"MR Should Speak To President If He Wants To Be Next PM"

"MR Should Speak To President If He Wants To Be Next PM"

Friday, 20 February 2015 10:07

Cabinet Minister of Health and Indigenous Medicine Rajitha Senarathne said if Mahinda Rajapaksa wants to be the next Prime Minister, he should  discuss the matter with President Maithripala Sirisena.

Addressing a press conference in Colombo, Minister Senarathne said that Rajapaksa is still engaging in ACTIVE politics as a Senior Advisory to the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP).

“If he wants the post of Prime Minister he can discuss the matter with the President and compete in the general Election as the Prime Ministerial Candidate of the SLFP” the minister added.

Senarathne also asserted that  the objective of the 100 day programme is to end ‘family oriented’ politics, corruptions and to bring ‘good governance’ to the country.

"Therefore Rajapaksa does not have any barrier to compete as the Prime Ministerial Candidate", Senaratne said.

 “The message sent by Mahinda Rajapaksa to the Nugegoda rally did not mention anything about  him  competing as the Prime Ministerial candidate.” he said.

(Methmalie Dissanayake)

Rajitha: India did not insist on 13 A plus implementation

Rajitha: India did not insist on 13 A plus implementation
February 19, 2015, 9:36 pm  by Zacki Jabbar

India has not insisted that the 13th Amendment Plus pledge which former President Mahinda Rajapaksa had given it, be implemented, the government said yesterday.

Asked during the weekly Cabinet Press Briefing in Colombo, if Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi had during last weeks official talks with President Maithripala Sirisena in New Delhi, insisted that the 13th Amendment to the Sri Lankan

Constitution be improved to 13A Plus as promised by Rajapaksa, Health Minister Rajitha Senaratne, who was part of the presidential delegation answered in the negative.

"No there was no such demand. The former President had got plus and minus mixed up. That was the way he did his calculation, which eventually led to defeat," Senaratne observed.

Minister said that India had been assured of the Sirisena government’s commitment to resolving the ethnic issue in a manner that was acceptable to all communities.

The Tamil National Alliance would be engaged in a constructive and positive manner, the minister noted, adding that the government in principle was committed to devolution within a unitary state.

With change in Sri Lanka, US eyes deeper ties

With change in Sri Lanka, US eyes deeper ties
Associated Press By MATTHEW PENNINGTON
February 2, 2015 1:11 AM


WASHINGTON (AP) — The surprise defeat of Sri Lanka's authoritarian leader and the new government's early steps to end repression have stirred U.S. hopes that the South Asian island nation can revive ties with Washington and distance itself to some degree from China.

Sirisena won Jan. 8 elections. Sri Lanka's new foreign minister is expected to visit Washington this month.

Under former President Mahinda Rajapaksa, relations with China intensified, with heavy Chinese investment in the strategically located island along busy sea lanes between the Persian Gulf and East Asia. Once-robust ties with the U.S.

deteriorated sharply, even as President Barack Obama pushed to engage nations across Asia and consolidate America as a Pacific power.

Obama wants a deeper partnership with Sri Lanka, and U.S. officials say the early signs are promising.

Within a week or so of taking office, former Rajapaksa ally Sirisena rolled back restrictions on the press and civil society. He also vows to reduce powers of the presidency that been inflated by Rajapaksa when his popularity ballooned during the ending of Sri Lanka's bloody civil war.

U.S.-Sri Lanka relations were strained over Rajapaksa's reluctance to investigate thousands of reported civilian deaths in the final chapter of the quarter-century conflict in 2009, when government forces crushed Tamil rebels who had been fighting for an ethnic homeland.

Sirisena has been cautious about promising action on accountability, but he did offer an early gesture to minority Tamils, who supported him at the polls, when he quickly replaced an unpopular ex-military governor appointed by Rajapaksa in the former battle zone in the north of the country.

The new government also says it is reviewing one of a series of major Chinese-financed infrastructure projects: a $1.5 billion land reclamation for a "port city" in the capital, Colombo. That's a blow to Beijing's progress in winning an ally in the Indian Ocean.

But officials in Colombo are also being careful not to alienate Beijing. Rajitha Senaratne, a Cabinet spokesman, said Sri Lanka does not "need to tilt towards any side."

"China has been a historical friend of ours, India is also the same," he told The Associated Press. "Our exports go to the E.U. and U.S." The new government assured India it will not align itself to any world power.

Two recent port calls by Chinese submarines at a Chinese-built terminal in Colombo , one before a visit in September by China's leader Xi Jinping, fueled speculation that Beijing's wants a "string of pearls," or port access along sea lanes

linking the energy-rich Persian Gulf and economic centers in eastern China. The submarine visits spooked India, which lies just 30 miles from Sri Lanka and shares U.S. uncertainty about Beijing's intentions as China's military power grows.

Washington has its own strategic reasons to be interested in Sri Lanka.

A 2007 agreement, sealed before relations with Rajapaksa soured, permits the U.S. and Sri Lanka to exchange nonlethal supplies and refueling during humanitarian operations and joint military exercises.

The U.S. has a significant economic stake in the nation of 20 million people. U.S. financial institutions are major investors in Sri Lankan bonds, and the U.S. is the second-largest market for Sri Lankan exports.

"The United States should keep up the pressure on human rights and reconciliation with ethnic minorities," said Bharath Gopalaswamy of the Atlantic Council think tank. "But that should not be the only thing the relationship is built on. It has to be broader engagement."

Sri Lanka also wants a better relationship with Washington. Rajapaksa's government spent liberally on U.S.-based lobbyists but with little apparent impact.

Acrimony with the U.S. and others over human rights deepened when a U.N. body last year approved an investigation into reports of civil war atrocities. The results are due in March.

Sirisena will be walking a fine line at home and abroad in how he responds. He's managing an unwieldy coalition of majority Sinhalese and minority Tamils, and the government could face parliamentary elections within months.

Ready for early parliament polls

Ready for early parliament polls

February 19, 2015 22:13

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe says the Government is ready to go for early Parliamentary elections, if the need arises.

Speaking at an event in Colombo today, the Prime Minister noted that the Government is looking at 100 days since taking office, to complete its 100 day PROGRAM.

He said that in order to achieve that goal the Government needs the SUPPORT of all the political parties represented in Parliament.

The Prime Minister said that if there is a threat to the Government obtaining a 2/3 majority in Parliament to implement the 100 day PROGRAM, including key constitutional changes, then Parliament will be dissolved and early elections will be held.

Wickremesinghe says the Government is keen to ensure the 100 day program goes through, during which the Presidential powers are also expected to be reduced.

The 100 day program of the Government ends on April 23 after which Parliament is to be dissolved and elections held.

The core group in the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) has already said that it will look to defeat Wickremesinghe at the polls and not form a National unity Government as proposed by Wickremesinghe.

(Colombo Gazette)

Government to investigate Funds of the LTTE

February 1, 2015 18:10

The LTTE activities over the past few years including its funding and alleged links it had with the former Government. 

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, speaking in Mawanella today, said that the Government wants to know what happened to the FUNDS of the LTTE.

“This is part of our probe on corruption. The former Government always accused us of having links with the LTTE but it was they who had links with the Tigers,” the Prime Minister said.

He said that investigations will include 
Obtaining information on the 

1) LTTE ships, 
2) Gold 
3) and MONEY yet to be found even after the war.

The Prime Minister said that the public in the North have said they have evidence to SHARE over the LTTE and so that evidence will also be obtained.

“This is a large scale investigation,” the Prime Minister added.

The Prime Minister also CLAIMED that there was an attempt to use the LTTE to prevent the Tamils in the north from voting at the last Presidential elections.

Wickremesinghe also said that when the European court ruled in support of the LTTE the former Government did not take steps to assist the European Union to reverse the court ruling.

“We have said we will assist the EU to ensure the ban on the LTTE in the EU remains,” he said.

The Prime Minister also questioned the former Government’s failure to handover Kumaran Pathmanathan, better known as KP, to India.
KP is wanted in India over the assassination of former Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi.

 (Colombo Gazette)

மீண்டும் அரசியலுக்கு வருவேன்! - போர்க்குற்றவாளி ராஜபக்ச

Sri Lanka's ex-President Rajapaksa vows political return
Associated Press

 COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — Former Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa on Wednesday vowed to return to politics following his stunning defeat in last month's presidential election and said he may contest for prime minister later this year.

Rajapaksa told a rally of tens of thousands of supporters urging him to return that he is unable to ignore their wishes.

Rajapaksa was defeated by former ally Maithripala Sirisena in the Jan. 8 election.

His supporters say Rajapaksa, who ended a decades-long civil war during his nine-year rule, must return because the new government has endangered the country's unity by being lenient toward ethnic minority Tamils.

"What we are experiencing today is not a defeat but a result of a conspiracy," he said in a message read out at the rally. "I say firmly that I am in anyway unable to ignore the wishes of those of you who think about the country and are committed for the country."

Rajapaksa's supporters asked him to contest for prime minister in elections likely to be held in July.

Sirisena has promised to prune presidential powers and empower the parliament under a prime minister who will be the head of government.

Wimal Weerawansa, a lawmaker calling for Rajapaksa's return, said the new government's moves to lift travel restrictions to the former northern war zone, plans to release land occupied by the military and a promise to the United Nations to

conduct its own inquiry into war crimes allegations against government troops and the defeated Tamil Tiger rebels in the final months of the fighting in 2009 risked the country's unity.

Sri Lanka, India leaders eye new era in troubled ties

Sri Lanka, India 
leaders eye new era 
in troubled ties
AFP By Abhaya Srivastava  February 16, 2015 1:29 PM

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi (R) shakes hands with Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena after a signing agreement ceremony in New Delhi on February 16, 2015

The leaders of India and Sri Lanka vowed Monday to strengthen their relationship after a period of tensions and declared their countries' fortunes were intertwined as they held their first summit in New Delhi.

After signing a deal on nuclear safety, India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi told the new Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena that there was "unprecedented opportunity" to take ties to a new level.

China's growing influence in Sri Lanka over recent years has been a source of disquiet in India, which has long regarded the neighbouring island as within its natural sphere of influence.

But Sirisena's victory over long-time ruler Mahinda Rajapakse in elections last month has been seized on by both sides as a chance for a reboot in relations, fuelled by the new president's decision to make India his first port of call.

"It's an honour that you have chosen India as your first foreign destination," Modi said after hosting talks with Sirisena, who is barely five weeks into his tenure.

"India is the closest neighbour and friend of Sri Lanka. Our goodwill and support will always be with you. I believe that our destinies are interlinked."

"We share very strong relations that span several thousand years," said Sirisena, whose country lies at the southern tip of India.

"The courtesy extended to us on this visit has been very great... this is my first official visit to India and it has been very fruitful.

"I can clearly say that our bilateral relations have been further strengthened."

Under the nuclear deal, India will provide safety training to Sri Lanka where there have been longstanding concerns about how to handle the fallout from a disaster involving the Kundankulam nuclear plant in India's southern Tamil Nadu state.

Official sources in Sri Lanka said the cooperation deal was aimed at training local scientists and did not involve a power generation programme.

"We are not talking about setting up nuclear reactors or anything like that," a foreign ministry source in Colombo told AFP. "We haven't even thought of feasibility studies (on nuclear energy), this is about training our people."

India has long considered Sri Lanka to be within its strategic sphere of influence, sending troops to the island in 1987 to enforce a peace accord it brokered between Colombo and separatist Tamil rebels.

But under Rajapakse, China ploughed huge sums into Sri Lankan infrastructure projects, becoming its biggest foreign financier and enjoying significant political and even military influence.

India was reported to have been furious at the brief appearance last year of two Chinese submarines in Sri Lankan waters.

China has been accused of seeking to develop facilities around the Indian Ocean in a "string of pearls" strategy to counter the rise of its Asian rival India and secure its own economic interests.

While neither leader mentioned China by name, the announcements of memoranda of understanding between the south Asian neighbours on issues such as defence cooperation and energy will have been noted in Beijing.

Modi said he and Sirisena had "agreed to expand our defence and security cooperation" as well as work together on maritime security.

Analysts say the visit's main significance is as a signal of intent from Sri Lanka.

"This visit is very significant because it could very well be a turning point," K.G. Suresh, senior fellow at the Delhi-based Vivekananda International Foundation think-tank, told AFP.

"Suspicions that earlier marked India-Sri Lanka relations could now give way to more confidence and strong ties between the two."

Sirisena is keen to attract greater Indian investment in Sri Lanka, which said last week it was seeking an international bailout of more than $4.0 billion.

China funded much of Sri Lanka's post-war infrastructure under the Rajapakse administration but the new government has said the interest rates charged on the loans averaged between five and seven percent -- much higher than the market rate.

Sirisena is being accompanied by several ministers, including Reconstruction Minister D.M. Swaminathan, who said the government was keen to secure India's support for ethnic reconciliation following the island's decade-long ethnic war that ended in 2009.

Sri Lanka's minority Tamils share close cultural ties with the Tamils in Tamil Nadu.

On Tuesday Sirisena will travel to the Buddhist pilgrimage site of Bodh Gaya and a Hindu temple in Tirupati further south before leaving the next day.

The Ganges: holy, deadly river

பக்ச பாசிசம் ``புதிய` மைத்திரி பாசிசத்தின் அங்கமே!

MR, CBK in SLFP top team to prepare for polls



The Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) yesterday appointed a top level committee to advise the party and spearhead the parliamentary election campaign.

The appointments were made during the party’s executive committee meeting.

The committee headed by President Maithripala Sirisena will include former Presidents Mahinda Rajapaksa and Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga, former  Prime ministers D.M. Jayaratna and Ratnasiri Wickremanayke, Speaker Chamal Rajapaksa, former Minister Vishwa Warnapala and former Governor Alavi Moulana.

Both, Mr. Rajapaksa and Ms. Kumaratunga were not present when the appointments were made. They had excused themselves from the meeting.

Former Minister Anura Priyadharshana Yapa was named the General Secretary of the SLFP.   Former Minister John Seneviratne was named as the Senior Vice President. Ten other Vice Presidents were also named.

The party also appointed former Minister Susil Premajayantha as the National Organiser, replacing Basil Rajapaksa, while former senior minister S.B. Nawinna was appointed as Treasurer. 

Vinayagamoorthy Muralitharan alias Karuna, who was a vice president, was appointed only as a Central Committee member.

மைத்திரி ஆட்சியில் இந்திய விரிவாதிக்க அரசுக்கு இலங்கையில் பொருளாதார மேலாதிக்கம்.

Hopes for strong economic ties with India


President Maithriapala Sirisena will leave for India today on a four-day visit leading a 16-member delegation in his first overseas visit after last month’s presidential election. Health Minister Rajitha Senaratne, Power and Energy Minister Champika Ranawaka and Resettlement Minister D.M.

Swaminathan will accompany the President while Foreign Affairs Minister Mangala Samaraweera who is in the US will join the President in India.

President Sirisena will meet Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Pranab Mukherjee tomorrow. He will also meet other political leaders.

The president is also scheduled to visit Buddha Gaya and the Tirupathi temple before he returns on Wednesday. Meanwhile, economists said the warming of relations between India and Sri Lanka with the advent of new leaders in the two countries after a prolonged period of suspicion and distrust, was the ideal platform to revisit stalled negotiations on a proposed economic and trade services agreement.

The visit for talks with Prime Minister Modi on key issues including the peace and reconciliation process in Sri Lanka, should also set the tone for fresh  talks on trade and economic cooperation, they said. “(Prime Minister) Modi has an open mind and is very accommodating. This is the time to restart negotiations on the proposed Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) and also revisit the ongoing FREE TRADE Agreement (FTA),” a senior economist said.

He said the FTA had come to a stage of stagnation and like all trade pacts needed to be fine-tuned to keep in line with modern trends and global changes in trade and commerce.

R.D.S. Kumararatne, Director General of Commerce, said Sri Lanka, at the moment, would focus on the FTA as the CEPA had been stalled for some time.

Negotiations leading to a proposed agreement on the CEPA started during Ranil Wickremasinghe’s previous term as Prime Minister (2002-2004), which the economist said would be a positive factor in restarting talks on the proposed deal.

CEPA talks crashed during former President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s 2004-2014 tenure owing to protests by local industrialists and other parties. They claimed the pact would open the doors for Indian professionals and semi-professionals to work in assigned sectors in Sri Lanka, thereby depriving locals of jobs.

These concerns were countered by trade experts and economists working on the Sri Lankan side saying such concerns would be addressed. However, the anti-CEPA lobby was so strong that it led to the former President putting the negotiations on the back burner.

Economists say the FTA also needs review and in both cases, FTA and CEPA, domestic concerns — restricting trade, investment and services in areas where Sri Lankans are building a  base –  could be addressed by the negative list. They said that uncertainty as to whether such concerns would be addressed in the negative list had deepened ANXIETY by local industrialists over the proposed pact.

“But all these concerns can be addressed now,” noted the senior economist, stressing that “India (under) Modi is very generous and reaching out to its neighbours unlike before”.