News
Field Marshal tells Wiggy not to try to emulate Prabhakaran
By Saman Indrajith
SJB Gampaha District MP Field Marshal Sarath Fonseka told TMTK MP C.V. Wigneswaran not to try to emulate Velupillai Prabhakaran by making racist statements because he was too old for that.
Participating in the debate on Vote on Account, Field Marshal Fonseka said: “It was sad to observe MP Wigneswaran making a statement undermining other communities. MP Gajendrakumar Ponnambalam, too, supported Wigneswaran’s views. I would like to tell both of them that we consider it as an insult to us by denigrating the motherland in this House and violating the honour of this august assembly. According to Wigneswaran the oldest language in this country is spoken by the Tamil people. That means according to him Sinhala people came to this country after the Tamil people. I would like to remind him that we would never bow our heads to anyone who attempts to undermine the Sinhala nation in this country and any such movement undermining the Sinhala nation would not last long. Wigneswaran must remember that there were people in the past, too, who tried to undermine the status of the Sinhalese. Amirthalingam instigated Tamil youth against Sinhalese and finally he got a bullet from the very same Tamil youth. Then there was Prabhakaran, who thought that they could carve out a separate state in this country. You saw what happened to him. Unfortunately, Wigneswaran cannot be Prabhakaran because he is too old to emulate Prabhakaran.I am telling you to be happy with what you have and never try to undermine the Sinhalese of this country. If you try to do that you’ll face consequences and you’ll repent.”
Participating in the debate Environment Minister Mahinda Amaraweera said: “There is a spree of media reports on controversial statements made by MPs CV Wingeswaran and Selvam Adaikkilanathan. There is an enormous public displeasure against what they had said. There is no need to repeat those racist sentiments. It is sad to notice that MP Adaikkilanathan too made a statement conforming with what MP Wigneswaran said. I request them not to make such inflammatory statements which would pave the way for another communal conflict in this country. We have no need to see a war in this country again. The hope of this government and the President is to create an environment where Sinhala, Muslim, Tamil, Malay and other communities live as one nation and each citizen enjoys his or her citizenry rights irrespective of his or her communal identity. We have no hope of favouring any single community or to discriminate against any community. We know that you are making fiery speeches to rouse communal feelings among people in your electorates and to show off as the saviours of your community. But those statements would result in disharmony among communities at a time when these communities are working together.”
Latest News
Schools closed on 13th and 14th November
The Ministry of Education has announced that all schools in the island will be closed on 13th and 14th November due to the Parliamentary Election.
News
Enthusiasm of voters and candidates at low ebb: Polls monitors
By Rathindra Kuruwita
More than 8,800 candidates were contesting this year’s general election, but fewer than 1,000 of them were actively campaigning, Rohana Hettiarachchi, Executive Director of the People’s Action for Free and Fair Elections (PAFFREL), said yesterday.
“This low level of enthusiasm reflects the strain on political parties which have had to contest elections one after the other,” Hettiarachchi said, noting that voters themselves seemed less enthusiastic about the election. “There is significant disillusionment with traditional parties. Additionally, with campaign finance laws now in place, questionable individuals and entities are restricted from injecting money, leading many big spenders from previous elections to withdraw,” he said.
Although hundreds of political parties and independent groups were contesting and are allowed to establish around 600,000 campaign offices, only about 9,200 offices have been set up, Hettiarachchi added.
News
SC halts Magistrate’s orders on release of unregistered jumbos
…assumes jurisdiction over case
By A. J. A. Abeynayake
The Supreme Court issued an order yesterday (07) directing the immediate transfer of a case regarding the possession of several unregistered elephants from the Colombo Additional Magistrate’s Court to its own jurisdiction.
The Supreme Court also instructed the Magistrate’s Court not to take any further steps concerning the case. Additionally, it issued a stay order on all directives given by the Magistrate’s Court regarding the case filed by the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) until the conclusion of its examination of the related petitions.
This ruling was made by a Supreme Court bench, comprising Justice Preethi Padman Surasena and Justice Arjuna Obeysekere, in response to submissions by President’s Counsel Sanjeeva Jayawardena, who argued that the previous order issued by an Colombo Additional Magistrate’s Court, allowing the release of illegally held elephants back to the individuals in possession of them was unlawful.
The Centre for Environmental and Cultural Studies and several other parties had previously filed the case, which was called for hearing yesterday (07).
President’s Counsel Sanjeeva Jayawardena also brought to the notice of the Supreme Court that despite an order from the Court of Appeal preventing the release of elephants held by the Department of Wildlife in connection with this case, the Magistrate’s Court had recently issued an order releasing the elephants back to the individuals in possession of them.
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