News
Harin says President’s policy statement gave him a real scare
By Saman Indrajith
The content of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s policy statement to Parliament last week signifies the beginning of a Sri Lanka’s journey towards a dictatorship. SJB National List MP Harin Fernando told Parliament on Friday.
Participating in the debate on the Presidential policy statement, MP Fernando said that the statement contained matters which were frightening. “When I read the headlines in the newspapers which said one country one law, my knees started to tremble in fear. He (the President) said that he would bring one law for all people, but I don’t want that to be the Rajapaksa law. If the law being promised is here the same that imprisoned former CID Director Shani Abeysekera, then I don’t want that law.”
Fernando warned that the course of action proposed by the President would lead the country to a dictatorship.
“I saw the Facebook page of the former President Maithripala Sirisena today. There is a post in which he says that after accomplishing a task with great effort it is now time to quietly watch the process in motion. But we can’t do that; we cannot be quiet and watch what this government is doing because people have given them two third majority with the hope of getting what they had been promised. We are not going to be silent when the government is doing otherwise.”
Chief Opposition Whip and Kandy District SJB MP Lakshman Kiriella said that government had shown an indecent haste to abolish the 19th Amendment to the Constitution.
He said that almost all seniors sitting in the government ranks now had voted in favour of the 19th Amendment in 2015.
“We introduced the 19A to reduce the powers of the executive President and at the time the UNP had only 45 seats even though in government but we got the requisite two-thirds majority in the House to pass this Amendment.”
Kiriella said that the government had not disclosed whether it was planning to retain the independent commissions. “Tell the country how 19 A is going to be amended. Is it being done for the benefit of the people or to serve some other secret agenda?”
Kiriella said that the ‘one country, one law’ concept was not realistic. “There are many customary laws in this country. There are the Kandyan laws, the Thesawalami law, the Muslim laws etc. It is difficult to change these laws which are hundreds of years old,” he said.
Leader of the House Minister Dinesh Gunawardena said that 19A had left the country in a mess and had to be changed.
“The President was elected in November last year but he could not dissolve Parliament because of 19A. He had to wait for the end of four and a half years of its term to be completed. Because of this Parliament was dissolved in March and elections had to be postponed twice due to COVID-19. This amendment has tied the President’s hands and left the country in a mess.”
There had been various estimates regarding the number of participants expected for the 10-day Siri Dalada Vandana exposition of the Sacred Tooth Relic of the Buddha in Kandy, Central Province Governor Professor Sarath Abhayakoon said.
Addressing a press conference at the Governor’s Office on Tuesday, Prof. Abhayakoon commended the Institution of Engineering Technology of Sri Lanka as the only body that had provided consistent and accurate data on the number of devotees attending the Dalada exposition. In contrast, he noted that other institutions had reported inconsistent figures, which led to confusion during key decision-making moments.
He said that the unexpectedly high number of devotees who arrived midway through the event had placed a significant strain on resources and planning, highlighting the need for better predictive tools and scientific data methods to manage such religious festivals in the future.
Prof. Abhayakoon said that the event had generated nearly 625 tonnes of unsorted garbage. The waste, currently stored at the Gohagoda dump site under the Kandy Municipal Council, is scheduled to be incinerated using a burner at the Colombo Municipal Council.
Much of the waste was generated through informal disposal across Kandy town and was collected during the clean-up operation that followed the large influx of pilgrims.
He stressed the importance of integrating modern technology into event planning, noting that while this year’s event had been planned with support from Sri Lankan engineering technologists, several logistical challenges had arisen during implementation.
A final report on the event is currently being compiled, incorporating feedback from all stakeholders involved in organising the exposition and associated religious activities. The Governor said the report would help identify the shortcomings and improve future operations, particularly in the areas of crowd management, data collection, and waste disposal.
By Samanti Weerasekera
The Colombo High Court on Tuesday sentenced a 37-year-old father of two to life imprisonment on two counts of heroin possession and trafficking.
Delivering the verdict, High Court Judge Navaratna Marasinghe found Gayan Buddhika, a resident of Kotahena, guilty of possessing and trafficking 6.95 grams of heroin. The charges were filed by the Attorney General, and the court imposed two separate life sentences for each offence.
The accused was originally arrested on 07 April, 2013 by Kotahena Police at Hettiyawatta, where he was found in possession of narcotics.
During the proceedings, court-appointed Attorney-at-Law Sanju Sri Weerasekara, who represented Buddhika, pleaded for leniency on the grounds that her client is the father of two young children.
However, Deputy Solicitor General Chathura Dissanayake and State Counsel Keshani Wijesinghe argued for the maximum sentence, citing the grave social harm caused by drug trafficking and the need for a strong deterrent.
As per court protocol, the sentence was read out aloud to the accused in open court by High Court interpreter T.D. Thuwan Saddam.
By A.J.A. Abeynayake
Anuradhapura police are investigating the validity of a warning received via the police hotline (119) on Monday, stating that a person would trigger an explosion at the historical Ruwanweliseya premises.
On Sunday, the police, along with STF and military personnel, launched a joint search operation at the Ruwanwelisaya Temple following the bomb threat received through an emergency call.
According to police sources, the call, which was made around noon, warned that an individual carrying a bomb was heading toward the temple. The call was reportedly placed by a woman from Kurunegala. Authorities immediately initiated a security operation, thoroughly inspecting the temple premises and surrounding areas.
Despite the extensive search, no suspicious individuals or objects were found, and the situation was deemed clear.
A senior Police officer said on Tuesday that no evidence of a bomb threat or dangerous materials was discovered at the site.
An investigation into the phone call is ongoing, with authorities working to determine whether it was a hoax
Security around the site remains tight, and police continue their inquiries into the origin of the false alarm.
By Ranga Chatu
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