Lanka News Web

Four students were arrested on 1 December in Jaffna, northern Sri Lanka, by the Terrorist Investigation Division (TID) of the police. They are being held in Vavuniya for interrogation and are at risk of torture. P. Tharshananth, Sanmugam Solaman, Kanesamoorthy Sutharsan and K. Jenemajeyamenan were arrested without warrants in Jaffna. It is not known if they have been formally charged.

OTTAWA - Patrick Brown, the Member of Parliament for Barrie, expresses serious concern over the recent threats to freedom of expression and freedom of assembly in Sri Lanka.

According to reports, the Chief Justice (CJ) through her lawyers have informed the Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC) that she wishes to waive the right to have the impeachment proceedings in-camera and instead wishes the inquiry to be open to the public.

The Dragon’s shadow is lengthening over Sri Lanka with every passing day. China has committed since 2005 contracts and investments worth US$ 6.4 billion, as per treasury records. So far, $ 3.6 billion has been disbursed. Projects worth $ 2.8 billion are waiting to be signed. In another three years, the Chinese investment in Sri Lanka will nearly double and touch $ 12 billion.

Sri Lanka's most senior judge, Chief Justice Shirani Bandaranayake, has appeared before a parliamentary committee which is looking into corruption allegations against her.

Standing orders protect the judge during proceedings of the PSC and if found guilty, then the proceedings would be published. Otherwise it will not be published (Standing Order 78A(8)). The purpose of this protection is to protect the judge against unfair allegations etc. However, the Standing Orders do not prohibit the waiver of that right by the judge himself/herself. Bandaranayaka CJ wants to waive that right today and requested that the proceedings be open to public.

The President had recently told several of his friends that he could only trust Minister Mervyn Silva and former Chief Justice Sarath Silva in the current political scenario.

A group of lawyers are in the process of filing corruption charges against the Head of the parliamentary select committee (PSC) probing the impeachment motion against the Chief Justice, Attorney and Environment Minister Anura Priyadharshana Yapa.

A majority of the members of the Bar Association of Sri Lanka (BASL) has decided to boycott working any of the courthouses if the government moves to appoint an acting Chief Justice during the period of the impeachment proceedings, it is learnt.

The impeachment of the Chief Justice which was staged as a farce has now turned into a blatant witch hunt where the government is shamelessly mobilising taxi drivers and other mobs to call for the resignation of the Chief Justice.

British Tamil Forum strongly condemns the abduction and arrest of the five Jaffna university Tamil students. According to our sources, Jaffna University student representatives were detained by the occupying Sri Lankan forces, based on a complaint made against them by a newly created paramilitary operating along with the SL military.

The President has recently reprimanded Economic Development Minister Basil Rajapaksa, who is the architect of the impeachment motion against Chief Justice Dr. Shirani Bandaranayake, sources from temple Trees said.

The President has assigned the task of local government demarcations according to the new local government electoral laws to Minister Basil Rajapaksa. Basil has been asked to carry out the demarcation in a manner that would be beneficial to the SLFP.

President Mahinda Rajapaksa has asked President of the Bar Association of Sri Lanka (BASL), MP Wijedasa Rajapakse to try and mend the soured relation between the President and the Chief Justice.