News
Cardinal: Christian fringe groups threaten social, religious harmony
International probe will be necessary unless …
By Norman Palihawadana
Archbishop of Colombo, Malcolm Cardinal Ranjith yesterday told media that they would go before international courts if the government didn’t take any action against those behind the Easter Sunday attacks or failed to conduct an investigation based on the PCoI findings during its Easter Sunday carnage probe.
The Cardinal said that he had asked for a copy of the final report of the PCoI from President Gotabaya Rajapaksa. After reading the report he would decide whether there were any shortcomings in it, the Cardinal said.
His Eminence said that legal action should be taken against those who failed to take action despite receiving prior warnings.
The Catholic Church had no connections to various pastors of fringe sects. In recent times a number of people, who called themselves pastors, had emerged and they had been targeting senior artistes, sportsmen and business persons, the Cardinal said.
“The Catholic Church is thousands of years old and we have a coherent organisational structure and to become a Catholic priest, a person has to study for a few years. In the past few decades a bunch of people have also started preaching and these people are not a part of any organization. We don’t know if they have had training.”
The Cardinal said that those pastors were misleading the people. Given that Sri Lankans were already burdened with various issues, from crippling cost of living and debt, it was easy to mislead them by promising relief.
The Cabinet of Ministers approved the proposal furnished by the Minister of Justice and National Integrity to publish the Anti Corruption (Assets and Liabilities Statements) Orders 2025 prepared as per provisions of Anti Corruption Act No. 9 of 2023 in the gazette notification and, forward those orders to the Parliament afterwards.
It was decided at the cabinet meeting held on 18-12-2024 to appoint an officers’ committee under the chairmanship of the Secretary to the Prime Minister for submission of a report after reviewing non-commercial
institutions owned by the government. The appointed committee has already reviewed 160 institutions, and it has been decided to obtain the assistance of a subcommittee comprising the members in the field for reviewing 36 higher education centers, including the universities.
The following recommendations have been submitted by classifying 124 institutions under 09 categories, except this institution.
Accordingly, the Cabinet of Ministers has approved the proposal presented by the Prime Minister to implement the aforesaid recommendations.
The Sri Lanka Navy seized an Indian fishing boat and apprehended 03 Indian fishermen while they were poaching in Sri Lankan waters, during a special operation conducted in the northern sea area off the Delft Island, Jaffna on the night of 17 Mar 25.
Taking into account the impact of those practices on the livelihood of local fishermen, the Navy continues to conduct regular patrols and operations in Sri Lankan waters to curb illegal fishing practices of foreign fishing boats, trespassing into island waters.
The seized boat and the three Indian fishermen were brought to the KKS Harbour and they will be handed over to the Fisheries Inspector of Mailadi, Jaffna for onward legal proceedings
Anti Corruption (Assets and Liabilities Statements) Orders 2025 to be Gazetted
Cabinet nod to review report on non-commercial institutions owned by the Government
Navy seize an Indian fishing boat poaching in Northern waters
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