News
Intl help to probe Easter terror unnecessary: Cardinal
By Norman Palihawadane
Colombo Archbishop Malcolm Cardinal Ranjith says that there is no need to seek international assistance to probe the Easter Sunday attacks anew and all what needed was to depoliticize the local investigation process. Delivering the homily at the Festive High Mass of the 75th Jubilee Celebration of St Theresa’s Church, Batapaththalala, Kandawala in Katana last week, the Cardinal said: “We do not need the help of the international police to find the hidden truth about who was behind the Easter Sunday terror attacks.
The police and investigative officers of this country have the strength and capacity for that purpose. What is required is to give them complete freedom and support without political influence to carry out their work.” The Archbishop said that maintaining justice and equity in our society has now turned out to be a challenge. “It is not democracy to mislead people, to cause them trouble and to make their lives miserable. The country is now under an unfair and unjust rule. The rulers themselves are suppressing the truth from the people. They promote lies to suit their political agenda and to cling on to power,” he said.
“While people are hungry, sad and suffering from pain, the leaders are only interested on how to consolidate power with callous disregard to the plight of the people. The rulers pass the day blaming each other. This is a very unfortunate situation.”
The Vespers Service of the jubilee was presided over by Rt Rev Dr Maxwell Silva, Auxiliary Bishop of Colombo. The 75th jubilee celebrations had been organized under the guidance of Rev Fr Srikantha Fernando, Parish Priest Kandawala and Rev. Fr Gihan Priyashantha Peiris with the support of the Parish Council.
Accepting deposits from political parties and independent groups who intend to contest the forthcoming Local Authorities Election ended at 12noon today [19].
Deposits were accepted at respective District Secretariats from 3rd March 2025.
The Elections Commission has announced that the deadline for the accepting of nominations for the LA poll is set to conclude at 12:00 noon tomorrow (20).
It has been reported that the former Inspector General of Police (IGP) Deshabandu Tennakoon has appeared before the Matara Magistrate’s Court this morning (19),
The former IGP had been evading arrest after the Matara Magistrate’s court had ordered his arrest regarding a shooting incident that took place in front of the W15 Hotel Pelena, Weligama, Matara, in 2023.
The government has begun recovering funds obtained by former Lands and Land Development, Environment and Wildlife Resources Minister SM Chandrasena for the Janatha Lanka Chilli Marketing Limited (JLCML), which he headed, Parliament was informed yesterday.
Agriculture, Livestock, Land, and Irrigation Minister Namal Karunaratne said that as the Chairman of JLCML, Chandrasena had obtained a loan of Rs. 1,275,000 from the Mihintale Govijana Seva Bank in 2001.
The principal of the loan had not been repaid until the end of last year. “After we came to power, we demanded that the loan be settled. Then, we discovered that the interest on the loan had not been paid for the past 24 years, and attempts had been made to have the loan written off. We stopped that and are now in the process of recovering the interest of Rs. 1,975,233 on the loan,” Karunaratne said.
Karunaratne added that JLCML was registered as a company with the Registrar of Companies on March 21, 2001. As Chairman of the company, Chandrasena requested a loan of Rs. 10 million on April 19, 2001, for the purpose of purchasing chillies from farmers in 12 farmer colonies in the Mihintale Agrarian Service area.
The request was approved by the Mihintale Agrarian Service Committee on the same day and referred to the Anuradhapura District Agrarian Operations Committee, which approved it on April 23, 2001. However, the Agriculture Development Commissioner General recommended that a loan of Rs. 1.2 million would suffice for this purpose. JLCML took the loan and failed to repay it until the end of last year. When the matter was raised, the principal was paid, and we are now in the process of recovering the interest that was not paid for the past 24 years,” Karunaratne added.
By Saman Indrajith
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