News
Prez directs intelligence services to cooperate fully with Kiwi counterparts
NZ ISIS attack:
By Shamindra Ferdinando
President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has directed intelligence services to fully cooperate with New Zealand inquiring into last Friday’s knife attack carried out by Ahamed Adhil Mohamed Samsudeen, 32, who had secured refugee status in that country, way back in late Dec 2013.
Foreign Minister Prof. G.L. Peiris yesterday (6) briefed the media about the President’s decision, at the SLPP office at Nelum Mawatha.
State Intelligence Service (SIS) and the Directorate of Military Intelligence (DMI) are the primary intelligence gathering organisations in the country. President Rajapaksa brought the SIS under DMI veteran Maj. Gen. Suresh Sallay in the wake of 2019 Easter Sunday carnage.
Law enforcement officers shadowing Samsudeen gunned him down after he stabbed seven persons at a shopping mall. According to agency reports, Samsudeen inspired by ISIS was known to have publicly endorsed terrorism.
Prof. Peiris said that the NZ attack reminded the world again that terrorism affected all.
Commenting on the recent British decision to retain the proscription of the LTTE, Prof. Peiris said that those who had been near and dear to the group made a desperate bid to get the organization off the proscribed list. Referring to Sri Lanka being on the Geneva agenda, Prof. Peiris said that he would participate in the forthcoming 48 Geneva sessions via Zoom.
New Zealand last month opened a diplomatic mission in Colombo. Michael Appleton is the first NZ High Commissioner here.
Sri Lanka’s Ambassador in Myanmar Prof. Nalin de Silva has questioned the rationale in New Zealand accepting Samsudeen as a refugee two years after he entered the country on a student visa.
Authoritative sources said that Samsudeen, like so many thousands of Sri Lankans, had obtained refugee status abroad through fraudulent means, mainly by painting a dangerous picture of the country of birth. In spite of New Zealand’s decision to revoke Samsudeen’s refugee status, the man from Kattankudy had been successful in thwarting government plans to deport him by moving court.
Samsudeen, who had been released from New Zealand jail in July after serving a three-year term, was under constant surveillance. Samsudeen has been investigated for sharing violent content and also planning to join ISIS in Syria.
Samsudeen had secured refugee status by claiming both he and his father faced death threats from Sri Lankan security authorities, sources said. They claimed to have been attacked, abducted and tortured. Samsudeen had been successful in thwarting New Zealand plans to send him back by claiming he faced death threats in Sri Lanka.
The National Business Facilitation Centre (NBFC), which is being established under the Presidential Secretariat with the aim of removing administrative and regulatory barriers that exist among government institutions in relation to investment and industry and expediting these processes, will be opened tomorrow (22).
The centre is being established on the President’s initiative with the aim of bringing about a positive transformation in the industrial sector. The centre will provide solutions to issues that arise in dealing with the government machinery when starting and operating a business, while also coordinating with the relevant government institutions to provide the necessary facilities.
The “ViYASA” National Business Facilitation Centre (NBFC) has been established at Building C-80, Hector Kobbekaduwa Mawatha, Colombo 07, and is headed by Senior Additional( Secretary to the President, Seevali Arukgoda.
The centre will be opened under the patronage of Minister of Labour and Deputy Minister of Finance and Planning Dr Anil Jayantha Fernando and Minister of Industry and Entrepreneurship Development Sunil Handunnetti, with the participation of Secretary to the President Dr Nandika Sanath Kumanayake.
The website https://nbfc.presidentsoffice.gov.lk is also scheduled to be officially launched on the occasion.
President’s Media Division)
Latest News
Court of Appeal Judge M. Sri Mevan Anthony Edirimannasuriya Corea appointed as Acting President of the Court of Appeal
President Anura Kumara Dissanayake has appointed Court of Appeal Judge Mayadunna Sri Mevan Anthony Edirimannasuriya Corea as the Acting President of the Court of Appeal.
The appointment has been made as President’s Counsel Nalin Rohantha Abeysuriya, who currently serves as President of the Court of Appeal, will be overseas until the 24th.
Accordingly Judge Mayadunna Corea was sworn in as Acting President of the Court of Appeal before President Anura Kumara Dissanayake at the Presidential secretariat this morning (21).
Secretary to the President Dr Nandika Sanath Kumanayake was also present at the occasion.
(President’s Media Division)
Latest News
President instructs expediting further measures concerning Sivarasa Anojan, sentenced to death in Saudi Arabia
A discussion to review the further measures that could be taken regarding Sivarasa Anojan, a young Sri Lankan national who has been sentenced to death in Saudi Arabia, was held at the Presidential Secretariat this afternoon (21), under the patronage of President Anura Kumara Dissanayake.
The discussion focused on the measures taken to date concerning Sivaraasa Anojan and the further diplomatic and legal steps that could be pursued. Attention was also given to expediting the necessary further measures that could be taken to secure his release.
President Anura Kumara Dissanayake instructed officials to continue the necessary diplomatic engagement with the relevant authorities in Saudi Arabia and to maintain close and continuous involvement in all further measures concerning the case.
Reaffirming the Government’s continued attention to the safety and welfare of Sri Lankans living and working overseas, the President also stressed the need for the relevant ministries and institutions to work in close coordination and pursue all possible measures that could be taken in connection with the case.
Deputy Speaker Rizvie Salih, Deputy Minister of Religious and Cultural Affairs Muneer Mulaffer, Governor of the Western Province Hanif Yusoof, Secretary – Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Foreign Employment and Tourism Aruni Ranaraja, Secretary to the Ministry of Defence Air Vice Marshal Sampath Thuyacontha (Retd), Attorney General Parinda Ranasinghe and officials of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Foreign Employment and Tourism were also present at the discussion.
(President’s Media Division)
“ViYASA” National Business Facilitation Centre (NBFC) to be opened tomorrow (22)
Court of Appeal Judge M. Sri Mevan Anthony Edirimannasuriya Corea appointed as Acting President of the Court of Appeal
President instructs expediting further measures concerning Sivarasa Anojan, sentenced to death in Saudi Arabia
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