News

Chief Govt. Whip confident teachers will return to work tomorrow

Published

5 years ago

2021/10/20

Chief Government Whip and highways Minister Johnston Fernando says the government is confident that teachers will return to work on Thursday (21), despite the JVP’s efforts to sabotage the reopening of schools. The JVP has denied the allegation.

Speaking to journalists after a meeting at the Kurunegala District Secretariat on Monday to review arrangements in place for the first stage of reopening of schools shut down following the pandemic outbreak, the Minister said: “Ours is a history with teachers giving high priority to children’s education. Even during the times of JVP terror during the 1987-89 period, teachers reported for work while the JVP threatened to kill them if they did so. Some teachers and principals were shot dead by JVP death squads and some of the victims were beheaded to scare others. We hope that teachers will defy threats from the JVP and report to work on 21 Oct.”

Asked whether any disciplinary action would be taken against those who would not report to work on that day, the minister said that such actions were regular administrative procedures. “It is expected that those who draw salaries as public servants should report to work when they are asked to. Those procedures are outlined in the Establishment Code. This is the usual procedure applicable to all public servants. Responding to a query from a journalist about the soaring prices of essential commodities, the Minister said: “As I have said in many other forums, this is a temporary outcome triggered by the pandemic-related developments. In the face of the pandemic, our first priority, as a government, was to save lives. Some limits had been imposed to achieve that goal. Such limits resulted in queues and price increases. Now the situation is changing fast and an unreeling effect is seen. Limits have been removed and queues are decreasing so that the prices will settle soon. I assure you that the situation will reach its normalcy in a few weeks. Shortages are temporary, even in the UK there is a similar situation in fuel distribution. The Opposition’s attempts to capitalise on those temporary crises will not be successful. For example, UNP’s trade union leaders said that there would be fuel shortages. That created panic among the public and people rushed to fuel stations to get fuel. That created queues but soon people understood that there is no fuel shortage and queues no longer are there near fuel stations. The Opposition could resort to such tactics but we as a government would not let people suffer,” Minister Fernando said.

Asked to comment on statements by political leaders of a possible election and whether the government politicians were in a position to visit their electorates to get votes, the Minister said: “We have no problem in going to our electorates. The Opposition seems to think that we cannot. It’s their wishful thinking but not the reality. They thought the same soon after the COVID-19 outbreak. They even predicted that we would not be able to hold elections stating it would take at least three days for people to cast votes if a one meter gap was maintained between two persons in the polling booths. At the end we held the election and people gave us two-third powers. We should hold elections on time. It is the Yahapalana method of governance to delay elections. We will not delay elections because we have not been permanently marred with crimes such as the Treasury bond scams.”

Asked to comment on the possibility of the SLFP, which is an allied party of the government, going solo in politics, the minister said: “You should ask them about it.”Responding to a question whether the government does not need the SLFP support, the Minister said: “We have not told anyone that we do not need support. Yet, if anyone thinks of taking an independent stance, it is up to them to decide. We cannot make decisions for other parties. There is no point in asking us about the affairs of their party, you should ask them.”

Asked to comment on the Opposition Leader’s statement that the incumbent government which came to power promising to create a land of prosperity has created a wasteland, the minister said: “We accepted a wasteland. During the last months of the Yahapalana government they could not even get the Municipal workers to remove garbage that piled up along the road sides. We cleared them all within 48 hours of assuming office. Opposition Leader Premadasa has forgotten who imported garbage to this country.”Commenting on the fertiliser issue, the minister said that the government had recognised it as a very sensitive issue. “We have also identified who is behind the protesting farmers. The farmers are being instigated and led to the road by the JVP that set hundreds of agrarian centres on fire during the period of 1989-90. The SJB and UNP too are running after them. All those three parties had in their manifestos that the country should go for organic fertiliser. Now we have started it and they are trying to find fault with it,” the Minister said.Wayamba Province Governor Raja Collure, Chairman of the Kurungegala District Development Committee Gunapala Ratnasekera, Kuruegala District Secretary R.M.R. Ratnayake, provincial education ministry officials, education zonal and divisional officials and the police attended the meeting that focused on health and hygienic measures to be taken in view of reopening of schools.

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Govt. assures UN of readiness to introduce ‘vetting process’ for troops on overseas missions

Published

9 hours ago

2026/04/28

Sahan Weerasooriya

Thuyakontha

Defence Secretary (retd.) Air Marshal Sampath Thuyakontha has discussed with UN officials in New York the deployment of Sri Lankan troops in Haiti, under a new UN authorised force, tasked with tackling heavily armed gangs operating in the violence ravaged country.

The UN is in the process of building up a force comprising approximately 5,500 officers and men for deployment in Haiti.

The Sri Lankan delegation included Sri Lanka’s Permanent Representative to the UN, former Chief Justice Jayantha Jayasuriya. The UN has tagged the deployment Gang Suppression Force (GSF).

According to the Defence Ministry, Sri Lanka negotiated a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) regarding the GSF. Although Sri Lanka has contributed to UN-led missions, the proposed deployment differed due to the nature of the operation, sources told The Island.

The delegation has assured that all personnel, assigned for UN missions, including the proposed GSF deployment in Haiti, would be subjected to a comprehensive screening process, in line with UN standards. War-winning Sri Lanka has declared, in New York, that the country was in the process of developing, what the Defence Ministry here called, National Human Rights Vetting Mechanism in consultation with the UN Resident Coordinator in Colombo.

The US has backed the deployment of Sri Lankan troops under UN command. Various interested parties, over the years, protested against the deployment of Sri Lankan troops on the basis of unsubstantiated war crimes allegations.

Thuyakontha has assured that troops would maintain highest standards of discipline during overseas missions. Sri Lanka brought the war here to a successful conclusion in May 2009 against predictions of contrary outcome by so-called experts.

The US and Panama proposed the GSF to replace a Kenya-led multinational force undermined by a lack of funding. Its strength hovered around 1,000, rather than the desired 2,500. The U.N. Security Council authorised the 5,500 strong force on September 30, 2025, with the new power to arrest gang members.

By Shamindra Ferdinando

News

Lawyers cannot be denied right to represent a suspect – Udaya

Published

9 hours ago

2026/04/28

Sahan Weerasooriya

Sallay

Sallay’s case:

Attorney-at-law Udaya Gammanpila yesterday (27) said a lawyer could not be deprived of his or her right to represent a client.

The former Minister and leader of Pivuthuru Hela Urumaya (PHU) Gammanpila said so addressing the media at the party headoffice at Pita Kotte. Gammanpila was responding to recent media reports that he had been prohibited from representing retired State Intelligence Service (SIS) Chief Maj. Gen. Suresh Sallay. Therefore, there was absolutely no basis for claims that he had been barred from meeting the retired officer, now named the third suspect in the Easter Sunday case, the ex-parliamentarian said.

Gammanpila emphasised that in terms of the Constitution a suspect’s right to be represented by a lawyer was recognised as a fundamental right. The Criminal procedure Code, too, guaranteed the suspect’s right to consult a lawyer, the ex-lawmaker said, pointing out that the Judicial Organisation Act underscored the same.

Declaring that the retired officer’s wife had named him as Sallay’s lawyer in a letter addressed to Director, CID, Gammanpila said that the courts, police and the Attorney General’s Department couldn’t under any circumstances interfere with his right to represent Sallay.

The CID arrested Sallay on 25 February and detained him under Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) for a period of 90 days. Sallay has filed a writ petition before the Court of Appeal through his lawyers, challenging his arrest and detention by the CID under the PTA.

Former Minister Gammanpila said that even if a Magistrate had the power to prohibit a lawyer from representing a particular suspect, such a course of action couldn’t be resorted to without giving the lawyer concern an opportunity to explain his/her actions.

Declaring that in case of misconduct on the part of a lawyer only the Supreme Court could take disciplinary action, the PHU leader said, adding that he sought a certified copy of the proceedings of the day when a section of the media reported the Magistrate’s declaration of the purported ban. Gammapila said that he was really keen to know what happened during the proceedings on that day.

Sallay served as Director, Directorate of Military Intelligence (DMI) from 2012 to 2016 and received the appointment as head of SIS following the 2019 presidential election. Sallay held that appointment till early October, 2024.

Gammanpila said that he couldn’t be barred for speaking to the media after meeting Sallay, currently held under PTA, or for authoring a book on the 2019 Easter Sunday carnage. According to Gammanpila as long as the suspect had no objections to his lawyer sharing some information with the media it shouldn’t be an issue for Additional Solicitor General Dileepa Peiris.

By Shamindra Ferdinando

News

Police seek Interpol help to probe monks nabbed with narcotics at BIA

Published

9 hours ago

2026/04/28

Sahan Weerasooriya

Police investigating the thwarted a bid made by 22 Buddhist monks to smuggle in narcotics, with a street value of Rs 660 mn via BIA, from Thailand, over the weekend, believe the monks who organised the clandestine operation had sent groups of monks to Thailand before.

Sources said that they had brought in narcotics on earlier occasions.

Police have seized the mobile phones used by the suspects and sought INTERPOL assistance.

Earlier, the Negombo Magistrate’s Court remanded those 22 monks, arrested in connection with the largest drug bust in the airport’s history.

The monks were produced before the Negombo Magistrate’s Court and ordered to be held in custody until 02 May, as investigations continue into the alleged smuggling operation and any wider networks involved.

However, other sources said that more than 110 kilogrammes of suspected Kush and Hashish, with an estimated street value exceeding Rs 1.1 billion, had been found, concealed in false-bottoms of their suitcases. The bags reportedly packed with school supplies and sweets are said to have contained over five kilogrammes of narcotics per individual.

The arrests followed a raid by the Police Narcotics Bureau on Saturday night. Investigators have also recovered mobile phone evidence indicating that the group had travelled to Bangkok on 22 April using airline tickets allegedly given by a sponsor. Authorities allege that the suspects were photographed in civilian clothing, while overseas, engaging in activities deemed suspicious.

Police say this marks the first reported instance of a large-scale narcotics operation via the airport involving Buddhist monks. The suspects are young monks from different parts of the country.

By Norman Palihawadana