News

US urged not to proceed with resolution based on unverified ‘desk-reviewed’ info, etc.

Published

5 years ago

2021/06/5

Amb. Aryasinha cites Gash, Smith:

Following Gen. Chagie Gallage’s strong condemnation of what he called a sininster US move to harass Sri Lanka further, as reported by The Island recently, the Sri Lankan government has formally requested the US House Foreign Affairs Committee (HFAC) not to proceed with H. RES. 413 against Sri Lanka moved by Congresswoman Deborah Ross (Democrat/North Carolina) on 18 May 2021.

In a letter addressed to HFAC Chair Representative Gregory Meeks (Democrat/New York) and Ranking Member Representative Michael McCaul (Republican/Texas), Sri Lanka’s Ambassador to the USA Ravinatha Aryasinha said, “Sri Lanka vehemently opposes the contents of the resolution which contains allegations relating to Sri Lanka that are inaccurate, biased and unsubstantiated, raising grave suspicion regarding the intention of the resolution”.

The letter was accompanied by a detailed analysis of the resolution, which laid out paragraph by paragraph, its prejudicial nature.

The Ambassador observed that the proposed resolution which equates the LTTE – proscribed by the US since 1997 and named by the FBI in 2008 as “among the most dangerous and deadly extremists in the world” – to an ‘armed independence organization’, exposes the resolution’s origins and purpose.

The Resolution encourages separatism and questions even the nature of the Sri Lanka State, by references to ‘Traditional Tamil Homelands’. This not only misrepresents established historical facts, and present-day realities, but also contributes to supporting the dismemberment of Sri Lanka, which is the ultimate goal of the LTTE and its supporters.

Ambassador Aryasinha said the resolution’s willful ignorance of the USA’s own security concerns about the LTTE and its front organizations and efforts at glorification of terrorism, will give inspiration to rump elements of the LTTE and its numerous front organizations within the US and across the world, as well as to other terrorist organizations.

Observing that the USA had been “a consistent defense partner of Sri Lanka, including in Sri Lanka’s war against terror”, the Ambassador said “the resolution which is at significant variance with stated U.S. policy, across Administrations – both Democratic and Republican, may lead to an erroneous conclusion that the House supports armed acts to achieve political goals. This would undermine the US Administration’s own foreign policy foundation of being rooted in democratic values, and negatively impact the warm bilateral relations between Sri Lanka and the USA”.

It asserts that the Sri Lanka Government, having struggled for nearly 30 years to defeat LTTE terrorism, consistent with its constitutional duties to protect its citizens regardless of race, religion, language, caste, sex, political opinion or place of birth, launched a humanitarian operation to protect and liberate all Sri Lankans. It also outlined the measures taken by the Government since the defeat of terrorism in May 2009, to address the needs of 300,000 internally displaced who had been used as human shields by the retreating LTTE, to rebuild and develop infrastructure in the conflict affected areas and to restore livelihood opportunities to many, including to over 12,000 ex-LTTE combatants – also comprising 596 child soldiers, who were rehabilitated and reintegrated into the society.

Ambassador Aryasinha recalled that following the ending of the conflict, the then government in 2013 conducted Northern Provincial Council elections, ensuring democratic freedoms and rights to the people of the North. He noted that since 2017, all minority parties in Parliament, including the TNA, supported the deferral of elections, through a ruling that required electoral reform prior to holding PC elections, which never materialized. For nearly 3 years, the HRC or Western countries having not taken issue with the delay of elections to Provincial Councils, including that of the Northern Province, however, presently have projected it as a major issue, at a time the current government has taken the initiative to appoint a Parliamentary Committee to make recommendations on this matter.

Noting that reports on Sri Lanka cited in the Resolution, including the OISL Report of 2015, constituted a mere subjective narrative of events including “desk-reviewed” information, the Ambassador said that these documents failed to reveal sources and were not verifiable. On the contrary, there was an abundance of verifiable evidence that has been ignored, contained in, interalia, the Lessons Learnt Reconciliation Commission (LLRC), the ‘Paranagama Commission’, reports from the UN and international agencies including the UNDP, UNICEF and the ICRC, as well as information presented before the UK House of Lords by Lord Naseby challenging among other things the vastly exaggerated civilian casualty figures. Expert opinions including by international legal luminaries, as well as dispatches in real time by Colonel Anton Gash, Military

Attaché of the British High Commission in Colombo and statements by Lt. Col. Lawrence Smith who had served as Defense Attaché of the US Embassy during the last phase of the conflict, also contested this narrative.

Ambassador Aryasinha also observed that, having had Sri Lanka co-sponsor UN Resolution 30/1 in October 2015 and extracted a commitment that Sri Lanka will initiate an accountability mechanism which would include foreign judges and lawyers, which was unconstitutional, for 5 years neither the UN bodies nor the US and other proponents of this resolution, pressed the previous government to carry out its promises.

He said, calling for an “international mechanism” at this juncture is sinister, at a time the present Government has provided a credible transparent domestic process to address the concerns raised, by in January 2021 instituting a Presidential Commission of Inquiry (PCOI), which had on 4 March 2021 “invited any person, persons or organizations to submit written representations or information or any other material which relates to the above for the Commission to inquire”. The Commission has been conducting hearings since April and heard testimony from witnesses.

All News Advertisement

News

Development activities in schools within plantation areas should be carried out in coordination with District Coordinating Committees – PM

Published

50 mins ago

2026/02/20

Priyan

Prime Minister Dr. Harini Amarasuriya stated that development activities in schools within plantation areas should be carried out in coordination with District Coordinating Committees, and that further recruitments to the teaching service will be undertaken in the future according to existing vacancies.

The Prime Minister made these remarks at a meeting held on Thursday [19 February] at the Parliament of Sri Lanka, attended by officials of the Ministry of Education, Higher Education and Vocational Education and the Ministry of Plantation and Community Infrastructure, convened to identify solutions to issues affecting schools within plantation areas.

During the meeting, special attention was drawn to identifying schools in plantation areas; improving infrastructure, sanitary facilities and security within those schools; confirming lands of school premises; filling existing vacancies of teachers, principals and sports instructors; and providing transportation facilities of schools within the plantation areas.

Officials also drew the Prime Minister’s attention to challenges faced by students in Grade 13 in studying science and mathematics streams in estate schools, as well as issues related to language. The need for Tamil-medium support in teacher-training programmes was also emphasized during the meeting.

The Prime Minister stressed that resolving issues related to lands belonging to the schools in plantation areas require collection of data at district-level, and that the suitability of each school site should be considered when relocating or regularizing schools, taking into account the impacts caused by Cyclone Ditwah. She instructed officials to formulate an efficient mechanism to collect the necessary data.

She further noted that schools within plantation areas are government schools and that due consideration should be given to how these schools are identified and referred to in the future.

The Prime Minister instructed officials to keep District Coordinating Committees informed and to collaborate with them in carrying out development activities related to estate schools, emphasizing that this would enable closer monitoring of school development initiatives.

She also expressed confidence that the planned recruitment of 23,000 teachers would help address the existing teacher shortages to a considerable extent, and stated that further annual recruitment would be undertaken in the future to fill remaining vacancies.

The meeting was attended by the Minister of Fisheries, Aquatic and Ocean Resources, Ramalingam Chandrasekar; Deputy Minister of Education and Higher Education, Dr. Madhura Senevirathne; Deputy Minister of Plantation and Community Infrastructure, Sundaralingam Pradeep; Members of Parliament; and officials of the relevant ministries.

[Prime Minister’s Media Division]

News

CEB trade unions hint at stringent industrial action after talks fail

Published

15 hours ago

2026/02/20

Thilina Walpola

Trade unions of the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB), backed by the powerful Ceylon Electricity Board Engineers’ Union, have warned of accelerated trade union action following the collapse of crucial discussions held on Monday (16) with the CEB Chairman, who also serves as Secretary to the Ministry of Power and Energy.

The issue is expected to take centre stage at today’s press conference, with unions signalling that a token strike, possibly a 12-hour countrywide action, could be staged next week unless authorities urgently intervene.

The meeting earlier this week ended without what union representatives described as any “positive or constructive outcome.”

Trade union leaders expressed disappointment that their key concerns had not been substantively addressed during discussions with the Chairman.

At the heart of the dispute is the unions’ demand for a collective agreement in accordance with Section 18(j) of the Sri Lanka Electricity Act No. 36 of 2024. Trade union representatives maintain that the law provides for structured engagement between management and employees and that a formal collective agreement is necessary to ensure transparency and industrial stability within the institution.

The unions also submitted what they termed a reasonable proposal to safeguard the CEB Employees’ Provident Fund (EPF), voicing concerns over the long-term security of workers’ retirement benefits.

However, according to trade union sources, those proposals were not adequately taken up during the discussions.

A senior electrical engineer told The Island that further internal consultations were being held to decide the next course of action. “There is growing frustration among employees. The issues raised are fundamental and relate directly to statutory compliance and the financial security of staff,” he said.

The Island learns that unless there is meaningful engagement from the authorities, the proposed token strike could mark the beginning of more stringent industrial action.

Energy sector observers warn that any escalation of trade union unrest at the CEB could have serious implications for the country’s power sector stability at a critical time.Further developments are expected following today’s media briefing.

By Ifham Nizam

News

PM reveals allowances and perks available to MPs

Published

15 hours ago

2026/02/20

Thilina Walpola

Prime Minister Dr. Harini Amarasuriya yesterday (19) revealed allowances and benefits provided to Members of Parliament at present.She did so while responding to a question raised by Samagi Jana Balawegaya MP Chaminda Wijesiri.

According to the disclosure:

An MP receives a monthly allowance of Rs. 54,285, with an entertainment allowance of Rs. 1,000 per month.

Driver allowance is Rs. 3,500 per month; however, if the MP is provided with a driver by the Ministry of Public Security and Parliamentary Affairs, no driver allowance is paid.

Telephone allowance is Rs. 50,000, while transport allowance is Rs. 15,000 per month.

Office allowance amounts to Rs. 100,000.

MPs attending parliamentary sessions receive Rs. 2,500 per day, while Rs. 2,500 per day are given for MPs attending committee meetings on non-sitting days.

Meanwhile, Members of Parliament also receive a fuel allowance based on the distance from their elected district to Parliament.

For national list MPs, this is calculated as 419.76 liters of diesel per month, paid at the approved market rate on the first day of each month.Dr. Amarasuriya also emphasised that these allowances are structured to cover official duties and transportation costs.