Archive for April 2010
Old syllabus O/L results out by weekend
Commissioner General of Examinations Anura Edirisinghe said the department would release the results of the Old syllabus GCE O/Level Examination during the weekend.
Nearly 100,000 students who sat the GCE O/Level exam (old syllabus) are awaiting their results. Of those, nearly 20,000 have sat for all eight subjects. Others had sat only for selected subjects.
All displaced families to be resettled
All displaced families will be resettled within the next six months the Minister of resettlement Milroy Fernando said. The Minister will undertake a tour of Kilinochchi today after assuming duties in the Ministry of resettlement.
The Minister said that the aim of the visit is to find speedy solutions for the problems of the resettled people.
He said that his aim is to find out about the well being of the people. He noted that this duty has been bestowed on him by the Ministry. He will examine the future activities of the resettled people as he expects to improve the standard of living of the people.
Abdul Rahuman:Opposition leader of Kattankudy Urban Council
Engineer Abdul Rahuman of the People Movement for Good Governance has sworn in as opposition leader of the Kattankudy Urban Council this morning.
The People Movement for Good Governance contested the Urban Council election held in 2006 as an independent group not aligned to any political party and obtained a seat.
The media spokesman of the People Movement for Good Governance Azam said that the only one seat it obtained at the 2006 election was represented at the council on a rotational basis and Abdul Rahuman is the fourth to represent the Good Governance Movement.
LANKAMUSLIM NEWS FEATURES:
- Evicted Northern Muslims will be resettled by May – President
- Ever memorable and never forgettable painful memory of Jaffna Muslims: M.Shamil mohamed
- Non-existence of operational standard for Muslim IDPs : M. Shamil Mohamed
- expulsion of Northern Muslims aged 20
- What “muslim” are we ? a moment of truth: S.M.M. Bazeer
- Sri Lanka: Displaced Muslims of the North to be resttled
- Expelled Northern Muslims and Tamil polity
- Treatment of Tamil IDPs and Muslim Refugees: Double Standard
- Muthur Muslims lose lands to govt. program
- Muslim deputy mayor for Jaffna after one year
- Sri Lanka’s war-displaced Muslims want to return home
- Committee to resolve Vaharai land dispute between Tamils & Muslims
- SLMC leader Rauff Hakeem’s reply to Eastern Province Governor
Constitutional reforms first priority
Shirley Wijesinghe and Disna Mudalige
The Government’s first priority will be to add reforms to the Constitution to accelerate development programs as mentioned in the Mahinda Chinthana Idiri Dekma policy program, SLFP General Secretary Maithripala Sirisena said. Changes to the proportional representation electoral system will be brought to create opportunities for voters to elect their representative from their own electorates, he added.
Sirisena was speaking at the UPFA’s maiden media conference after the general elections at the Mahaweli Centre auditorium yesterday. He said the Government is keen to conduct the next Local Government election in accordance with a new representation system.
Read the rest of this entry »
D.M. Jayaratne to take oaths as PM today
SLFP stalwart D.M. Jayaratne will be appointed prime minister of the new UPFA government, Presidential Secretariat sources said.
Mr. Jayaratne will be sworn in as the country’s 14th premier before president Mahinda Rajapaksa later today (Apr. 21), said the sources. He is one of the most senior members of the SLFP, with a parliamentary career that started way back in 1970.
The 79-year-old Dissanayake Mudiyanselage Jayaratne will be appointed to parliament from the UPFA’s national list and succeeds Rathnasiri Wickremanayake as the prime minister. He was minister of plantation industries in the previous UPFA government
Convert Sara released on bail
The Buddhist convert to Islam, Sara, alias Malani Perera who had written two books about her conversion from Buddhism to Islam and was in detention on the orders of the Defence Secretary from March 19 was released today on bail of Rs 5000 cash with two sureties for Rs 50,000 each by the Colombo Additional Magistrate Mrs. Praharsha S. Ranasinghe
She was arrested allegedly for publishing a book deemed to defamatory and offensive to Buddhists. The Mirihana Special Investigation Unit submitting a report in court submitted that the suspect was arrested on a complaint made by a courier service and on checking the suspect the police found that her identity card contained her name as Malani Perera and she was dressed like a Muslim. Consequently they arrested her conducted investigation after detaining her till April 19 at Mirihana Police Station on the orders of Defense Secretary.
The Officer said their investigations had revealed that she had written two books on Islam and investigated to identify whether she had any involvements with any terrorist movements. The investigations conducted so far had not revealed any such involvements and would not object to granting bail to her. More…
Muslims in new parliament reduced to 18
S.M.Abdullah
The representation of 25 Muslim members in the the previous parliament has been reduced to 18 in the new parliament. In the previous parliament there were 5 Muslims in the cabinet of 51 ministers, 5 Muslims in the 39 non cabinet ministers and 5 Muslims in the 19 deputy ministers. There were 15 ministers all together in.
| Name & Vots | Part | District | |
| 1 | A.H.M. Fouzi- 51,641 | UPFA | Colombo |
| 2 | A.L.M. Ahtaullah- 36,943 | UPFA | Digamadulla |
| 3 | H.M.M. Haris- 44,755 | UNF | Digamadulla |
| 4 | M.C.M. Fizal- 41,852 | UNF | Digamadulla |
| 5 | M.L.M. Hisbullah- 22,256 | UPFA | Batticaloa |
| 6 | Basheer Sehu Dawood- 11678 | UNF | Batticaloa |
| 7 | Risarth Bathiutheen- 37,780 | UPFA | Vanny |
| 8 | Hunais – 12,780 | UPFA | Vanny |
| 9 | Noordeen Mashoor- 10,870 | UNF | Vanny |
| 10 | Faizer Mustaffa- – 44,648 | UPFA | Kandy |
| 11 | Abdul Cader Haji – 54,937 | UNF | Kandy |
| 12 | Rauff Hakeem- 54,047 | UNF | Kandy |
| 13 | R.M. Haleem- 46,240 | UNF | Kandy |
| 14 | S.M. Thoufeek- 23,588 | UNF | Trincomalee |
| 15 | Kabeer Hashim- 48,344 | UNF | Kegalle |
| 16 | A.H.M. Aswer- | UPFA | National List |
| 17 | Hassan Ali | UNF | National List |
| 18 | Aslam Mohamed Saleem | UNF | National List |
Author set for court appearance
A BAHRAIN-based author arrested in Sri Lanka could learn her fate today when she appears in court for the first time. Sarah Malanie Perera, who is being investigated for possible links to Islamic extremists, has been detained in the capital Colombo without charge since March 20. Officials were allegedly pressured by her family to take her to court yesterday, but by the time she got there it was closed. However, Ms Perera will be taken to the court today, police officer Sajan Ranjeeth from Mirihana police station told the GDN. He said that all the officers were busy and that the period of her detention before being presented to court would end today. She was taken into custody under emergency laws following allegations of “anti-state” activities after it was claimed a book she published was offensive to Lord Buddha. More…
The Jewel of Muscat, a replica of a 9th Century Arab trading vessel on an historic voyage sailing
The Jewel of Muscat, a replica of a 9th Century Arab trading vessel on an historic voyage sailing from Oman to Singapore arrived at its second stop, in Galle yestaday after sailing through a tropical storm. A welcome ceremony will be held in Galle on Monday.
The Arabian Dhow Jewel of Muscat, a gift from the Sultanate of Oman to the Singapore government, is expected to arrive in Singapore in July this year. The ship sailed on February 16th from the Omani port of Sultan Qaboos and using the 9th century navigation techniques reached port of Cochin in India on March 15th after covering 1300 miles in 28 days. The 18-metre-long vessel left the Kerala port of Cochin in India on April 10th and sailed through a tropical storm to arrive in Galle today.
As the Jewel of Muscat heads deeper into the tropics on its route to Singapore, the weather patterns will change, with thunderstorms expected. Tuanie Ismail, a native of Kandy joined the voyage from Cochin for the second leg along with a Brit, Geoffrey Dobbs, who currently lives in Galle.
From Galle in Sri Lanka the ship will sail across the Bay of Bengal through the Straits of Malacca to Singapore where it will be displayed in a museum. It is expected to reach Singapore in June 2010.- lankapuvath
MCSL wants more Muslim MPs through national list
The Muslim Council of Sri Lanka (MCSL) has written to President Mahinda Rajapaksa and UNF leader Ranil Wikremesinghe requesting them to appoint a Muslim MP each through the national list citing the fact that the total number of Muslim parliamentarians who have come in through the UPFA and the UNF has significantly dropped in this time’s election.
The MCSL while noting that Muslim representation from the East and the North, including from the UPFA and the UNF, is significant though in a wider context of a significant decrease in the number of Muslim M.Ps in parliament, has pointed out that there is no Muslim representation in some areas from the two main parties.
In the letter sent to the President the organisation has cited that the Muslim representation through the UPFA has dropped this time particularly in the South while Muslims have been able to secure seats through the ruling party in the Colombo District and possibly one seat in the Kandy District.
“Despite the significantly large Muslim populations in the Southern, Sabaragamuwa and Uva Provinces a Muslim has not been elected from these areas. In order to address this vacuum and in order to ensure that the concerns and needs of the Muslim population in these areas are addressed we request that the UPFA appoint a national list MP from one of these areas”, the letter said.
The UNF leader also has been pointed out that there is a clear gap especially in the Western Province in the Muslim representation through the UNF. “After many decades not a single Muslim MP was elected to either the Colombo District or Kalutara District from the UNP list” the organisation has stated.
In the two letters the MCSL has said that the Muslim Community has a long and active history in the SLFP and the UNF and it felt that the two main parties had a responsibility to ensure adequate representation of Muslim community.
The purpose of the national list is to ensure under-represented groups and communities can be represented in parliament, the letters said and added that the MCSL hopes that the present UPFA and the UNF leadership will use the National List to appoint professionals and members from under-represented groups including Muslims, Tamils, Up-Country Tamils and Women who are capable of serving the country.
Sri Lanka wants Israel to withdraw
Sri Lanka has called on Israel to withdraw from the occupied Palestinian territory saying sustainable peace could only be obtained if Israel were to withdraw from the territories back to the 1967 borders and end the blockade, illegal expansion of settlements and the construction of the separation wall.
Sri Lanka’s Deputy Permanent Representative to the United Nations in New York Bandula Jayasekara, speaking at the UN Security Council said his country believed that a resolution of the Palestinian conflict was crucial in restoring peace in the Middle East, and had therefore called on all sides to fully implement resolutions regarding both the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people and the two-State solution.
While the relaxation of restrictions regarding the economic blockade in the Occupied Palestinian Territory were noted, there were still deep concerns about the daily suffering and hardships the Palestinian people continued to endure while living under occupation, he said.
The Palestinian Authority, in honouring its obligations, needed to implement its security plan to ensure its territory was not used for illegal attacks on Israeli civilians. Allegations of illegal arms flows must be investigated. Both sides must do everything possible to ensure the safety and security of civilians, Jayasekara further added.
He noted that Sri Lanka supported the Palestinian Authority under the leadership of President Mahmoud Abbas, as well as international efforts for early resumption of negotiations, and cited the unity of the Palestinian people as essential to the process for lasting peace.
He hoped both sides would ensure a climate conducive for the resumption of negotiations and regretted that the announcement of new settlement construction had resulted in a setback to the progress made. Dailymirror
No Muslims for Colombo from UNP for the first time
Colombo District for the first time is without Muslim UNP Parliamentary representation. Since 1947, at every election Muslims have been elected from the UNP within Colombo Municipal limits. T B Jayah, Dr. M C M Kalleel, Falil A Caffoor, Razik Fareed, and Jabir A Cader, had been elected. At the last general elections too, M H Mohomed and M. Mahroof were elected as UNP M Ps. Following the assassination of Colombo District MP T Maheswaran, it was Rafeek Rajabdeen who filled that vacancy. Accordingly, at the last Parliament, three Muslim MPs were represented the Colombo District
180 new MPs to be gazetted
The 180 members of parliament elected from 20 districts at recent election are due to be gazetted on Apr. 13, said the Elections Secretariat.
The remaining 16 MPs from Kandy and Trincomalee districts will be gazetted after a re-poll on April 20. – CP
Support for jailed author grows
A FACEBOOK page has been set up campaigning for the release of a Bahrain-based author arrested in Sri Lanka.Sarah Malanie Perera, who is being investigated for possible links to Islamic extremists, has been detained in the capital Colombo without charge since March 20.
She was taken into custody under emergency laws following allegations of “anti-state” activities after it was claimed a book she published was offensive to Buddhists.The Facebook campaign urges all Muslims in Bahrain and around the world to show solidarity with Ms Perera and help build pressure on the authorities to release her.
It has already attracted nearly 500 supporters.”Sarah Malanie Perera, a Muslim convert from Buddhism who was detained in the capital Colombo (Mirihana Police Station),” says the page.
“Ms Perera printed two books entitled From Darkness to Light and Questions and Answers in Sinhalese about her conversion to Islam and the original teachings of Gautama Buddha.More…
Iran to buy more Sri Lanka tea
Chaminda PERERA
The Iranian Government yesterday decided to increase the volume of Sri Lanka tea purchase from 30 million to 50 million kilograms.
The Iranian Government’s decision was conveyed to Plantation Industries Minister D.M. Jayaratne by Iranian envoy in Colombo Mahmud Rahimi Gorji at a meeting held at the Ministry premises yesterday.
Sri Lanka exports over 30 million kilograms of tea to Iran annually and has become the fourth largest tea buyer from Sri Lanka. The Iranian Ambassador has apprised the Minister that this decision is a part of Iran’s strategy to forge more closer ties with Sri Lanka in the field of economy. He has apprised the Minister that the Iranian Government is ready to promote Sri Lankan tourism industry too.
The envoy told the Minister that the Iranian Government is of the view that Sri Lanka is on the right track to economic and social development and Iran is always standing up for the support of Sri Lanka’s development effort. -dailynews
Middle East travelers to SL increase
The sources of the Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority show that the number of tourists from the Middle East to Sri Lanka doubled in January 2010, when compared to the same month in the previous year. The strongest growth has been registered from Qatar, which was up 171percent, followed by the UAE (164 percent), Saudi Arabia (127 percent), and Kuwait (135 percent).
Heba Al Ghais Al Mansoori, Middle East Director of the Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau said that early indications pointed to “double-digit growth” for the number of visitors from the region holidaying on this South Asian island this year.
“Sri Lanka is ideally positioned as a destination to attract more regional travellers despite the credit crunch as stability has finally dawned on Sri Lanka with the war coming to an end and the destination offers very good value for money,” Al Mansoori further stated.-news.lk
SRI LANKA: Islamic Convert’s Detention Sparks Debate on Tolerance
Feizal Samath
COLOMBO, Apr 8, 2010 (IPS) – Issues of religious tolerance, the rule of law and freedom of expression in this mainly Buddhist country are being thrown into debate by the detention of a Sri Lankan Buddhist woman who converted to Islam and was writing a book on her conversion.
Sarah Malathi Perera, a 38-year old migrant worker who has lived in Bahrain for 20 years, was detained by police in Colombo under emergency regulations on Mar. 20, ostensibly over a book she had written and published on her conversion to Islam.
But police have since given different versions of the reasons for her detention, saying that the book was offensive to Buddhism or that she was being probed for links to Tamil militants and Musim extremist groups.
On Tuesday, police spokesman Prishantha Jayakody was even more vague. “She has been detained under emergency regulations but I don’t have details as to why she is in detention. Let me check and let you know,” he told IPS. He was the same official who earlier gave different reasons for Perera’s detention. More…
“US says Lashkar in Lanka”- Reply
Latheef Farook
Citing PTI report Admiral Robert Willard, Commander of the US Pacific Command in his testimony before the US Senate Armed Services Committee, has said, in response to a question from Senator George Lemieux, that the Lasker e Taiba group is expanding and specifically positioning in Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Maldives.
He has also said that “we have certainly knowledge of their influence within the region beyond the countries that I just mentioned. The extent of that influence is what we’re taking under study,”
Now that the government has rejected these reports saying there was no evidence to prove that the group was in the island it is extremely important that the US provide details about this so called LET influence in Sri Lanka right away in view of the serious Implications of this disclosure to Sri Lankan Muslims, more…
GCE 2009 O’ level results out
The results of the 2009 GCE O’ level examination were released on Thursday and are available on government website www.doenets.lk
Writer Sarah, still in detention
Blow for author
A BAHRAIN-BASED author arrested in Sri Lanka for allegedly offending Buddhism suffered a new blow yesterday after she was remanded in custody for another two weeks.
Sarah Malanie Perera, detained in the capital Colombo, had been held without charge since being detained on March 20.
Her family had hoped she would be released after appearing before judges, but was never brought to the Supreme Court.
However, she did speak to Notary Public Licences Company secretary and lawyer Lakshan Dias, who is also a human rights consultant.
The 38-year-old, who earlier converted to Islam, was detained after writing two books in Sinhalese, one of which was allegedly offensive to Lord Buddha.
Ms Perera’s lawyers filed a case at the Supreme Court in Colombo on March 30 demanding her immediate release, but it also stalled after police never brought her to court. more ..
Lanka slams US war crimes
Sri Lanka has slammed the US saying it has blood on its hands after a shocking video showed a US aircraft firing indiscriminately towards civilians in Iraq killing atleast 25 of them including two journalists. Government Defence Spokesperson Minister Keheliya Rambukwella told Daily Mirror online that while the US has been accusing Sri Lanka of human rights allegations and have repeatedly called for a war crime probe, they seem to have ‘conveniently forgotten’ its own issues in Iraq.
Minister Rambukwella also called on the US to conduct an investigation on it’s own troops before pointing fingers at developing countries.
“These are the world’s so called super powers. They have always tried to bully developing countries but have ignored the blood on their own hands. This is nothing new, it has been happening for years. They say we are guilty but we all know what happened in Iraq,” Minister Rambukwella said.
Further reacting strongly to the video Minister Rambukwella also questioned the UN on its silence and queried why the UN Secretary General was failing to appoint an expert panel to advise him on the US involvement in Iraq. More…
Family hopeful of author’s release
THE family of a Bahrain-based author arrested in Sri Lanka for allegedly offending Buddhism hope she will be released after she appears in court today.
THE family of a Bahrain-based author arrested in Sri Lanka for allegedly offending Buddhism hope she will be released after she appears in court today.
Sarah Malanie Perera, detained in the capital Colombo, had been held without charge since she was taken into custody about two weeks ago.
The authorities have yet to give precise details of her offence, but it is understood two of her recently published books allegedly offended ethnic Sinhalese Buddhists, who account for more than 70 per cent of Sri Lanka’s 20 million population.
Ms Perera’s lawyers filed a case at the Supreme Court in Colombo last Tuesday demanding her immediate release, but it stalled as police never brought her to court. More….
English-speaking skills to be tested at GCE (OL) exam
Conversational skills English would be tested at GCE Ordinary Level Examination from 2011, Southern Province Director of Education (English) K. V. Wijesinghe said.
He was speaking at a recent event to honour English Day competition winners.The competitions had been held at the school divisions at zonal and provincial levels. The winners could take part in the national level competition conducted by the Ministry of Education.
He said many talented students came from rural areas and they had achieved success at provincial and national level competitions, defeating the students of the so-called leading schools in the country.He urged the teachers of English to pay more attention to improving the students’ speaking ability.
Campaigning comes to an end tonight
Campaigning for the upcoming parliamentary elections on April 8th must be concluded by midnight today.
According to the election laws all propaganda activities must come to an end 48 hours before the elections day. Elections Commissioner Dayananda Dissanayake had instructed the Police Department to remove all election propaganda materials including posters, cutouts, and banners by tomorrow (06) except for the propaganda materials displayed at the main district offices of candidates.
Final campaign rallies of all parties in the fray would be held today. A total of 7,620 contestants from 36 recognised political parties and 301 independent groups vie for 196 seats in the 225-member parliament. The remaining 29 slots are allocated through the National List based on national percentages political parties and independent groups obtain.
