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LSSP and CPSL felicitate Communist Party of China on 100th anniversary

Published

5 years ago

2021/06/19

Sahan Weerasooriya

DEW Gunasekera addressing the meeting at the headquarters in Borella

By Shiran Illanperuma

Sri Lankan political leaders from the Communist Party of Sri Lanka (CPSL) and the Lanka Sama Samaja Party (LSSP), joined 10 other political parties in lauding the centenary achievements of the Communist Party of China (CPC) at a virtual conference on Tuesday.

The Communist Party of Sri lanka (CPSL) hosted a multi-party virtual conference from its headquarters in Borella on Tuesday to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the founding of the CPC.

“We in Sri Lanka are having a fitting gathering to mark the great event. Not only all major political streams, but all major ethnic groups are represented at this historic meeting,” CPSL General Secretary G. Weerasignhe said in an introductory speech.

CPSL veteran and former General Secretary DEW Gunasekara conveyed revolutionary greetings to the CPC’s leadership and its nearly 92 million members. He said that the formation of the CPC in 1921, four years after the Russian Revolution, was a milestone in the entry of Marxism into Asia.

Gunasekera praised the CPC for its twenty-eight-year-long struggle which culminated in the formation of the People’s Republic of China in 1949. “In applying Marxism to the concrete conditions of China, the CPC successfully brought about an alliance of anti-imperialist and anti-feudal democratic forces,” he said.

Gunasekara said that China had embarked on its first five-year plan amidst embargos, sanctions and continued military aggression in Asia. He said the acceleration of globalisation and technological advancement made the CPC re-evaluate the potential of capitalism, and the collapse of the Soviet Union reinforced the need for a new economic strategy.

“The self-critical assessment of the Chinese Communist Party with regard to the lost decades due to left deviationist policies was another salutary theoretical contribution made by the Chinese Communist Party. The three-pronged new economic strategy of planning, market and state intervention has been proved viable and effective by the 40 year accelerated development of the Chinese economy,” Gunasekara said.

He said that the CPC had brought radical change in the balance of economic order and contributed to the rise of Asia. He said that China’s resilience in the wake of the 2008 global financial crisis, its eradication of poverty, and investments via the Belt and Road Initiative have demonstrated the strength of the Chinese model and earned global admiration.

“All these remarkable achievements were possible due to the dynamic political leadership of the Chinese Communist Party. They have not only sharpened the main contradiction between imperialism and the world community but also intensified the internal contradictions in the imperialist camp,” Gunasekera said.

Tissa Vitarana, General Secretary of the Lanka Sama Samaja Party (LSSP), the oldest political party and first socialist party in Sri Lanka, conveyed fraternal greetings to the CPC. He thanked China for donating doses of COVID-19 vaccines to Sri Lanka, and said that the LSSP wishes to strengthen bonds with the CPC.

“The USA and its allies have unleashed a Chinaphobia claiming that your intention is military conquest, not just trade. The truth is obvious, the USA has 403 military bases around China alone, with over a thousand worldwide. China’s only foreign base is in Djibouti, to fight the Somalian pirates,” Vitarana said.

“The USA cannot tolerate the fact that one of the world’s poorest third world countries in the 19th century is surpassing it. The Third World countries of the collapsing capitalist world are turning to socialist China for leadership,” he said.

“Like you, we want to see an end to capitalism, with its poverty and its perpetual threat to peace, and to join you and other socialist and communist parties to establish socialism globally,” Vitarana said.

The CPSL lobbied post-independence governments to establish diplomatic ties with Communist countries including China. The CPSL aligned with Moscow during the Sino-Soviet split but maintained cordial relations with the CPC thereafter.

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Geneva takes up Sallay’s case and govt. ignores opportunity to answer accusations

Published

3 hours ago

2026/10/5

Thilina Walpola

Suresh Sallay

The government has chosen not to respond to questions raised by the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) regarding the detention of retired Maj. Gen. Suresh Sallay in connection with the ongoing investigations into the 2019 Easter Sunday attacks.

The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) arrested the ex-official in late February this year. The Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism, the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, the Special Rapporteur on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health and the Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers have jointly raised the issue on 20 July, 2026.

Drawing attention of President Anura Kumara Dissanayake to what they called alleged arbitrary detention of Sallay, former Director General of the State Intelligence Service (SIS) and former Director of Military Intelligence (DMI), under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA), as well as allegations of torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment while in custody, resulting in the grave deterioration of his health, and imminent risks of retaliation through further torture and ill-treatment resulting in irreparable harm, should he be released from hospital and returned to custody, the UN sought the government explanation with a 60-day period.

The UN has stated: “This communication, and any response received from your Excellency’s Government, will be made public via the communications reporting website at the 60 days mark. Should your Excellency’s Government respond within 60 days, both the communication and the response, may be published before the 60 days mark. The communications and responses

will also be made available in the subsequent periodic report to be presented to the Human Rights Council.”

In the absence of the government’s response, the UN posted the letter, dated 20 July, 2026, addressed to President Dissanayake. The full letter can be accessed https://spcommreports.ohchr.org/TMResultsBase/DownLoadPublicCommunicationFile?gId=31125

News

Section of wartime KKS High Security Zone vacated to facilitate economic development in the area

Published

3 hours ago

2026/10/5

Thilina Walpola

The Army, last week, vacated an area, within the wartime high security zone in the Jaffna peninsula. The Defence Ministry said that an extent of 187.56 acres of land, belonging to the Cement Corporation in Kankesanthurai, Jaffna, has been released by the military. The released land, located in Grama Niladhari Division J/233, Kankesanthurai West, within the Valikamam North (Tellippalai) Divisional Secretariat Division, had been utilised by the Sri Lanka Army since the middle of 1997.

The release of the 187.56-acre extent forms part of the initiative to make State land available for the proposed investment zone in Kankesanthurai, thereby facilitating future investment and economic development in the area.

News

Lawyer lodges complaint against Govt. Printer, Media Ministry Secy.

Published

3 hours ago

2026/10/5

Thilina Walpola

A complaint has been lodged with the Colombo Fraud Investigation Bureau against the Government Printer and the Secretary to the Ministry of Media regarding the online release of falsified documents bearing a forged Speaker’s certificate.

Attorney-at-Law Aruna Laksiri has lodged a complaint with the Colombo Fraud Investigation Bureau requesting legal action against the Government Printer of the Department of Government Printing (No. 118, Dr. Danister de Silva Mawatha, Colombo 08), Prasanna Jayaratne, and the Secretary to the Ministry of Mass Media (Asidisi Medura, 163, Kirulapone Mawatha, Polhengoda, Colombo 05), Dr. Anil Jasinghe.

The complaint alleges the commission of offences by forging and uploading falsified documents online using a forged Speaker’s certification, failure to perform statutory duties, and misappropriation of public property.

The complaint states that a copy of the English translation of the 22nd Amendment to the Constitution was downloaded and printed from the official website of the Government Printing Department (www.documents.gov.lk), which operates under the Ministry of Mass Media. On its outer cover and on page 1, the text “certified on 25th of September, 2026” is inscribed inside brackets.

The complaint pointed out that the Speaker has certified an English translation. Under Articles 23, 79, 83, and 80 of the Constitution, Parliament enacts laws and the Speaker certifies bills strictly in the Sinhala and Tamil languages; under the Constitution, therefore the Speaker cannot apply such certification to an English translation.