The main opposition United National Party (UNP) has decided to suspend its Kandy District MP A.R.M. Abdul Cader from the party working committee.
General Secretary Tissa Attanayake in a letter to Mr. Cader informed him that he had been suspended from the UNP working committee for voting with the government in parliament on several occasions.
Mr. Attanayake also told Mr. Cader he would have to go before a disciplinary committee as well.
The decision to suspend him had been taken at the working committee meeting of the party.
Commenting on the matter Mr. Cader said he had not received any letter up to now. He said his approach to the problem would be different and would take it on a case by case basisnt for 22 years and the party should listen to senior members and not ignore them,” he said. (Read More)
MP Mangala Samaraweera will receive membership of the UNP on August 6. Samaraweera, who contested the last parliamentary elections from Matara on the UNP ticket is the leader of the SLFP (M).
Political sources said that this was confirmed by the UNP during party leader Ranil Wickremesinghe’s visit to Ranamaduragama, Weligama, where he met the wife and three children of Rienzie Algama, who committed suicide opposite Sirikotha demanding an immediate end to internal disputes. Sources said that MP Samaraweera had decided to join the UNP following a series of discussions with party seniors. The former SLFP Matara District leader’s move was anticipated in the wake of all his nominees failing at the April 8 election. (Read More)
The High Court Trial-at-Bar yesterday indicted General Sarath Fonseka on three charges in respect of a statement he is alleged to have made in an interview with the editor of the Sunday Leader newspaper that he heard that Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa had ordered that all surrendering LTTE leaders with white flags be killed.
The Trial-at-Bar comprised Colombo High Court Judges Deepali Wijesundera (President), W. T. M. P. B. Warawawe and Z. N. Razeem.
The three counts in the indictment are: Having made to the editor concerned, a false statement about Gotabhaya Rajapaksa ordering Brigadier Shavindra Silva to shoot at sight the LTTE cadres who displayed ‘white flags’ and surrendered to the Army; giving false information which would incite racial hatred and attempting to set the people against the government. The trial was fixed for September 27, 2010.
Nalin Laduwahetty, who appeared for Gen. Fonseka said that since Fonseka was a Member of Parliament, he should be allowed to attend Parliament. The Trial-at-Bar summoned the military officers, in charge of the General and ordered them to ensure that Fonseka had all the necessary facilities to attend Parliament. (Read More)
The Supreme Court yesterday refused a special leave to appeal application filed by UNP Parliamentarian Ravi Karunanayake, who had sought to set aside a Court of Appeal order dated, May 26, 2010.
In that order, the Court of Appeal had refused to set aside a Colombo High Court order, dated February 23, 2010, whereby it had rejected a preliminary objection taken by Karunanayake, objecting to the jurisdiction of the High Court to hear a trial against him in respect of a violation of the foreign exchange Act and the Penal Code.
The Court of Appeal, in the order of the May 26, 2010, had said that, a party dissatisfied with an order of the High Court in a criminal case, can file a petition of appeal, under section 331 of the Criminal Procedure Code, only if the order is final. The Colombo High Court order for February 23, 2010 is not a final order, and does not finally dispose of the rights of the parties, it said. (Read More)
The Elections Secretariat has decided to omit from the 2010 electoral register, the names of voters in the Jaffna district who have left the country during the conflict period. Elections authorities are currently enumerating the voters to prepare the electoral list for 2010.
According to the 2008 electoral register there had been 722,000 registered voters in the Jaffna district.
In the 2009 register this had increased to 816,000. However, many of them now live outside the country.
The People’s Action for Free and Fair Elections (PAFFREL), said yesterday that the actual number of voters staying in Jaffna could be placed roughly at 400,000.
JVP parliamentary group leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake, MP told The Island that last week the parliament had met only on Tuesday since the approval of the UPFA’s so-called budget. He emphasised that they should have met during the rest of the week, but the government had conveniently put off sittings to August 3.
MP Dissanayake said since last November parliament had not been convened as part of a government move to undermine the parliamentary process. He said that unlike previous budget debates, the last one had been concluded in 9 days. Had they followed procedures, the debate would have taken 26 days, he said adding that the entire parliamentary system was under threat. "The Rajapaksas are exploiting the system to their advantage," he said. "and the Opposition has to discuss ways and means of ensuring eight days of sitting as envisaged. (Read More)
Tamil National Alliance (TNA) MP for Batticaloa, P. Ariyanethiran, has written to President Mahinda Rajapaksa asking him to release 765 Tamil young men and women kept in various prisons for suspected links with the LTTE.
The MP has said that since the war ended on May 19, 2009 it is time the suspects against whom there were no criminal cases were released.
He has pointed out that among the detainees were 50 women and five children. These detainees are apart from an estimated 8,000 LTTE suspects kept in special camps in the North. They are alleged to be LTTE fighters who surrendered to the security forces during the last phase of Eelam War 1V. (Read More)
In the 2009 register this had increased to 816,000. However, many of them now live outside the country. 
