With the proposed 18^th amendment to the constitution the United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) government has inflicted a severe blow to the electoral process of Sri Lanka. Since the new amendment gives the executive President the power to appoint members to the ‘independent’ commissions, including the Election Commission, CaFFE fears that the future elections will be far from free and fair.

 The reforms replace the present 10 member Constitutional Council (CC) with a five-member committee comprising the Speaker, the Prime Minister and the leader of the opposition as ex officio (by right of office ) members. Unlike the existing CC which appoints members to the seven independent commissions the new five member committee will only be consulted by the president who has the power to appoint members to the independent commissions. (Read More)

In a hard-hitting speech, Opposition United National Party (UNP) Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe said the prosecuting counsel and the Judge Advocate had deliberately misled the GCM which had in its ruling, found General Fonseka guilty of getting involved in politics while being in the armed services and recommended that he be stripped of his rank, decorations and retirement benefits.

He said in this exercise the parliamentary privileges of General Fonseka had been breached.Mr. Wickremesinghe denied allegations that General Fonseka did politics with the UNP while in service.

Mr. Wickremesinghe demanded that the Prosecuting Counsel and the Judge advocate be summoned before parliament. (Read More)

Galle Magistrate Thamara Tennakoon yesterday released Democratic National Alliance Parliamentarians Vijitha Herath (Gampaha), Ajith Kumara (Galle) and three others including JVP Southern Provincial Councillor Nalin Hewage, on Rs. 200,000 personal bail each.

They were ordered to be present in Court on October 18.

The Magistrate remanded seven other suspects who had been arrested on the same charges until August 30.

Ten persons were arrested by the Galle Police on Aug. 12 for allegedly attacking the police at a protest march in the Galle town demanding the release of former DNA leader Gen. Sarath Fonseka.
(Read More)

Against the backdrop of the arrest of two of its MPs, the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) said yesterday it would join hands with other democratic forces here and abroad to form a broad front to fight against what it termed as the government’s anti-democratic and authoritarian attitude.

JVP General Secretary Tilvin Silva told a news conference his party had already initiated talks with like-minded political parties, civil society organizations and the media for such a front to take on the government in a rigorous manner.

He said MPs Vijitha Herath and Ajith Kumara and provincial councillor Nalin Hewage were arrested by the Galle police and thus depriving them of their right to take part in peaceful demonstrations.

“The Galle police acted on orders from the top. Otherwise, police normally have second thoughts when arresting parliamentarians and Mr. Kumara is also a lawyer. We urge the government to release them immediately. Otherwise, we will continue our agitation campaign throughout the country,” he said.

During the protest in Galle, Mr. Silva said even a journalist was hit by a tear gas canister that the police fired at the crowd. (Read More)

The Galle police yesterday arrested two DNA MPs and ten others, including a JVP Provincial Councillor, on charges of attacking the police and causing damage to a police vehicle. The arrested MPs are Vijitha Herath (Gampaha) and Ajith Kumara (Galle). Five policemen had sustained injuries at the hands of unruly protesters, the police said.

The arrests followed a DNA demonstration against the detention of its leader Gen. Sarath Fonseka. The police fired tear gas and baton charged the protesters.

The DNA denied charges against its MPs and activists. It said in a statement to the media that the police had used brutal force, unprovoked, to disperse a peaceful demonstration. It said the police had fired rubber bullets, too, injuring demonstrators. (Read More)

Democratic National Alliance (DNA) yesterday said sacking of Deputy Minister Mervyn Silva from the post and suspending him from SLFP, was a sign of government giving in to the people’s power.

DNA Parliamentary group leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake told a news conference yesterday that the deputy minister’s removal had shown that the government couldn’t get away with undemocratic acts for long.

He charged that these days were fixed despite General Fonseka’s lawyer informing that his juniors couldn’t attend the court martial on these days.  The practice of lawyers the accused and the plaintiff scheduling the dates for trials through a dialogue had not been followed in the court martial, he said. (Read More)

Samples of blood and parts of a bottle of water found in the room of the Indian cook, believed to have been killed, at the  Big Banana Hotel at Kirulapona in Wellawatta were ordered to be sent to the Ragama Teaching hospital for a DNA report. Mount Lavinia Additional Magistrate Ruchira Weliwatta gave permission to police to do so on 6th, when the case was taken up for inquiry.

The Magistrate gave permission after taking into consideration a joint report prepared by the Mundalama and Wellawatta police.(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.

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)

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.

Raising a question of privilege in parliament Gen. Fonseka held the Army Commander responsible for the breach of his parliamentary privileges by not allowing him to attend a Parliamentary Consultative Committee meeting on

July 16.

He said he was now in the custody of the Prison Authorities according to a Court order.(Read More)