Lanka News Web

The BHRC has issued an statement voicing concern at the circumstances surrounding the impeachment of the Chief Justice of Sri Lanka, Shirani Bandaranayake, and at reports of attacks against the judiciary and the legal profession within Sri Lanka.

The Journalist Kusal Perera sent a letter to the political parties to ask declare assets and liabilities of the Members of Parliament.

Reliable sources in New York has informed this website that Major General Shavendra Silva, Deputy Ambassador in New York has been given official leave from 04 to 20 January 2013 by Gotabaya Rajapakse to come to Colombo to control possible peoples uprising during the debate of the impeachment motion against the Chief Justice. Gota has decided to get the services of his most trusted army officer. The Embassy Officials in New York has learnt about this as General Silva has already made arrangements to travel to Sri Lanka.

President Mahinda Rajapaksa had ordered the Secretary of the State Resources and Enterprise Development Ministry, Willie Gamage to sell a stock of graphite worth billions of rupees to a Tamil businessman declaring it to be “scrap material.”

CEO of Shri Ram, a company that was under the Ceylinco Group, Hiran de Alwis, who was responsible for the downfall of Shri Ram and its failure to pay the depositors, has been appointed as the CEO of the state operated Celestial Tower Hotel. Ceylinco Shri Ram was ordered by courts to pay back its depositors their investments on an installment basis.

The Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation (SLBC) building located near the Independence Square in Colombo 7 for over 70 years is to be acquired by the Urban Development Authority (UDA) to put up a hotel.

Two student unions in Sri Lanka published a report last Monday claiming an increase in rights violations against university students. The report claimed that students have suffered more than 1,000 human rights abuses since 2009.

We wish our readers from over 200 countries a victorious year ahead.

It you, or dear readers who have us the strength and held us strong. You stood by us with confidence when the state media identified and categorized us under various groups. Your constructive criticism served as a guiding light to us.

The government’s claim is that the case against the Chief Justice is an open and shut case, a foolproof case. It claims that the charges are extremely grave and that the evidence possessed by the government is monumental and black and white.

November 27th this year (2012) marked an important milestone in the different phases of ethnic relations in this country. For those of us who still retain the memory of the events of 40 years ago, it was like Déjà vu. Students of the Jaffna University observed Heroes’ Day within the University premises.

The Sri Lanka Army has clearly stated that the military did not have any intention of withdrawing army camps in Jaffna despite intense pressure from the international community and Tamil political parties to stop the militarization of the North. The Amry claims that the LTTE is still active in the North.

A United Nations expert on Monday criticised Sri Lanka's move to impeach its chief justice, saying it was part of a pattern of attacks on lawyers and a bid to stop judges carrying out their work independently of politicians.

The state media continues their non-stop misinformation campaign on the impeachment move by the government. Several ministers also participated in this media campaign. The central topics of the campaign are that it is the charges that are important, and not the process – meaning that whether the inquiry took place by a competent and impartial tribunal does not matter - and that judicial review into the proposed actions of the executive, such as the Divenaguma Bill, amount to sabotage.

Some people are very angry that no real protest develop in the streets of Lanka. The happenings that take place currently in this country must awaken the just wrath of the people, they say.