Jana Aragala group leader Kumara Mahattaya’s wife, children arrested ( later released)

 Authorities have arrested the wife and children of Premakumar Gunaratnam alias Kumara Mahattaya, the JVP dissident group’s exiled leader.Defence authorities apprehended them at the Bandaranaike International Airport at Katunayake around 1.00 am today (Jan. 02).

EPDP accused of post-2006 killings as SLFP-EPDP feud escalates in Jaffna

 [TamilNet] Pandemonium prevailed and Police was called to manage the altercation during a Jaffna Municipal Council meeting Friday when Nishanthan, an ex-member of the Eelam People Democratic Party (EPDP), and currently functioning under ruling Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) label, accused EPDP of carrying out abductions, extortions, and gruesome killings that occurred in Jaffna after the breakdown of the peace process in 2006 under Sri Lanka military occupation, sources in Jaffna said.

ITAK activists threatened by SLA intelligence operatives in Mullaiththeevu

 [TamilNet,] Activists of the Ilangkai Thamizh Arasuk Kadchi (ITAK) in Mullaiththeevu of Vanni, who were engaged in organizing party activities this week have been threatened with death by intelligence operatives of the Sri Lanka Army, sources in Mullaiththeevu told TamilNet.

SL ‘special agents’ ransack human rights activist's apartment in Colombo

 [TamilNet] Sri Lankan investigation officers claiming to be from the ‘Special Unit’ on Wednesday evening ransacked an apartment where a Tamil human rights activist from the East was residing in Colombo. The agents clad in civil and uniform entered the room of the human rights activist around 10:00 p.m. and took away documents and files without mentioning the intention of the action and without providing any list of what they have taken from the apartment, informed sources said.

LLRC Report gives badly needed breathing space for Rajapaksa govt

 -  Col R Hariharan- The Rajapaksa government should be happy with the report of the Commission of Inquiry on Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation (LLRC) presented to the Sri Lankan parliament on December 16, 2011 as it has not pinpointed responsibility on anyone (other than political and systemic weaknesses and the LTTE) for the mess Sri Lanka finds itself after the Eelam War

LLRC Report vital in reconciliation process - Minister Wimal Weerawansa

Uditha Kumarasinghe - Construction, Engineering Services, Housing and Common Amenities Minister Wimal Weerawansa said the approach adopted by the LLRC Report is of paramount importance for the Government’s reconciliation process. The Minister told the Sunday Observer that the need of the hour is to strengthen bilateral relations with friendly countries and also to win over countries who stand up for us.

Using the LLRC report as a consensus mechanism

 (Kishali Pinto Jayawardene  ) A careful and sober reading of the Report of Sri Lanka's Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) reveals its many complexities when weighed against the current political ethos. Gradually, the responses to this Report are bound to be far more measured rather than starkly divided between those who unhesitatingly support its contents and those who, just as unequivocally, dismiss the same.

LTTE plans second armed struggle! Military intelligence uncovers details

Tissa Ravindra Perera  -  Intelligence authorities have uncovered a plan to resurrect the LTTE through an attempt to register an organisation for displaced in Vanni targeting another armed conflict, highly placed intelligence sources revealed. They said the plan behind the move was to recruit rehabilitated LTTE cadres who were in LTTE’s military units back to the now defunct LTTE terror group.

LLRC and India After LLRC report, new Indo-Lanka dispute looming over devolution of power

In these columns last week, I reported that matters arising from the military defeat of Tiger guerrillas in May 2009 would be one of the most difficult challenges staring in the face of the government in 2012 which begins today. This is particularly in the light of the final report of the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) being placed in Parliament last month. The sequel continues.

A/L mess-up, - Ministers and officials play blame game as 300,000 students agonise over the outcome

Another cause for serious concern deals literally with Sri Lanka's new generation, some 300,000 of them who sat the General Certificate of Education (Advanced Level) examination in August 2011. In an unprecedented crisis, the Department of Examinations has not been able to provide students the correct results.

Reign of terror by ruling- party mafia politicos - Deadly attack on tourist couple in Tangalle poses threat to hopes of tourism boom

ST Political Editor - The New Year dawns with some dim forebodings for Sri Lankans in many spheres of activity. Two years and seven months after the defeat of terrorist violence, one of the sectors which revived by leaps and bounds was tourism. Arrivals rose and resorts are continuing to mushroom countrywide.

Sampanthan assures Sampur’s IDPs of resettlement soon

 Sinniah Gurunathan - Trinco corr. - Tamil National Alliance (TNA) leader and Trincomalee district Parliamentarian R. Sampanthan paid his first visit to Sampur, after it was captured from the LTTE in April 2006. With the permission of the Defence Ministry, he went to Sampur, where he was received by Brig. Hettiarachchi of Trincomalee 22 Division Brigade, and was taken on a guided tour to several parts in Sampur including areas now being acquired for the proposed construction of a coal power plant with Indian aid.

Sound of axe rings death knell for Lanka’s forests - 2011 ends and 2012 begins with the destruction of yet another mangrove forest.

Malaka Rodrigo - The past year, 2011, was declared International Year of Forests by the United Nations. The message was sent out to all countries. Sadly, this message has not been taken seriously in Sri Lanka. Last year was not a good year for forests here, and the year ended with the news that yet another forest is being destroyed – one of the few remaining mangrove covers in Puttalam.

PS member’s death: Was it a killing due to an underworld clash?

Pushpakumara Mallawaarachchi ) Police are probing whether a dispute in the underworld led to the killing of a UPFA Pradeshiya Sabha member in the Divulapitiya Police area. The Pradeshiya Sabha member identified as Indika Dinesh Chandrasiri Silva (28) and believed to have connections with the underworld, was found dead under a bridge in Diyagampola in Kotadeniyawa

Ministries and MOD appointed to oversee CAs of institutions taken over by Govt

Chandani Kirinde -The Defence and Urban Development Ministry has been assigned with the task of monitoring and supervising of activities carried out by the Competent Authorities (CA) appointed to five institutions taken over under the Revival of Underperforming Enterprises and Underutilized Assets Act

Muslim peace secretariat funds under scrutiny: Rs 45.7 m spent sans details

Member and founder Secretary General of Peace Secretariat for Muslims (PSM), A. Javid Yusuf has charged that various financial and other irregularities have taken place at the Secretariat, and alleged that its Board of Directors has done little to rectify them.

Short-term prospects and long-term perspectives

(Nimal Sanderatne  )
Global economic conditions will determine to a large extent Sri Lanka's economic performance in 2012. Although global economic developments are beyond the country's control, appropriate responses could mitigate their adverse impacts.  However, more important than the country's short-term economic performance is the longer view of the country's development policies to ensure healthy economic development. A longer-term perspective rather than immediate concerns is vital.

President to meet his partners against LLRC

 (Sanjaya Nallaperuma) President Rajapaksa is to meet representatives of the constituent parties of United Peoples' Freedom Alliance (UPFA) next week to discuss the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) report. This comes in the wake of several constituent parties, including the Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU) and the Eelam People's Democratic Party (EPDP) making scathing comments against the report.

COPE; NO ACTION TALK ONLY

The government has not taken any action so far though the Committee on Public Enterprises (COPE) has found damning evidence of financial irregularities in institutions totalling over Rs 500 billion, state sources said. The COPE report revealed financial irregularities in 229 government institutions.

Reflection on 2011 -Daily Mirror Editorial

''Indeed we appear to have created two societies - the rich and ruling elite comprising less than 15 percent of the population but controlling more than 85 percent of the country's wealth and resources while 85 percent of the people are struggling to manage with their monthly wages or are surviving on the poverty line. If this trend continues we may see something worse than the three-decade ethnic war and some of the recent public protests or social bomb blasts may be signs of the times.''

LLRC Report: Sri Lanka’s Ghosts of War

''The report is a valuable document, but regarding the war’s terrible final weeks, it is largely an apologia for the army. The commission admits only that “civilian casualties had in fact occurred in the course of cross-fire,” and blames the Tigers for most of them. The commission asserts that the government was confronted with an unprecedented situation — a massive human shield — that left it no other choice but to respond as it did. ''

UNP takes exception to JJ’s devolution comment: *Land and police power to provinces

(Ravi Ladduwahetty)  The UNP yesterday dissociated itself from its Deputy Secretary General Dr. Jayalath Jayawardena’s view, expressed in an interview with this newspaper yesterday, that the government should either devolve police and land powers to the provinces in accordance with the constitutional provisions or scrap the 13th Amendment.

LLRC report covers all relevant ground - Australian MP

(Disna MUDALIGE ) The Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) report sets the framework for practical reconciliation in Sri Lanka, said Australian Member of Parliament Telmo Languiller who is on a brief visit to look into the ground situation in post war Sri Lanka.

President going back on his word: TNA

(B.M. MURSHIDEEN ) The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) has expressed its disappointment over the statement by the President Mahinda Rajapaksa on the devolution of power.  TNA National List Parliamentarian M.A Sumanthiran now on an overseas visit told the Daily Mirror yesterday over the phone that President Rajapaksa was obviously going back on his words.

Corruption as a tool of Rajapaksa rule

(Tisaranee Gunasekara)  In October this year, President Mahinda Rajapaksa of Sri Lanka used his constitutional powers to grant a special pardon to a politician convicted of misusing public funds. The Appeal Court and the Supreme Court had upheld the conviction of Kesara Senanayake, a former mayor of Kandy. Rajapaksa’s timely pardon saved him from a year in prison and made him a free man.