Archive for January, 2007
January 31, 2007 at 7:41 pm · Categories: Colombo, Constitutional Reform, Peace and Conflict | by Publius
The Morning Leader (31st January 2007) carries a report of the first press conference given yesterday by the Hon. G. L. Peiris M. P., the new Minister of Export Promotion and International Trade, since he crossed over to the government. In this he is reported to have, to put it tartly, rubbished the significance and import of the Oslo Declaration of December 2002, which he was instrumental in producing. The Declaration appeared to articulate the framework of a politically negotiated constitutional settlement around an asymmetrically federated, united Sri Lanka. Stressing that constitutional concepts such as federalism are âmere wordsâ which have âno clear definition and are indistinct at bestâ, he states that effectively what he and other actors in …
January 31, 2007 at 2:37 pm · Categories: English, Human Rights, Jaffna, Peace and Conflict, Poverty | by jafrep
Jaffna people are now paying a higher price for essential things than when they were taken through the land route and taxed by the LTTE. Now essential items are taken to Jaffna by ship and sold through the MPCS (Multipurpose Cooperative Society) for ration.
The prices are higher than the marketprice when they were taxed by LTTE.
Before the landroute closed all the things taken to Jaffna by land. Normally LTTE imposed 15% duty for the essential things but everything was nevertheless sold at market prices in line with Colombo prices.
Some pharmacies even sold the baby milk powder and baby infant lower than the market price eg 135.00 marked Cerelac sold for 128.00 rs. Those days some people criticised Jaffna people for …
January 31, 2007 at 2:11 pm · Categories: Colombo, English | by indi
Dr Syedna Mohammed Burhanuddin Saheb greeting AHM Aswer
In case you hadn’t noticed, Colombo has been full of men and women in head to toe cloth, white and colored respectively. Nice hats too. These people are obviously Muslim, but I did a bit of reading and they are part of a Shia sect called the Bohra. Their leader Dr. Syedna Mohammed Burhanuddin Saheb, has arrived in Colombo for a ten day ceremony called the Ashara Mubaraka. This influx has almost single-handedly boosted the Colombo tourism industry, filling hotels and guest houses. I’ve also seen Majestic City and Odel full of these guests.
The Prophet Mohammed’s temporal succession involved many schisms in Islam, the most notable being that between Sunni …
January 30, 2007 at 5:06 pm · Categories: English, Human Rights, Jaffna, Peace and Conflict | by foobar
This from the FMM today:
Internet facilities and 8,000 telephones cut off in Jaffna Peninsula
The Free Media Movement (FMM) is deeply disturbed to learn that basic communications facilities to the Jaffna Peninsula have been blocked from 28th January 2007. Internet facilities and around 8,000 landline telephones of Sri Lanka Telecom (SLT) are dysfunctional to date. SLT, jointly owned by the Sri Lankan Government and Nippon Telegraph & Telephone Corporation (NTT) of Japan, is the sole Internet provider in Jaffna Peninsula with a population of around 600,000 according to official statistics.
The FMM was told that there is no official decision by the Telecommunication Regulatory Authority to block communications in this manner in the Peninsula.
However, a number of citizens in Jaffna and journalists …
January 30, 2007 at 10:44 am · Categories: Disaster Management, Human Rights, Human Security, Kalutara, Peace and Conflict, Poverty | by CRep
My recent visits to the coastal village of Nalarua in the district of Kalutara, about 5 kilometres from Kalutara town, got me thinking about life in the south. 450 families live in that village. I spoke to eight men and seven women on a Tuesday morning.
Religion-wise 97% of them were Buddhist, 2% Catholic and 1% Muslim. They work as masons, carpenters, craftsmen working with coconut fibre to make ropes and small boats and others as garment factory workers. Their political affiliations are with parties such as the SLFP, UNP, JVP and JHU.
I asked one of the middle-aged men asked whether there were any caste issues in their village.
“We donât have any caste issues, we are all Sinhalese living …
January 29, 2007 at 1:45 pm · Categories: Colombo, English, Peace and Conflict | by groundviews
January 29, 2007 at 12:07 pm · Categories: Peace and Conflict | by David Blacker
Really, does Sri Lanka actually need a Minister of bloody Indigenous Medicine? Or a Minister of Special Projects (whatever that is). Has no one heard of parliamentary and ministerial secretaries — in other words, the Civil Service? The latter, while not quite the bastion of Sir Humphrey Appleby’s bureaucracy, should theoretically be able to handle the bulk of work areas currently awarded separate ministries. And probably much better than the politicians themselves. For example, is a former union leader the best choice as Minister of Sports and Public Relations?
I doubt that there was anyone in Sri Lanka today who wasn’t blown away by the number of cabinet apointments, and that’s not even counting the deputy ministers and other assorted cooks …
January 29, 2007 at 8:58 am · Categories: English, Peace and Conflict, Vavuniya | by sid
If the Bush regime can do it, why can’t the Sri Lankan Government …
From today’s Daily News:
Army Commander Lieutenant General Sarath Fonseka paid a special visit to the area yesterday as the LTTE violence gathered momentum in Vavuniya.
From today’s Daily Mirror:
The Defence Ministry yesterday warned that following a severe setback in the east, the Tigers were planning a major offensive against the …
January 28, 2007 at 7:10 pm · Categories: Peace and Conflict | by nanda
Editors note: Text from the Mahinda Chintanaya referred to in this post is in bold. The Mahinda Chintanaya can be downloaded here.
Mahinda Chintana (Mahinda Vision) is a document written for the 2005 presidential elections. It gives a vision for the changes that the President would like to bring about during his tenure. After one year it is time to revisit some of the statements made and to assess what has been achieved and start a discussion with the Sri Lankan people on what seems to have been election rhetoric and what has been achieved so far in reality. A first attempt hopefully followed by reactions by many of us who follow the present development in the country. Each section …
January 27, 2007 at 8:29 pm · Categories: Peace and Conflict | by Sumanasiri Liyanage
Some Thoughts on the Second Chamber
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By Sumanasiri Liyanage
One of the main lacuna in the 2000 constitutional draft was that although it proposed quasi-federal arrangements closely following the Indian model, it did not have a provision for a second chamber so that it as a whole lacked adequate power-sharing at the center. The report by the the Sub-Committee A (RSCA) includes comprehensive suggestions on the nature, compositions and the powers of the second chamber. Although the Sub-Committee B (RSCB) is not much enthusiastic about the second chamber, it does not oppose to it if it improves center power-sharing arrangements. This is what RSCB says on the subject: âWe are not averse to a Second chamber if it is created to give …
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