Will Ranil,Wimal postpone the LG elections?
Can a photo shoot with the king solve SL’s economic woes?
Is building rifts with friendly nations the way forward ?
From the day President Ranil Wickramasinghe announced that he was leaving for Britain to attend Queen Elizabeth’s funeral, the trip had become a controversial one. Some have questioned whether it is acceptable to spend a lot of money to attend a funeral when the whole country is facing a serious economic and political crisis. Even in the parliament, it was seen that it was questioned on several occasions. But even though the president left for Britain without paying any heed to it, there was no mention of the number of people accompanying the president or the number of people traveling.
Welgama’s criticism
Due to this, it was possible to see various talks and statements spreading in the social media as well as in the Parliament. Once the MP Kumara Welgama made a statement in the Parliament regarding this and mentioned that the current President like the former President Mahinda Rajapaksa as well as his wife have left for Britain with a group. Welgama said there that it is reported that the number is eight, and that is unnecessary at the moment, and if necessary, it would be best if only three people were on this trip.
Accordingly, the President’s trip to Britain started to turn into a rather heated one, and at the same time, an announcement was made in this regard from the Presidential Media Unit. It said that only the President’s wife, Prof. Maithrie Wickramasinghe, the security officer and three other officers were on this visit, and as reported on social media, not a large number of people have joined the visit.
SL is burning as RW is playing the queen card.
However, the President’s trip to London became more controversial when suddenly a photo of the trip was published on social media. In this photograph taken by the President during a meeting with the Sinhala Diaspora in London, Ruwan Wijayawardena, the former Member of Parliament who is the President’s brother-in-law, is also present on the visit. It was a special incident that it was not reported anywhere that Ruwan Wijayawardena had attended the President’s visit to London until those photos became public.
Accordingly, when the attacks continued on the social media, it was seen that another announcement was issued by the Presidential Media Unit. Explaining this, the announcement said that Ruwan Wijayawardena did not join the President on his visit to London, but joined the President while he was in London to attend another conference.
Economic crisis
However, while the country is currently facing a serious economic crisis, everyone hopes that the President will add something to the country during his foreign trips. Without that, photos like the President talking to Prince Charles for a few moments will not bring economic benefits to the country or fill the bellies of students who go to school without food. In the same way, when the former President Maithripala Sirisena left for Britain during the previous administration, Queen Elizabeth also personally came to meet Maithripala.
Usually the queen does not take off her gloves when meeting guests and shake hands with them, but as a sign of respect to Maithri, she took off her gloves and shook hands with Maithri. The photographs related to that had received a lot of publicity in the foreign media as well as in the Sri Lankan media at that time. But in the end, if only a photo was collected, there was no economic benefit to the country from that visit. In the end, Maithri had to go home empty-handed.
‘ the last respect’ trips
In this way, the President who returned to Sri Lanka after attending the Queen’s funeral, is scheduled to visit Japan next. It is also special for a funeral ceremony. The President is going to attend the funeral ceremony of the former Prime Minister of Japan Mr. Shinzo Abe. But the problem is whether the country will get economic benefits through this visit.
On several occasions along this column, we have emphasized from time to time that if Sri Lanka is to raise its head to some extent in the face of the current economic and political crisis, it should receive large amounts of economic assistance from powerful countries. We pointed out America, India and China as those countries. But the problem is that the government has already created the political crisis with these three powerful countries at some level.
Diplomatic Grudge?
If we take the United States, the government and the president are currently in a grudge with Mrs. Julie Chang, the American ambassador to this country. Alleging that she stood up for the struggle and stood up for the strugglers all the time. This resentment was clearly seen a week ago in the U.S. During the visit of Mrs. Samantha Power, the chief administrator of Aid Institute, to Sri Lanka. During that trip, Samantha Power was supposed to meet the President and she arranged to bring Chung, who was the American ambassador, to the meeting. But the problem arose when the officials who came for a moment for the discussion claimed that the President had intended to hold a face-to-face meeting with Samantha Pawar before this meeting.
Samantha agreed and sat in on the discussion, but Chang insisted that he should also attend. As the officers informed that the President’s permission was required for that, the officers later took steps to ask the President about it. Finally, Chung was able to attend the meeting with the permission of the President.
However, after this incident was reported, several advisors have advised the government not to go into conflict with Chung, as it will have a very negative effect on the government in international relations. They also informed the government that such a conflict with the American ambassador could be a foreshadowing of a serious crisis, especially since America plays a major role in the Geneva Human Rights Commission and the International Monetary Fund.
Building rifts with friends
In this way, when the government is building a rift with the United States, India, the nearest neighbor who is ready to support us, also made a special statement last week. That is, they have given aid of 4 billion dollars to Sri Lanka in the last few months, and they can no longer give aid in that way. With this statement made by India, the government faced a serious crisis due to the suspicion that this statement of India will have a negative impact even on other countries that are ready to provide aid. Due to this, a serious collapse was seen within the government. Because of this, Mr. Milind Moragoda, the Sri Lankan High Commissioner to India, met the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party officials last week and took steps to discuss this by meeting the powerful ministers of the Indian government.
Indian govt. and IMF
In particular, Milinda had pointed out that the Indian government’s statement may have a negative impact on the amount of aid to be received from the International Monetary Fund. Accordingly, the Indian authorities made another statement last week in response to the request of Milind from the Indian authorities to correct that statement. Although India had literally declared that it would help Sri Lanka, even in the subtext of that statement, an extension of the previous statement was seen. The only difference was that the words were moved around a bit.
While America and India are acting in this way, China has not seen much change either. Since the day the President was elected, China had requested him to visit their country, but the President had not accepted the invitation. The President had informed China that he would come to China after visiting India. But the problem is that although the President is waiting for a visit to India, India has not yet given the dates for it. Even though several requests have been made by the government, there is still no good response from the Indian side.
Moreover, at least there has been no telephone conversation between Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the President. Moreover, Modi sent a congratulatory message to the President only after a month passed after taking office. Therefore, even though the Chinese ambassador had been informed that the President would visit India and come to China, the President’s trip to China has become somewhat chaotic due to the responses received from India.
SL expectations on China ?
However, China does not know that Sri Lanka is expecting assistance from China at this moment. But according to the information we have received, it is known that China is currently in a position of not helping Sri Lanka. The ‘Rajya rahas column’ has information that the Chinese ambassador has unofficially informed the ministers of the government as well as the opposition who have come to meet him in the last two weeks. There he has mentioned that even if the government is waiting for debt restructuring from his country, it is not possible.
It is reported that the Chinese ambassador has informed there that there should be a government with a new people’s mandate especially to restructure the debt or give new loans, and that it is easy to deal with such a government. It is too early to say whether China has given this notification as a evasion strategy because it is well known that the President is coming to China for that reason, but it is very clear that even if the President goes to China through the statement of the Chinese ambassador, he will not receive any assistance from that country.
Status of IMF negotiations
Meanwhile, the ongoing negotiations with the International Monetary Fund are dragging on. Mr. Ali Sabri, who was the former finance minister, first started the negotiations with the financial fund. Now Sabri holds the post of Foreign Minister. As the foreign minister, Sabri had been engaged in some exchange of ideas with the representatives of the financial fund for the past few days. There too, they casually informed Sabri that a government with a new mandate should be established in Sri Lanka in order to implement the policies of the Monetary Fund. Accordingly, when all these facts are taken together, one thing is clear.
It means that all the countries that support Sri Lanka are currently expecting a government with a mandate. The entire international community has come to a consensus on that. In order to form a government with such a mandate, the government should immediately go for a general election. If not, it is believed by many that the negotiations to obtain aid to Sri Lanka will be delayed due to various issues.
Basil’s list of cabinet ministers
Among all that, swearing in of new cabinet ministers has become the new topic in the government these days. Last week we also told the country through this channel that Mr. Basil Rajapakse, who was the national organizer of Pohottuwa, left for America after handing over the list of cabinet ministers to be appointed from Pohottuwa to the President. Since 12 more cabinet ministers can be appointed, in the list given by Basil, Johnston Fernando, Rohitha Abeygunawardena, Mahindananda Aluthgamage, Pavitra Vanniarachchi, S.M. Chandrasena, Namal Rajapaksa and other seniors of Pohottuwe were included.
However, the President has now informed Pohottuwa that he wants to nominate two MPs from his party for two Cabinet Minister positions. According to the ‘Rajya rahas’ column, the President has informed Basil and Pohottuwa that 10 cabinet minister positions can be given to Pohottuwa, but he is not in favor of 4 names in the list sent.
New Phone number
Accordingly, last week, some seniors of Pohottuwa tried to discuss this matter with Basil, but due to some special issue, they could not contact Basil. That is because Basil’s mobile phone is switched off. In general, Basil used the same mobile phone number for the last 20 years and Basil’s phone number remained active wherever he was in the world. Whether Basil traveled to America or to another country, Basil did all his duties from there with the help of that mobile phone. But this time, it was surprising that the mobile phone number had been deactivated since the day Basil went to America.
Most of the seniors of Pohottuwa as well as the state ministers of Pohottuwa have tried to contact Basil over the phone within the last few days, but for the first time he had switched off his mobile phone, but they did not get the chance to contact Basil. However, Basil in America had learned through some other means that there was a problem regarding the appointment of cabinet ministers. Accordingly, Basil had called several seniors of Pohottuwa through another phone number and asked them about it and informed them not to try to create a conflict with the government at this moment and that he would discuss the matter with the seniors of the government. Even though Basil informed the seniors of Pohottuwa like this, the people of Pohottuwa are currently ganging up and discussing what to do next.
Local Government elections
The next main issue discussed within the government is the local government election. What we revealed to the country through this column last week was how the President is somehow launching various plans to postpone this vote. We had reported last week that the president had informed that he intended to hold a referendum as there were problems with the voting system during the discussion with Samantha Power, and through that the president’s plan came out.
However, the position of the Election Commission is that the local government election, which has already been postponed by a year, cannot be postponed at all, and according to a court decision, the local government election should definitely be held and completed by next March. The election commission is empowered to carryout the elections. According to that court verdit , the power was vested in the Election Commission as of last week.
SJB meeting with EC
Under this situation, a group of representatives of Samagi Jana Balavega, the main opposition party, went to meet representatives of the Election Commission last week. They informed the commission to hold the local government election as soon as possible and not to postpone it for any reason. SJB representatives even handed over a letter to the commission in this regard.
JVP silence ?
It can be seen as a special matter that even though SJB is pressing for the local government elections in this way, the JVP is very silent on this matter. Still no representative from the JVP side has submitted their views on the local government elections and political sources say that the JVP is in the government’s position that the local government elections should be postponed.
Basil’s secret polls
However, it is doubtful whether it will be supported by the pohottuwa. This is because before going to America, Basil conducted a secret poll regarding the local government election, and according to the results obtained there, it is stated that Pohottuwa can get about 35% of the votes at this time. Accordingly, Basil’s calculation is that if the local government elections are held at this time, the main opposition, the Samagi Jana Balawega, will have the power in a significant number of local government bodies, but a three-way battle will be created between the votes in the political parties, SJB, Pohottuwa, and JVP.
Basil’s calculation is that then the United National Party or the Sri Lanka Freedom Party or the independent Wimal party will not have any political power at the grassroots level, and the power will be centered around Sajabaya and Pohottuwa as political parties. Accordingly, Basil is also of the position that local government elections should be held.
Wimal backs Basil ?
It appears that Basil’s calculation is correct with the statement made last week by Mr. Wimal Weerawansa, who is independent from Pohottuwa. Wimal said there that there is no point in holding a local government election at this time, it is just an unnecessary expense. Currently, Wimal and others who have formed a separate group called ‘Uttara Lanka Sabhaga’ have already informed that they will not join any political activities with Pohottuwa in the future and will stand alone in all elections.
But if the local government elections are held at the moment, Wimall cannot contest because they do not have any political power at the village level. According to that, it is a special event that Wimall is currently in the position that the local government election in which should not be held.
UNHCR sessions
Meanwhile, several rounds of discussions were held in the Geneva Human Rights Commission regarding Sri Lanka last week. These days, various parties have been given the opportunity to present their views in the Geneva Human Rights Commission, and it was notable that several people representing Sri Lanka expressed their views last week. The group included lawyers Nuwan Bopage, Amir Faiz, Sandhya Eknaligoda, lawyer Bhawani Fonseka etc.
Lawyer Nuwan Bopage had said that the government is currently using the Prevention of Terrorism Act to repress the activists, arresting them and violating human rights. Sandhya Eknaligoda had come to Geneva this time for the 11th time. Sandhya said that she had come to the Geneva Human Rights Commission ten times to demand justice for her husband Prageeth Ekneligoda, and asked the commission how many more times she should come for that. Amir Faiz expressed his views on the harassment of Muslims before the commission.
Proposal against Sri Lanka
However, a very crucial discussion regarding Sri Lanka was held in the Geneva Human Rights Commission on the 16th. For this discussion, the central group presenting a proposal against Sri Lanka: representatives of Britain, America, Germany, Canada, North Macedonia, Malawi and Montenegro representing Children’s Movement* and representatives of Sri Lanka also participated. There was a discussion about the matters contained in the proposal to be presented against Sri Lanka.
Here, the American and British representatives mentioned the history of the proposal and pointed out that it is a matter of regret that the government has not fulfilled even the matters contained in the proposal passed with the co-sponsorship of the then good governance government in 2015. But the representatives representing Sri Lanka had pointed out that the government has now decided to withdraw from the proposal. The representatives pointed out that the Government of Sri Lanka will only agree to a proposal that is presented in consultation with the Government of Sri Lanka and that the Government of Sri Lanka will not agree to any proposal presented without such agreement.
China, Russia, Venezuela, Cuba and Pakistan were among the countries that commented in favor of Sri Lanka’s stance. The representatives of those countries had indicated before the commission that they would always advocate for Sri Lanka.
Sumanthiran in UNHCR
However, another special representative from Sri Lanka also participated in this discussion. That, Tamil Alliance’s media spokesperson M.A. Sumanthiranya. Speaking here, Sumanthiran said that the government has brought forward the Prevention of Terrorism Act and used it to suppress the activists.
I have come to the Geneva Human Rights Commission for 32 years and expressed my views. The current government is also violating the human rights of the people. What is surprising is that in 2015, the current president, Mr. Ranil Wickramasinghe, co-sponsored as the Prime Minister and presented a proposal to Geneva. At that time, Mr. Vijayadasa Rajapaksa was the Minister of Justice. Today Mr. Ranil Wickramasinghe is the President of Sri Lanka. Even today, the Minister of Justice is Mr. Vijayadasa Rajapaksa.
Withdrawal of proposal
But the surprising thing is that today both of them intervened and removed the proposal that was presented by both of them. More than that, they used the Prevention of Terrorism Act, which they opposed then, and today they have used it to suppress the activists. That’s why the international community should react strongly against this,’ Sumanthiran said there.
After this discussion, another discussion regarding Sri Lanka was held in the Human Rights Commission that same evening. There, China, Russia, Pakistan and Venezuela could be seen expressing their views in favor of Sri Lanka. One of the most special events to be seen here was when Russia, which is invading Ukraine these days, commented on Sri Lanka that this is like an invasion of Sri Lanka. When the Russian representative made such comments, the gathered group could also be seen smiling from the corners of their mouths.
However, the crucial proposal regarding Sri Lanka was presented to the commission on Wednesday and the voting has been scheduled for the 7th. Sri Lanka’s future will be decided according to this poll.
International People’s tribunal
The International People’s Tribunal on the killing of journalists delivered its verdict on Monday (19), finding the governments of Mexico, Sri Lanka and Syria guilty of all human rights violations brought against them. Moreover, the Tribunal was of the view that a number of other conventions, treaties and other international, regional and national legal instruments, which the respective governments themselves have committed themselves to uphold, have been violated.
The Permanent People’s Tribunal is an internationally recognized People’s Tribunal which, according to its Charter, operates independently of state authorities on the basis of the framework defined in the Universal Declaration of People’s Rights. It was established by Reporters Without Borders, Free Press Unlimited and the Committee to Protect Journalists. The governments of Sri Lanka, Syria and Mexico were accused of failing to bring justice to the deaths of Lasantha Wickramatunga, Miguel Angel Lopez Velasco and Nabil Al Sharbaji.
killing and disappearance of journalists
Noting that an alarming number of journalists have been killed for their work, the People’s Tribunal says that since 1992, at least 1,400 journalists have been killed for carrying out their important work. It is due to bringing reliable information to the public. In at least 900 of these cases, journalists were killed in direct retaliation for their work, and in 86% of these cases, no perpetrators were brought to justice, it said. The People’s Tribunal said the government violated the right to life, the right to expression and the right to be free from discrimination based on political opinion through their actions and omissions in the killing of journalist Lasantha Wickramatunga.
GL and the group of 13
G.L. representing the group of 13 in Parliament. Unlike in the past, Peiris has become an active political figure today. Even though he was the chairman of Pohottu, also was the chairman of Pohottu office, did not even have an office at that time. It is correct to say that he really had no place to stay there. He currently works with the ‘Freedom’ MP group in Pohottuwa. Peirce has the background to operate independently in the Third Lane office. Enough facilities have been provided for that. Makes Regular visits to the ‘Freedom’ office .
Recently, he came to the office at around 6 pm. But there was no one in the office. Later some officials came there. When the officers asked, ‘Why did you say to come suddenly sir’, G.L. He said, ‘There are some articles to be prepared about the lack of time to comment in the Parliament. Let’s fix that. Need to send some international letters immediately. We should come forward and fight for this.’
Open air Press briefing
Meanwhile, several other members of parliament came there.
‘We were talking about the lack of parliamentary speech time’ G.L. said
We have to correct these mistakes. It doesn’t matter if the name is democratic. It should be seen that there is democracy in action’ was Dallas’ answer.
We have to take this issue to the people. If possible, we should take this issue to Geneva and be prepared…’ everyone agreed with Godaheva’s speech.
‘At this time, we don’t have time to talk inside the parliament, so let’s talk from outside the parliament,’ said Dallas. Everyone agreed to that.
Accordingly, the background was set for the press conference held at the Parliament grounds recently.
The MPs gave their opinions to each other.
‘Then we will inform the media about the press conference’, the group reached the final agreement.
Even when the organizers went there on the day used to hold the press conference, the security forces were aware of it. As the camera equipment was pointed towards the Parliament, the security forces protested there. With that, the issue escalated to an exchange of words between the organizers in front of the security forces and the free media. Later, when the journalists arrived there, the security forces retreated without interrupting the press conference.
Meanwhile, the Dallas team has decided to discuss with the Secretary General of the Inter-Parliamentary Union, Martin Changong, who is visiting Sri Lanka these days, regarding not giving their team time to speak in the Parliament. The discussion is scheduled to take place this weekend.
By Special Correspondent