක චමල් රාජපක්‍ෂ මහතා, විධායක කමිටු සභාපති හැසල් හර්ට්‌ මහතා ඇතුළු පිරිසක්‌ විසින් නෙළුම් පොකුණ රඟහල් ශාලාවේ පිවිසුම් දොරටුව ඉදිරිපිට දී ජනාධිපති මහින්ද රාජපක්‍ෂ මහතා පිළිගන්නා ලදී.

ජාතික ගීය වාදනය කළ පසුව කථානායක චමල් රාජපක්‍ෂ මහතා විසින් පොදු රාජ්‍ය මණ්‌ඩලයීය පාර්ලිමේන්තු සංගමයේ අනුශාසක එංගලන්තයේ දෙවැනි එළිසබෙත් මහ රැජන විසින් එවා තිබූ සුබ පැතුම් පණිවිඩය කියවන ලදී. ඉන් පසු කථානායකවරයා විසින් සමුළුවට සහභාගි වූ රාජ්‍ය තාන්ත්‍රිකයන් පිළිගන්නා ලදී.

පොදු රාජ්‍ය මණ්‌ඩල පාර්ලිමේන්තු සංගමයේ නියෝජ්‍ය අනුශාසක, ජනාධිපති මහින්ද රාජපක්‍ෂ මහතා පනස්‌ අටවැනි සමුළුව නිල වශයෙන් ආරම්භ කිරීමේ ප්‍රකාශය ඉදිරිපත් කළේය.

පොදු රාජ්‍ය මණ්‌ඩල පාර්ලිමේන්තු සංගමයේ විධායක කමිටුවේ සභාපති ඇලන් හැසල් හර්ට්‌ මහතා සමුළුව ඇමතීමෙන් පසුව ජනාධිපති මහින්ද රාජපක්‍ෂ මහතා පොදු රාජ්‍ය මණ්‌ඩල පාර්ලිමේන්තු සංගමයේ පනස්‌ අටවැනි සමුළුව ඇමතුවේය.

සමාරම්භක උළෙල අවසන් වූ පසුව සියලු රටවල රාජ්‍ය තාන්ත්‍රිකයෝa ජනාධිපති මහින්ද රාජපක්‍ෂ මහතා සමඟ සමූහ ඡායාරූපයකට ද පෙනී සිටියහ.

අජිත් අලහකෝන් – අකිත පෙරේරා

Source: Divaina (Sri Lanka)

SL seeks transparency in OHCHR funding

Sri Lanka on Monday referred to the necessity for constructive engagement by states to increase transparency in the funding and staffing of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), as a means of enhancing the institution’s credibility, efficiency and independence.

Speaking at 21st Regular Session of the Human Rights Council in Geneva on Monday, Ravinatha Aryasinha, the permanent representative of Sri Lanka and leader of the Sri Lankan delegation said, “Sri Lanka is firmly committed to maintaining the independence of the OHCHR, and supports the High Commissioner in her efforts to fulfil her mandate as contained in GA resolution 48/141.  Towards this end, we see constructive engagement by states aimed at increasing transparency in funding and staffing of the OHCHR, as a means of enhancing the institution’s credibility, efficiency and independence.

“We also encourage special procedures to vigilantly and vigorously observe the provisions as delineated in HRC Resolution 5/2 and the Code of Conduct as annexed, in the execution of their respective mandates, through a professional and impartial assessment of facts, to maintain credibility.  For the effective and independent functioning of the OHCHR and the special procedures mandate holders, it is imperative that the majority of funding be derived from the OHCHR’s regular budget,” he said.

The ambassador also briefed the council on the current progress by Sri Lanka in keeping with Sri Lanka’s policy of continuous engagement with the UN System.

In his briefing, Mr. Aryasinha said, “Sri Lanka’s democratic credentials were yet again re-asserted 2 days ago with the successful conduct of Provincial Council elections, including in the previously conflict affected Eastern Province. The ruling coalition UPFA returned the highest number of seats in all three Provincial Councils that went to the polls – a clear endorsement by the Sri Lankan people of the policies of the government of President Mahinda Rajapaksa which has sought to meet the aspirations of all communities in the reconciliation process.

Source: Daily Mirror

Lankan posted death threats on girlfriend’s FB

A Sri Lankan man posted death threats on the Facebook wall of a waitress who spurned his marriage proposal – and sought the help of fellow users on how he should carry out the killing, an Abu Dhabi court heard.

Prosecutors said that SK, a 33-year-old Sri Lankan electrician, made the threat in March after the 24-year-old Filipina EK turned him down.

The waitress said she was working in an Abu Dhabi hotel when she met the electrician, who was also working there and that he proposed shortly afterwards.

“He kept on annoying me but then I got transferred to Dubai,” she said, adding that he did not stop calling her until she changed her mobile number. He then posted on her Facebook wall a message that read: “I need kill [EK] plz tell me how I will kill her.”

A friend of the waitress saw the post and told her to check her profile. The waitress then reported him to police.

The electrician told officers that the two were in love, but that he posted the message after she refused to pay back Dh1,000 he had lent her.

He confessed to a charge of using Facebook to make threats to kill, but denied sending a personal message carrying the same threat.

A verdict is expected on September 23.

Source: The National

An Ambassador of the Truth about SL

Parliamentarians and state officials representing 54 countries participating at the ongoing 58th Commonwealth Parliamentary Conference in Colombo could act as ambassadors in telling the world that Sri Lanka, is busy with development, committed to peace and cooperation and is on the path to rapid progress, the CPA General Secretary Dr. William F. Shija said.

Speaking to ‘Daily News’ on the sidelines of the CPA Executive Committee meeting at Hotel Hilton yesterday, Dr. Shija said, “We are here as eye witnesses to what is going on in Sri Lanka. So no one in future will tell us something different, unless some changes come” he added.

“We don’t need people who tell wrong stories. We need people who tell the right stories. I will be one of the Ambassadors to tell the right story” he said when questioned about his views on the post-conflict developments in Sri Lanka and views of the international community to the goings on in the country.

Dr. Shija who said he had visited some parts of the c country, including the North to see for himself the work been carried out on the ground said, that a lot of positives are happening which was very encouraging.

“We congratulate Sri Lanka for having overcome terrorism. We commend the country’s leadership and government on ending conflict and laying the foundation for rapid progress and reconciliation” he added.

With proper development taking place after a long drawn out conflict Dr.Shija said that the state should ensure its continuity and the world should support the endeavour.

In this regard he said unity among various partners in the country was the key. For this he said that parties need to accommodate each other and political parties need to tolerate each other with the prime focus being the peoples wellbeing.

“Tolerance and accommodation produce a stable society and this is what we think will happen in Sri Lanka” he noted.

Speaking on the conference Dr.Shija said that Sri Lanka had come forward and volunteered to hold the 58th conference which many countries at the time had highly appreciated.

So far he said the conference has been a success with all deliberations proceeding well. He also praised the arrangements laid out by the organizers.

Speaking about the aims of the conference Dr.Shija said that the main among them was promotion of parliamentary democracy. He said that the gathering was also focused on forging new partnerships and friendships with the aim of propagating peace, development and cooperation.

He said that the CPA will have a number of workshops with the purpose of propagating the usefulness of democratic practices.” This will help in building peace and that in turn would help development. For this to happen all should be open to dialogue and discussion to work towards cooperation” he added.

Rasika Somarathna and Sandasen Marasinghe

Source: Daily News (Sri Lanka)

 

සන්ධානයට විශිෂ්ට ජයක්‌

උතුරුමැද හා සබරගමුව පළාත් සභාවලින් ඉකුත් 2007 පළාත් සභා මැතිවරණයට වඩා ඡන්ද සංඛ්‍යාව හා බලය වැඩිකර ගැනීමට එජනිසයට හැකි විය. නැගෙනහිර පළාත් සභාව සන්ධානය ජයග්‍රහණය කළ නමුත් එහි බහුතර බලය හිමිකර ගැනීමට කිසිදු පක්‍ෂයකට හැකි නොවීය. මේ නිසා එම පළාත් සභාවේ බලය කුමන පක්‍ෂයක්‌ හිමිකර ගනීද යන්න මෙතෙක්‌ තීරණය කර නොමැත.

පළාත් සභා තුනෙහි මන්ත්‍රි ධුර 108 න් 57 ක්‌ එජනිසයට හිමි වූ අතර එජාපය 29 ක්‌ ලබා ගත්තේය. ඉලංකෙයි තමිල් අරසු කච්චි හෙවත් දෙමළ ජාතික සන්ධානයට 11 ක්‌ ද ශ්‍රී ලංකා මුස්‌ලිම් කොංග්‍රසයට 07 ක්‌ ද ලංකා කම්කරු කොංග්‍රසයට දෙකක්‌ ද ජනතා විමුක්‌ති පෙරමුණට හා ජාතික නිදහස්‌ පෙරමුණට එක බැගින් ද මන්ත්‍රී ධුර හිමි විය. ඉකුත් පළාත් සභා මැතිවරණයේදී ජවිපෙට මෙම පළාත් තුනෙන් මන්ත්‍රී ධුර 4 ක්‌ හිමිව තිබූ නමුත් මෙවර ඔවුන්ට හිමි වී ඇත්තේ එක්‌ මන්ත්‍රී ධුරයක්‌ පමණි.

මෙවර පළාත් තුනේම ලියාපදිංචි ඡන්ද සංඛ්‍යාවෙන් සියයට 60 ක්‌ පමණ ඡන්ද ප්‍රකාශ කර තිබේ. උතුරුමැද පළාතෙන් සියයට 64 ක්‌ ද නැගෙහිර පළාතෙන් සියයට 65.65 ක්‌ ද සබරගමුව පළාතෙන් සියයට 62.70 ක්‌ ද ඡන්දය ප්‍රකාශ කර ඇත.

ඡන්ද විමසීම සිදුකළ දිස්‌ත්‍රික්‌ක හතෙන් පහක්‌ ජයග්‍රහණය කිරීමට සන්ධානයට හැකි විය. ඒ අනුරාධපුර, පොලොන්නරුව, කෑගල්ල, රත්නපුරය හා අම්පාර වේ. එයින් අම්පාර හැර අනෙකුත් දිස්‌ත්‍රික්‌ක හතරේ සියලුම ඡන්ද කොට්‌ඨාසවල ජය සන්ධානයට හිමිවිය. එමෙන්ම මඩකලපුව හා ත්‍රිකුණාමලය දිස්‌ත්‍රික්‌ක දෙක ඉලංකෙයි තමිල් අරසු කච්චි පක්‍ෂයට හිමි විය.

උතුරුමැද පළාත් සභාව ඉකුත් 2008 පළාත් සභා මැතිවරණය සමඟ සැසඳීමේදී උතුරුමැද පළාත් සභාව සඳහා එජනිසය මෙවර සිය ඡන්ද ප්‍රමාණයත් නියෝජිතයන් ප්‍රමාණයත් වැඩිකර ගැනීමට සමත් වී ඇත. එහෙත් එක්‌සත් ජාතික පක්‍ෂයේ ඉකුත් මැතිවරණයට වඩා ඡන්ද සංඛ්‍යාව හා මන්ත්‍රී ධුර සංඛ්‍යාව අඩු වී තිබේ.

සබරගමුව පළාත් සභාවේදී සන්ධානය සිය ඡන්ද සංඛ්‍යාව හා මන්ත්‍රී ධුර ප්‍රමාණය වැඩි කරගෙන තිබේ. එම පළාතේ ද එජාපයට හා ජනතා විමුක්‌ති පෙරමුණට 2008 දී පැවැති ඡන්ද පදනම රැකගැනීමට නොහැකි වී ඇත.

එමෙන්ම අම්පාර, ඇහැලියගොඩ, පැල්මඩුල්ල, අනුරාධපුර නැගෙනහිර, මිහින්තලේ, අනුරාධපුර බටහිර, හොරොව්පතාන, අරණායක, දැදිගම, ගලිගමුව, රක්‌වාන හා රඹුක්‌කන යන ඡන්ද කොට්‌ඨාසවලින් එජනිසය වැඩි ඡන්ද දස දහසකින් ද පොලොන්නරුව, කලාවැව, රත්නපුර, නිවිතිගල, කෑගල්ල යන ඡන්ද කොට්‌ඨාසවලින් පහළොස්‌ දහසකින් ද වැඩි ඡන්ද ලබා ඇත.

දෙමළ ජාතික සන්ධානය පසුගිය 2008 පළාත් සභා මැතිවරණයට ඉදිරිපත් නොවූ අතර ශ්‍රී ලංකා මුස්‌ලිම් කොංග්‍රසය එක්‌සත් ජාතික පක්‍ෂය යටතේ තරග කරනු ලැබීය. මෙවර එම පක්‍ෂ වෙන වෙනම තරග කරනු ලැබීය.

එක්‌සත් ජාතික පක්‍ෂය නැගෙනහිර පළාතේ පොතුවිල්, කල්මුණේ, සමන්තුරේ, පදිරිප්පු යන ඡන්ද කොට්‌ඨාසවලින් සිව්වැනි ස්‌ථානයේ පසු වූ අතර දෙමළ ජාතික සන්ධානය මඩකලපුව හා පදිරිප්පු ප්‍රදේශවලදී වැඩිම ඡන්ද ලබාගත්තේය. පදිරිප්පු ඡන්ද කොට්‌ඨාසය වැඩි ඡන්ද 25000 කින් ද දෙමළ සන්ධානය ජය ගත්තේය. ශ්‍රී ලංකා මුස්‌ලිම් කොංග්‍රසය මුතූර්, සමන්තුරේ, කල්මුණේ, පොතුවිල් යන ප්‍රදේශ ජයග්‍රහණය කිරීමට සමත් විය.

නැගෙනහිර පළාත එජනිසය ජයග්‍රහණය කළ අතර එම සන්ධානයේ සාමාජික පක්‍ෂයක්‌ වන ශ්‍රී ලංකා මුස්‌ලිම් කොංග්‍රසයට ද මන්ත්‍රී ධුර 07 ක්‌ හිමි විය.

මැතිවරණය පැවැති දිනයේදී මැතිවරණ නීති උල්ලංඝනය කිරීමේ සිද්ධීන් පිළිබඳ පැමිණිලි 117 ක්‌ මැතිවරණ කාර්යාලයේ පිහිටු වූ පැමිණිලි ඒකකයට ලැබී තිබේ.

එහි ඡන්ද විමසීමට බලපාන ආකාරයේ කිසිදු පැමිණිල්ලක්‌ නොවූ බව මැතිවරණ කාර්යාලයේ නිලධාරියෙක්‌ පැවසීය.

පසුබිම් වාර්තා – චමින්ද සිල්වා, ප්‍රභාත් විතාන, ප්‍රදීප් සමරකෝන්, අනුරාධපුර – පර්සි කුරුනේරු, ත්‍රිකුණාමලය – සමන් මල්ලවාරච්චි, පොලොන්නරුව – කරුණාරත්න ගමගේ, රත්නපුර – තිලකසිරි දෑල බණ්‌ඩාර, ඕපනායක – ජයලත් එම්. විමලසේන, දඩයම්තලාව – පී. ජයසිංහ, අම්පාර – සුසන්ත අමරබන්දු, මඩකලපුව – ජවුµර් කාන්, කෑගල්ල – එම්. බී. පහලවත්ත, වැලිගෙපොල – අජිත් වීරසිංහ

Voter turn-out over 50% – Elections Dept.

The Elections Department says the voter turn-out at the Provincial Council polls that ended about an hour ago is about 50%, although a slightly lower figure of around 43% to 46% was recorded from the Sabaragamuwa province.

Meanwhile, the Elections Complaints Investigation Center (ECIC) of the Elections Department said it received 117 complaints of election violence within the course of the day. An official of the ECIC said the highest number of complaints had been reported from Ratnapura. The breakdown of complaints from each district is as follows: Anuradhapura – 17, Polonnaruwa – 16, Trincomalee – 12, Batticaloa – 14, Ampara – 19, Kegalle – 13, Ratnapura – 26.

However, the Campaign for Free and Fair Elections (CaFFE) alleged that the election was not free and fair adding that the overall voter turn-out was only close to 45%.

According to CaFFE, a total number of 121 incidents of violence had been reported within the course of the day from all provinces where the elections were held, with several major incidents reported from Akkaraipattu.

Meanwhileaddressing a news conference at the conclusion of the election, at the Elections Secretariat  in Rajagiriya this evening, Elections Chief Mahinda Deshapriya said there were 117 election related complaints during the day and 19 were inquired into. He also said that he had called for a full report on the four incidents until which the ballots of those polling stations would not be counted.

The four polling stations were from Pulmudai, Nivithigala and two from Kekirawa. However he said he was waiting for an official report to decide on his next course of action. He said he didn’t believe them to be major incidents and said no incidents that were beyond the control of the elections department had been reported today.

Lakna Paranamanna and Hafeel Farisz

Source: Daily Mirror (Sri Lanka)

Rupee stable against dollar

The Sri Lankan rupee has shown some stability against the dollar during the last few weeks due to the Central Bank’s effort for the free flow of rupee. The Central Bank also looks for ways to tighten monetary policy to enhance stability, sources said.

The Sri Lankan rupee had now stabilized between Rs 130/131 level during the last few weeks because of the government’s prudent fiscal discipline, Director General Department of Fiscal Policy Ministry of Finance and Planning K.M.M Siriwardena said.

He said the rupee expects to reach sustained appreciation towards the end of this year. The reasons being that Sri Lankan current foreign reserves have also reached US 7.1 billion, with International Monetary Funds loan, which was a healthy situation for the economy Siriwardena said.

‘If the Central Bank of Sri Lanka maintains its liquidity stance for the remainder of 2012 then elevated funding costs would also contribute to a hardening of yields, ” the report said.Siriwardena said the stability and relaxation variations are conducive for the market conditions, which will pave the way for to stability.

Subsequently this would help to control the inflation and other issues as well.

“Further, the Central Banks forecasting an economic growth range between 6.7 percent and 7.2 percent depending on the impact of a drought that has lasted since the beginning of the year, ” Central Bank sources said.

The Central Bank has forecast 7.2 percent economic growth this year, after revising it down in March from the original 8 percent. Growth last year was a record 8.3 percent.

H D H Senewiratne

Source: Daily News

Sri Lanka’s First-ever Paralympic medal winner felicitated in London

Bronze medal-winner Lance Corporal UDP Pradeep Sanjaya of the 4th Sri Lanka Sinha Regiment was felicitated by the Sri Lanka High Commission, London, when the Paralympic team and the officials and coaches visited the Mission on Friday.

The Men’s 400m T46 runner Pradeep Sanjaya was presented with an engraved trophy by High Commissioner Dr Chris Nonis to mark what was a historic achievement by the soldier who had been seriously injured at Kilinochchi during the terrorist conflict in Sri Lanka.

His Excellency President Mahinda Rajapaksa personally spoke to the medal winner by telephone during the presentation ceremony to congratulate him on the honour he has brought to the Nation.

Speaking at the presentation ceremony High Commissioner Dr Chris Nonis said it was a signal achievement for the young soldier and equally for the country and the people of Sri Lanka, for it was the first time that Sri Lanka had won a medal at the Paralympics and more so in the country in which these games originated.

Dr Nonis said that the enthusiasm, courage and determination shown by Pradeep Sanjaya, and indeed the entire team, to overcome physical disabilities, was a matter of great pride, and an inspiration to the younger generation. He also congratulated the Chef de Mission, Brigadier Rajitha Ampemohotti, Colonel Manchanayake, Brigadier Wickramasinghe, Colonel Deepal Herath and the other Paralympic officials and coaches for their exemplary leadership.

Sir Peter Heap, President of the “Friends of Sri Lanka” association, and Lady Olga Maitland, also spoke at the event, which followed on from the previous week’s event at the High Commission held to encourage the paralympic team. They congratulated the team for their perseverance and dedication, and said it was a great tribute to Sri Lanka in the post-conflict era.

Sri Lanka High Commission
London

07 September 2012