More pressure on Somawansa to step down

There has been pressure from the grassroots levels of the JVP, demanding the party leader Somawansa Amarasinghe of step down. He inter did to console the party men and extend his leadership in a subtle manner. He chose the JVP commemoration of the 1971 insurgency to mislead JVP members.

Hinting at a leadership change in the party, the JVP leader said he would set an example to the country by handing over the reins of the party to the younger generation, which had the ability to take the party to greater heights.Somawansa declared that he did not want to lead the party confined to a wheelchair.

"One must accept the reality that his or her life would not last forever though the class struggle would move from generation to generation, he said. "We don't want to remain leaders forever," he said, recalling that the Cuban Leader Raul Castro set a precedent by announcing his retirement recently. However, he fell short of giving a timeframe for this change in the party.

But days later, Somawansa understood the gravity of his statement as there had been many calls to find out the timeframe of his stepping down. Hence, he got the JVP media secretary to talk on his behalf. Days after Somawansa's statement, Herath said the JVP had not taken any decision to change the leadership.

"Even though party leader Somawansa Amarasinghe said he won't be in the leadership forever, we are in no hurry to change the leadership today or in the near future," Herath said. He added that in case a change of leadership should take place, it "would happen at the right time".

Namal turns 27

Parliamentarian Namal Rajapaksa celebrated his 27th birthday last Wednesday. On the previous night, his younger brother and Sri Lanka rugby teammate Yoshitha organised a surprise party at the Kingsbury Hotel.

It was confined to close family members. However, Sri Lanka rugby captain Yoshitha invited members of his Asian Five Nations tournament champion team for the celebrations. Though many thought Namal was unaware of the surprise party, it was not so. "I knew you were organising this," Namal said when he was brought to the party on the eve of his birthday.

Early morning on his birthday, Namal went to his meditation lessons at Kohuwela and invited his personal staff to accompany him. Later, he attended Parliament. Unlike on the previous night, Namal did not have any clue on the birthday lunch organised by his fellow youth parliamentarians at Parliament.

President Mahinda Rajapaksa who made a sudden visit to attend Wednesday's Parliament sessions, too graced the lunch organised by young UPFA parliamentarians.Later in the day, Namal gifted an elephant to Gatabaru Viharaya at Kotapola, Deniyaya. Many devotees in the area too participated in the event.

Geethanjali's stunning speech

The Indian parliamentary delegation visited the North last week to gain first hand information about the people living in the area. The visit was organised following an invitation by the Government.

The TNA once again made a disgraceful attempt to gain petty political mileage from this visit. The TNA had not made use of any Government funds allocated to Local Government bodies they hold in the North and the East. A huge amount of development work such as construction of roads and bridges could have been undertaken if the TNA Pradeshiya Sabha and Town Council members had made use of the funds allocated by the Government.

Without making use of the funds to serve the people in those areas, the TNA parliamentarians came out with lies to mislead the Indian delegation. TNA parliamentarian M.A. Sumanthiran alleged that the Government has not done anything for the people in the North. But Sumanthiran's attempt to woo sympathy was short lived as Geethanjali Neguleswaran, the SLFP Organiser for Killinochchi took Sumanthiran head on. "You have no right to speak on behalf of us because you have not cared for the Tamils here. The Government has done so much for us after liberating us from terror," she said. Geetanjali, who had lost her husband due to terrorism, said the TNA has been misleading both the Tamils and the international community for political gain.

"We are the people who suffered the most and we know the efforts the Government has made to develop these areas," she said. Sumanthiran was unsuccessful in his attempt to settle scores. Geethanjali kept on exposing the TNA's true colours. Ultimately, the Indian delegates had to intervene to calm them down. Moderate Tamil leaders who had been present commended Geethanjali's act and said the TNA will not be able to fool world leaders anymore.

Tissa's statement boomerangs

UNP General Secretary Tissa Attanayake said last week that the Mattala Rajapaksa International Airport would be converted to a museum once the UNP regains power in future.

But it seemed that the controversial statement has boomeranged on him as newspapers carried many cartoons on his malicious statement. Many suggested that Tissa need not have any new museums under a future UNP regime as the UNP headquarters Sirikotha had already become a political museum.

President Rajapaksa commenting on opposition criticism about the government's development drive said that an opposition politician had even remarked that three pilots were needed for a plane to take off from MRIA.

"One pilot to drive away the birds, the other to drive away the elephants and the third to pilot the plane," President Rajapaksa said amid loud laughter from the audience at the releasing of the 2012 Central Bank Annual Report held at the Central Bank auditorium last week.

The President said these remarks were being made out of jealousy towards the government. He said the world had not recovered from the global economic meltdown which was worsened by the embargo on Iran.

The embargo was still in place and it was a heavy burden on smaller nations.

The President said that he was happy that Sri Lanka had achieved 6.4% economic growth while maintaining a single digit inflation level despite various economic, political and financial calamities locally and globally.

The President said Sri Lanka had been able to achieve steady economic progress despite many social, trade and financial constraints last year thanks to the Government's correct economic fundamentals and financial management.

JHU reminds India of HR violations

Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU) said last week that India, before pointing an accusing finger at Sri Lanka on war crimes allegations, they should address the human rights violations in India. He alleged that over 93,000 disappearances in Kashmir still remained unaddressed.

JHU General Secretary and Science and Technology Minister Patali Champika Ranawaka said, if the Indian Parliamentary delegation had visited Sri Lanka with honourable intentions, their visit would have been welcomed, but it was evident that the Indian visit was part of a protest campaign to further distort the country's image.

The Minister said, during the Geneva UNHRC sessions India called on the country to hold an independent investigation on the last stages of the war, including Nandikadal, where it was alleged that human rights violations took place. However he said the delegation would find that the people in affected areas in the North and the East lived freely and their rights were not violated, contrary to statements made to that effect. Ranawaka said that India should focus on its own record of human rights violations.

"Look at the issues instead of covering them up. This will not end up being a fight against Sri Lanka but a fight against India since the country has faced turmoil of its own and has failed to address its own human rights record. So solve your own problems first," Minister Ranawaka said.

He said, though India was focused on the problems of the Tamil people in the country, as many as 236,000 Tamils resided in Colombo, which was a greater number than those who lived in Jaffna and was a sign that the two communities lived in harmony.

JHU member and Western Provincial Minister Udaya Gammanpila said the existing tension with India was due to the theatrical stunts of leading performers in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. He said, "Tamil Nadu is important to Indian politics which is why they behave this way and Indian politicians are blinded and unaware of the actual situation in Sri Lanka."

Govt reaffirms stance on UNHRC Resolution

The Government once again reaffirmed in Parliament that it did not concur with the US-led resolution adopted at the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) sessions on March 22. External Affairs Minister G.L. Peiris, responding to a statement by Opposition Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe, said the Government would not hold talks with anyone on the matters contained in the resolution.

"Sri Lanka cannot acquiesce with the resolution adopted. First and foremost among the reasons for such a decision is that the resolution calls for an oral update on Sri Lanka at the 24th session in September this year, and a comprehensive report at the 25th session in 2014. It means Sri Lanka will figure on the UN agenda every six months. When we survey the global situation, Sri Lanka is not a country with a troubling situation in the world. The proportionality of this resolution cannot be accepted as a result," he said.

Minister Peiris said that the resolution seeks to incorporate the report of the panel of experts, dubbed by Sri Lanka as the Dharusman report and the report by United Nations Human Rights High Commissioner Navi Pillay.

"Soon after the war ended in 2009, the High Commissioner called for an international investigation. In her report, she reaffirmed her position.

We reject it," he said and described the resolution as a catalyst for dissension and violence which has now spilled over to spheres such as cricket and cinema.

President condoles on Thatcher's death

The news that shocked the world political arena was the death of former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, a towering figure in post-war British and world politics, and the first woman to become British prime minister. She was 87. Thatcher served from 1979 to 1990 as leader of the Conservative Party. She was called the 'Iron Lady' for her personal and political toughness. Thatcher retired from public life after a stroke in 2002 and suffered several strokes after that.

She made few public appearances in her final months, missing a reception marking her 85th birthday hosted by Prime Minister David Cameron in October 2010. She also skipped the July 2011 unveiling of a statue honouring her old friend Ronald Reagan in London. She was hospitalised last December after a procedure to remove a growth in her bladder.

President Mahinda Rajapaksa in a message of condolence on the death of the former British Prime Minister, commended the late prime minister for her commitment to fight terrorism.

"While the late Prime Minister stamped her impression on the political and economic spheres of her country bringing it back on the economic landscape of Europe, she also stood steadfastly against the scourge of terrorism in the United Kingdom and around the world, undaunted by an assassination attempt on her life," President Rajapaksa said. Prime Minister Thatcher visited Sri Lanka in 1985 for the ceremonial commissioning of the Victoria Dam Hydroelectric Scheme. During a press conference at that event, responding to a question about terrorism and a political solution to Sri Lanka's ethnic conflict, the late Prime Minister had said the following:

"With regard to my own view about terrorism, it has not varied and will not vary. Terrorism must never be seen to win. If it does, it is the end of democracy. There is a democracy in Sri Lanka and I believe that, as in Britain, the problems must be solved through democracy, at any rate by all who believe in democracy," the condolence message stated.

Sweden grants asylum to Ilanthiraiyan's family

The wife and children of former LTTE senior leader Rasiah Ilanthiraiyan, who had served as the spokesman of the terror outfit, have been granted asylum in Sweden, a former LTTE news reader Lohini Rathimohan told the BBC in an interview. She said that she also sailed in a refugee boat with them. Lohini is also among the refugees, who are now staying in Dubai under UNHCR care. When the boat they were sailing had broken down at sea, they contacted the UN Refugees unit and were rescued by a ship sailing from Singapore to Dubai.

Lohini Rathimohan spoke to BBC, when she was one among the 19 asylum seekers, detained in Dubai under the care of UNHCR. Human Rights Watch had requested UNHCR not to send them back to Sri Lanka.

She had disclosed that she was working as a news reader at the LTTE-run television station, and after the war, she escaped to India, and her husband was still in India. UNHCR had approved 39 as refugees and the balance seven had been sent back to Sri Lanka. "Out of the approved 39 persons, the US and Sweden have granted asylum to 20, which included the wife and children of the LTTE spokesman. The remaining 19 persons are to be sent back to Sri Lanka," she said.

Freedom to motorists too

Though the fine for over-speeding has been abandoned, the police continue to impose fines for speeding under reckless driving.

It is a common site to see policemen take cover behind trees and buildings and then jump to road with speedometers, ordering drivers to halt their vehicles. This is contrary to procedure followed in most other countries which educates the motorists on speed checks. In cities such as London, there are signs ahead of speed check cameras, warning motorists to slow down. The intention of such signs is to self-discipline the drivers.

Sri Lanka's road network has been developed in an unprecedented manner after President Rajapaksa assumed office in 2005.

Most of the country's main roads have been fully developed, enabling smooth drives to motorists. However, some policemen hunt for over speeding drivers even on lonely stretches where there are no human settlements.

Unfortunately, nobody understood the need to change the existing laws until the President highlighted the matter.

President Rajapaksa, speaking at the opening of the Rajadhani Road in Anuradhapura last week, said he believed that it was time to amend the traffic laws pertaining to speeding and that motorists should be allowed to drive faster.

"The laws against speeding are outdated. People should be allowed to drive faster because the roads in the country are developed to high standards," he said.