News
PCoI denies ever asking govt. to withhold parts of its report on carnage

Document in its entirety handed over to AG
By Shamindra Ferdinando
The Presidential Secretariat yesterday (12) handed over the remaining 22 volumes of the Presidential Commission of Inquiry (PCoI) report, hitherto declared sensitive and withheld from Attorney General Dappula de Livera, PC.
The delivery of those volumes which dealt with some aspects of the 2019 Easter Sunday carnage took place close on the heels of an unprecedented meeting between the Archbishop of Colombo Malcolm Cardinal Ranjith and the AG on March 8 at the Bishops’ House. In separate statements issued following the March 8 meeting, the Catholic Bishops’ Conference in Sri Lanka and the AG De Livera called for release of the report in its entirety.
President Gotabaya Rajapaksa received the PCoI report on Feb 1, 2021.
Authoritative sources yesterday told The Island that there was absolutely no basis for claims that the PCoI advised the Presidential Secretariat not to release a section of the report. Sources emphasized that the PCoI had nothing to do with the move to deny the AG access to a set of volumes.
Supreme Court Judge Janak de Silva functioned as the Chairman of the PCoI. Other members of the PCoI are Court of Appeal Judge Nissanka Bandula Karunaratne, retired Supreme Court Judges Nihal Sunil Rajapaksha and A. L. Bandula Kumara Atapattu and former Secretary to the Ministry of Justice W. M. M. R. Adhikari. H. M. P. Buwaneka Herath functioned as the Secretary to the PCoI.
The AG has formed a 12-member team to examine the report.
In addition to the PCoI, the AG Department would examine the Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC) report on the Easter Sunday attacks.
The AG is on record as having said that the final report of the PCoI he received several days ago did not shed light on the Easter Sunday mastermind, conspirators and those involved directly and indirectly. The AG’s Department said that moving court was the prerogative of the department and it was not bound by the recommendations of the P CoI.
The parliament debated the PCoI report this week. The debate on the same is expected to be scheduled for two more days in the third week of this month.
Legal and political sources told The Island that the examination of the whole set of volumes was of utmost necessity against the backdrop of accusations and counter accusations over the alleged involvement of various political parties and individuals. Some of those named and referred to in the PCoI report are members of political parties represented in parliament and outside the House, sources said.
News
Stay on course and don’t go back to the past – Dr Indrajit Coomaraswamy

Former Governor of the Central Bank delivering the keynote address at a high profile Webinar hosted by the Central Bank of Sri Lanka today (24) said that Sri Lanka must implement the structural reforms proposed by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) without relaxing like in the past or else we will be in a deeper economic mess.
The webinar was titled ‘What is next for Sri Lanka in the wake of the IMF programme’
News
Sustainable economic development goals cannot be achieved unless attention is paid to mitigating climate change – Sagala Ratnayake

President’s Senior Adviser on National Security and Chief of Presidential Staff Sagala Ratnayake said sustainable economic development goals cannot be accomplished without taking steps to mitigate climate change.
He said this while participating in the 10,000 sapling planting program organized by the LEO Youth Vision 2048 Club and the LEO Club at the Royal College, Colombo on Thursday (23rd).
This program was organized in view of President Ranil Wickremesinghe’s birthday, which is today (24), and the required plants were distributed to the main schools of the Colombo District.
News
SF claims thousands of police and military personnel leaving

By Saman Indrajith
Thousands of police and military personnel had left the services recently as they did not want to carry out illegal orders, Field Marshal Sarath Fonseka told Parliament yesterday. According to the war-winning army commander 200 policemen have resigned during the past two months and 25,000 soldiers have left the army during the last two years.
“We urged the law enforcement and military officials not to follow illegal orders. We will reinstate them with back pay,” he said.
Fonseka also urged the President and the government MPs not to take people for fools.
“Sri Lanka owes 55 billion dollars to the world. Ranil’s plan is to borrow another seven billion during the next four years. So, in four years we will owe 62 billion to the world.
Ranil and his ministers ask us what the alternative to borrowing is. These are the people who destroyed the economy and society. They must leave. Then, we will find an alternative and develop the country,” he said, adding that the IMF loans had made crises in other nations worse.
“Ranil says that by 2025, we will have a budget surplus as in Japan, Germany and South Korea. These countries are economic power houses, and this comparison is ludicrous.”
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