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Lankan immigration on the hunt for Scotswoman who documented protests
ECONOMYNEXT –Sri Lanka’s Immigration and Emigration Department is attempting to track down Kayleigh Fraser, the Scotswoman who documented the country’s anti government protests.Fraser was ordered to leave the island on or before Monday August 15 after officials cancelled her visa. She and her lawyer had filed a writ petition against her deportation with the Supreme Court, which was dismissed on the grounds that she was not being deported, only had her visa cancelled.
“The learned State Council submits that the impugned document ‘X4’ is not a deportation order as claimed by the petitioner and she confirmed that no deportation order has been made up to date by the authorities against the petitioner,” a court document shared by Fraser said.
Immigration officials stated that the police and SSD were on the lookout for Fraser.
“Her visa was cancelled on August 15, so we are looking to put her in a detention camp until she can get a ticket to leave the country,” the official told EconomyNext, confirming that Fraser was not getting deported but that her visa was cancelled.
“Legally we cannot give her a grace period, but on a humanitarian basis, we can give her the time to get a ticket,” the official said.
Fraser had used her social media to share pictures and videos of the anti-government protests in front of the Presidential Secretariat, and has been vocal against state sanctioned violence against protestors.
“Given what I have witnessed here in Colombo – the chemical weapons attacks on protestors, the government instructing the military to beat and torture protestors, the arbitrary arrests and blackmailing of prominent faces from the protests, intimidation tactics and threats etc – I should not be surprised at what has happened today,” she said, speaking to the Daily Record, a Scottish tabloid.
There were no reports of chemical weapons being used against any protestors in Sri Lanka, and it is unclear whether Fraser was erroneously referring to tear gas which was used to disperse crowds.Fraser also called out media channels who she claimed had attempted to misrepresent peaceful protests as violent.
“It became very clear to me early on that this was not being reported. There was no international coverage on what was happening, and the media here were very much trying to say that it was violent, but that is the absolute opposite of what I saw,” she said over social media.
“What I saw was a beautiful union [of people] coming together in absolute unity. It was a beautiful movement and I’ve never seen anything like that in my life and that kept me coming back.”
However, Sri Lanka’s authorities maintain that the arrests so far have been legal and that violence did occur on the part of some protestors, though activists and some civil society groups disagree. On May 09, after supporters of then Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa launched an unprovoked attack on peaceful protestors in Colombo, a wave of retaliatory mob-violence erupted across the country which saw the residences of some parliamentarians torched to the ground. One government MP was killed.
Authorities say many of the arrests so far have been of protestors who had violated court orders or had illegally occupied government buildings.Fraser continues to post on her social media.
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Approval has been granted at the Cabinet meeting held on 22.07.2024 to publish the draft bill of State Assets Management Act in the government gazette notification and thereby present it to the Parliament for its concurrence.
However, the draft bill couldn’t be passed in Parliament as a result of the Parliament being dissolved in the month of October 2024.
Thereafter, the draft bill was subject to further inspection by a
committee appointed which comprised of officials and authorities on the subject.
The said Committee has recognized the amendments to be made and a fundamental draft has been prepared including the proposed amendments.
Accordingly, the Cabinet of Ministers approved the resolution furnished by the President in his capacity as the Minister of Finance, Planning and Economic Development to suspend further activities regarding the draft bill of State Assets Management Act published in the extraordinary gazette of 02.08.2024, and to direct the Legal Draftsman to prepare a draft bill based on the fundamental draft prepared by the subject specialists’ committee.
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Cooperative Employees Commission Act No. 12 of 1972 to be amended
Considering the compliance of the Cooperative Societies’ operations with the concurrent socio – economic circumstances as well as the changes in the common law, the requirement of amending the Cooperative Employees Commission Act No. 12 of 1972 has been recognized.
A fundamental draft including proposed amendments based on the experience gained by that Commission as well as the opinions and proposals of Cooperative societies, their director board members, cooperative employees and other interested parties has been prepared.
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