Author: uslanka

ජිනීවා යෝජනාවලියෙන් ශ‍්‍රී ලංකාව ඉවත් වේ

පැවති යහපාලන රජය විසින් ජිනීවා මානව හිමිකම් කොමිෂන් සභාවේදී සම අනුග‍්‍රාහකත්වය දක්වන ලද 30-1 එක සහ 40-1 යෝජනා දෙකෙන් වහාම ඉවත් වීමට රජය තීරණය කර ඇති බව සදහන් වෙනවා
ජනාධිපති ගෝඨාභය රාජපක්ෂ මහතා විසින් ඊයේ දිනයේ ජනාධිපති කාර්යාලයේ කැඳවන ලද විශේෂ රැස්වීමකදීම තීන්දුව ගෙන ඇති අතර මෙම හමුව සඳහා විදේශ ඇමැති දිනේෂ් ගුණවර්ධන සහ විදේශ අමාත්‍යාංශයේ ජ්‍යෙෂ්ඨ නිලධාරීන් පිරිසක් ඇතුළු මැති ඇමතිවරුන් පිරිසක් සහභාගී වෙලා
ඉහත යෝජනාව ක්‍රියාත්මක කිරීමට වත්මන් රජයේ දේශපාලන ප්‍රතිපත්තියට නොගැලපෙන නිසා එම යෝජනා වලින් ඉවත්විය යුතු යයි මෙහිදී තීරණය කර තිබෙනවා
2015 සහ 2016 වසරේ මානව හිමිකම් කොමිසමට ඉදිරිපත් කර ඇති මෙම යෝජනාවට ශ්‍රී ලංකා රජයට සම අනුග්‍රාහකත්වය ලබා දී ඇත්තේ එම යෝජනා පාර්ලිමේන්තුවට හෝ කැබිනට් මණ්ඩලයට ඉදිරිපත් කර නොමැති බවද හෙළි වෙලා
ඒ අනුව එන සතියේදී විදේශ ඇමැති දිනේෂ් ගුණවර්ධන මහතා ජිනීවා මානව හිමිකම් සමුළුවට ගොස් රජයේ ස්ථාවරය නිල වශයෙන් ප්‍රකාශයට පත්කිරීමටත් ඊට පෙර එම ස්ථාවරය පාර්ලිමේන්තුවටත් කැබිනට් මණ්ඩලයටත් ඉදිරිපත් කිරීමට නියමිතයි

එජාප සංධානය හංසයාගෙන්

එක්සත් ජාතික පක්ෂය ප්‍රමුඛ ජාතික සමගි ජනබල වේගය සන්ධානය ඉදිරි මහ මැතිවරණය සඳහා හංසයා ලකුණින් තරග කිරිමට තීරණය කළ බව පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත්‍රී නවීන් දිසානායක ප්‍රකාශ කර සිටිනවා.
කෙසේ වුවත් එක්සත් ජාතික පක්ෂය ප්‍රමුඛ නව සන්ධානය සම්බන්ධයෙන් හෙට දිනයේ සාර්ථක පිළිතුරක් ලැබෙනු ඇතැයි පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත්‍රී ජේ සී අලවතුවල පවසනවා. මන්ත්‍රීවරයා කියා සිටියේ මැතිවරණයට ඉදිරිපත් වන්නේ හංසයා ලකුණින් ද නැතහොත් අලියා ලකුණින් ද යන්න එහිදී තීරණය කරනු ඇති බවයි.

කෝටි 33ක රාජ්‍ය මුදල් ගැහිල්ලක් හෙලිවෙයි

ජාතික නිවාස සංවර්ධන අධිකාරියේ පසුගිය වසරේ නිවාස ඉදිකිරීම සඳහා රුපියල් කෝටි තිස්තුනක් වැය කරමින් විශාල මුදල් අවභාවිතාවක් සිදු කර ඇතැයි සදහන් වේ.
නිවාස අධිකාරියේ එක් පුද්ලයකුගේ ඕනෑ එපාකම් මැද නිවාස ගම්මාන ඉදිකරන මුවාවෙන් ලක්ෂ ගණනක් වටිනා පෝස්ටර් මුද්‍රණය කොට ඒවා බෙදා හරින්නේ නැතිව නිවාස සංවර්ධන අධිකාරියේ පහත මාලයේ ගොඩ ගසා තිබෙන බව ජාතික නිවාස සංවර්ධන අධිකාරිය පවසයි.
ඒ අනුව එහි  අධ්‍යක්ෂ මණ්ඩල සාමාජික සුදත් අබේවර්ධන මහතා පවසන්නේ එවකට රුපියල් කෝටි 33ක් වැයකොට නිවාස 5900කට ආසන්න ප්‍රමාණයක් ඉදිකර ඇති බවට තොරතුරු හෙළිවුවද එම මුදල ජාතික නිවාස සංවර්ධන අධිකාරියේ නිවාස අරමුදලට බැර කළා නම් තවත් නිවාස 677ක් ඉදි කළ හැකි බවයි. එදා ගම්මාන සෑදීමේදී අත්කම් නිවාස ගම්මානයක ගෙවල් 100ක් 150ක් වැනි ප්‍රමාණයක ගම්මාන ඉදි කල නමුත් පසුගිය වසර හතරක කාලය තුළ ගම්මාන කියා ඉදි කළේ එක් ගම්මානයක උපරිමය ගෙවල් 25 කුත් අවමය ගෙවල් 07 කුත්  බවද ඔහු පවසයි.
වැඩි දුරටත් අදහස් දැක්වූ ඒ මහතා,
එවැනි ගම්මාන එක්ක බැලුවොත් මේ ගෙවල් 677න් ජාතික නිවාස සංවර්ධන අධිකාරියට රටේ ජනතාවගේ නිවාස සිහිනය සැබෑ කිරීම සඳහා ගම්මාන 27ක් ඉදිකරන්න තිබුණා. නමුත් අද සිදුවෙලා තිබෙන්නේ නිවාස ඉදිකිරීම නොව තම සිහිනය ඉටු කර ගැනීම සඳහා රාජ්‍ය මුදල් අවභාවිත කිරීමේ ක්‍රමයක්. නිවාස සංවර්ධන අධිකාරියේ මුද්‍රණාලයක් තිබියදී පිටස්තර මුද්‍රණාලවලින් පොස්ටර් මුද්‍රණය කිරීම. ආයතනයේ නෛතික ක්‍රියාමාර්ග ක්‍රියාත්මක වෙලා තිබෙනවාද. මේ මුද්‍රණාල හිමිකරුවන් කවුද, මුදල් ගිහින් තිබෙන්නේ කොහොටද කියා නිවැරැදි විගණනයක් කළොත් ආයතනයේ එක් පුද්ගලයෙක් ඇතුළු කොටසකට මේ මුදල් බැරවෙලා තිබෙනවා.
මේ පිළිබඳ ඒ අවස්ථාවේ හඬක් නඟන්නට බැරිවූවේ එවකට වේවැලක් අතින් ගත් අයෙක් ජාතික නිවාස සංවර්ධන අධිකාරිය පාලනය කළ නිසායි. එවකට මේ ආයතනයේ මහජන සම්බන්ධතා නිලධාරියකු ලෙස සේවයට බැදුණු අයකු පියවරෙන් පියවර ඉදිරියට ගොස් සාමාන්‍යාධිකාරි තනතුරට පත්වී විශ්‍රාම ගොස් යළි මේ ආයතනයේ සභාපති ලෙස පත්වූයේය. එසේ පැමිණ තම අනසක පැතිරීම, මාධ්‍ය හැසිරීම සඳහා නියෝජ්‍ය සාමාන්‍යාධිකාරිවරයාගේ සිට මේ සම්බන්ධයෙන් හඩ නැඟූ වෘත්තීය සමිති නායකයන් ඇතුළු සියලු දෙනාගේම වැඩ තහනම් කිරීම්, ස්ථාන මාරු කිරීම් හා ඔවුන්ට විරුද්ධව අභූත චෝදනා එල්ල කරමින් මර්දනකාරී ලෙස මේ ආයතනය කරගෙන ගියේය. එයට බියට පත්වූ සේවකයන් ඉදිරිපත්වූයේ නැහැ. ඔවුන්ගේ අරමුණු ඉටු කර ගැනීම සඳහා සේවකයන්ට, දිස්ත්‍රික් කාර්යාලවලට නියෝග ලබාදීලා තිබෙනවා.
මේ මාසේ මේ ඉලක්කයට අය කිරීම් ඉටුනොකළොත් මාසේ පඩිය ගෙවීමට නොහැකි වන බවට තර්ජනය කර තිබෙනවා. ආයතනයේ සේවකයන්ගේ ආබාධ ණය අවශ්‍යතා ඉටුකර නැහැ. සේවකයන්ගේ නිවාස ණය ලබාදී නැහැ. අතිකාල හා ගමන් වියදම් පවා කපා හැරලා. සේවක සුබ සාධනය ඉටු කර නැහැ. රටේ ජනතාවගේ නිවාස අවශ්‍යතාව ඉටුවී නැහැ. කිහිප දෙනකුගේ සාක්කු පුරවා ගැනීම සඳහා සහ එක පුද්ගලයකුගේ සිහිනයක් ඉටු කර ගැනීම සඳහා පසුගිය වසර හතර හමාර තුළ විශාල මුදල් අවභාවිතාවක් සිදු කර ඇතැයි ද ඒ මහතා මෙහිදී පැවැසුවේය.
By Ashanthi Warunasuriya

US Congress to be informed of Sri Lanka’s objections to travel ban on Lt. Gen. Shavendra

The United States (US) Congress is to be informed of Sri Lanka’s objections to the travel restrictions imposed by the United States on Lt. Gen. Shavendra Silva, Commander of the Army and Acting Chief of Defence Staff and his immediate family.
Foreign Minister Dinesh Gunawardena met today (17 February 2020) the visiting US Congressional delegation, comprising Ami Bera, MD, Chairman, House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Asia, the Pacific, and Non-Proliferation and Representative Mr. George E.B. Holding, Member of the House Ways and Means Committee, Budget Committee and Ethics Committee and two members of the Congressional Committee Staff.
Minister Gunawardena welcomed the US Congress Representatives and highlighted the need to move forward in new areas of cooperation that would boost Sri Lanka’s economy. He said the visit took place at a significant time to Sri Lanka and briefed the delegation on the initiatives taken to broadbase Sri Lanka’s relationship with the US in ICT, Science, Technology and innovation and agriculture sectors through sector-focused dialogues, with representatives of the specific sectors from both sides.
The two Representatives of the Congress articulated the strong desire of the Government of the United States of America to advance the multifaceted relationship with Sri Lanka as an important strategic partner of the USA.
Noting the importance of enhancing the economic cooperation between the two countries, Representative Bera and Representative Holding, expressed the willingness of the US side to increase Foreign Direct Investment in both countries.Recognising Sri Lanka’s strategic geographic position in the world map, they also emphasised the importance of enhancing maritime cooperation with the island.
The Minister availed of the opportunity of meeting the Congressional delegation to reiterate strong objections of the Government of Sri Lanka on the recent imposition of travel restrictions on Lt. Gen. Shavendra Silva and his immediate family and asked that the United States review its decision.
He emphasised the importance of continuing defence cooperation, and observed the need to overcome such hindrances without causing embarrassment to either party.
The delegation took note of the concerns and informed that they would convey these sentiments to the US Congress.
The Congress Delegation was joined at the discussions by US Ambassador Alaina Teplitz and Embassy officials. Foreign Secretary Ravinatha Aryasinha and Director General/ North America, Dharshana M. Perera, and officials of the Ministry, were associated with the Minister during the talks.
The delegation had calls on President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa, Speaker Karu Jayasuriya and Senior Advisor to the Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs Prof. G.L. Peiris during their stay in Sri Lanka.
The delegation was hosted to lunch by Foreign Secretary Ravinatha Aryasinha prior to their departure today, which was attended by leading Sri Lankan business personalities and Heads of economic-related government institutions

Hambantota Port places embargo on staff members who are in China

With the coronavirus epidemic becoming a serious cause for concern, the Hambantota International Port (HIP) has put in place several measures to ensure the safety of their staff, environment, and the general public.
Emergency Response Procedure is in place with 3 response levels. A special committee has been appointed headed by the CEO with all Heads of Departments (HODs) as members.
Steps were taken to isolate and observe all employees and their family members who returned from China just before the epidemic broke and no cases have been reported so far.
The port has also placed an embargo on staff members who are in China for the Chinese New Year, asking them to stay back until the green light is given for safe travel by the Sri Lankan and Chinese authorities.
The port has done a complete sanitisation of their entire facility, and are conducting regular temperature checks on their employees as well as visitors to the port. Routine cleaning of all facilities and transport vehicles are in place. Hygiene standards have been improved by placing sanitary hand wash and disinfectant liquids in office spaces.
All tours of the port have also been temporarily halted, except for those that are especially authorized. Precautions include making it compulsory for all visitors and staff to wear medical masks.
HIP which was certified as ISO 45001: 2018 compliant for Occupational Health & Safety Management (OH&S) last year, has well-trained staff who are geared to handle emergency situations of this nature.  Standard health and safety policies were already in place to ensure a safe environment within the port and to encourage employees to take an interest in their own health and safety.
The port is implementing all measures to contain the epidemic in line with the standards and policies set out by the Ministry of Health and the WHO.
The requirements of the Ministry of Health that all the travelers/crew of cruise ship who need to go ashore in Sri Lanka complete the Health Declaration Form individually and the Health Status Report of the Vessel (within 12 -24 hours of Berth or OPL operations) signed by the Master of the Vessel, are being strictly adhered to.
An awareness campaign was conducted by the Hambantota Port Health Officer, Dr. Thamaranath on the 11th of February 2020 to educate HIP Staff members on the Novel Coronavirus. Leaflets prepared by the “Health Promotion Bureau and Quarantine Unit of the Ministry of Health” were distributed to all the departments in the Hambantota Port. These leaflets were in local languages and in Chinese.

Sri Lanka requests the US to review decision on Shavendra

Sri Lanka has requested the United States (US) to review its decision to ban Lieutenant General Shavendra Silva, current Commander of the Sri Lanka Army and Acting Chief of Defense Staff.
The US Department of State designated Lieutenant General Shavendra Silva and his immediate family members. The public designation makes them ineligible for entry into the United States.
The Government of Sri Lanka said that it takes strong objection to the imposition of travel restrictions on Lt. Gen. Silva and his immediate family members by the Government of the United States, based on independently unverified information.
The Government reiterates that Lt. Gen. Shavendra Silva was appointed as the Commander of the Army by the then Head of State, taking into account his seniority and that there were no substantiated or proven allegations of human rights violations against him.
His elevation as the Acting Chief of Defence Staff by the current Head of State President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, was on account of his being the senior most serving military officer.
While the timing of the imposition of this travel restriction 6 months after Lt. Gen. Silva’s appointment as Army Commander is concerning, the Sri Lankan Government says it is disappointing that a foreign Government should question the prerogative of the democratically elected President to call upon persons with proven expertise to hold key positions on national security related matters.
The Government of Sri Lanka requests the United States to verify the authenticity of the sources of information and to review its decision.

US Congressmen meet PM to discuss relations with Sri Lanka

Visiting US Congressmen Ami Bera and George Holding met Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa in Colombo this morning (Feb. 15) and discussed ways of strengthening relations in a number of sectors.
This is the first meeting between US officials and Sri Lanka after the US designated Lieutenant General Shavendra Silva, current Commander of the Sri Lanka Army and Acting Chief of Defense Staff, as required under Section 7031(c) of the Department of State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs Appropriations Act, due to credible information of his involvement, through command responsibility, in gross violations of human rights, namely extrajudicial killings.
“I think this is the most vibrant region and has a lot of potential,” Congressman Bera said during his meeting with the Prime Minister. “We see opportunity to forge a strong relationship between the United States and Sri Lanka.”
Congressman Bera represents California’s 7th Congressional District in the US House of Representatives and is currently a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee where he serves as Chair of the Subcommittee on Asia, the Pacific, and Nonproliferation.
The Prime Minister stated that one of the key priorities for the country at this time is economic development and encouraged more US investments in Sri Lanka.
Congressman Holding agreed that there is real opportunity to strengthen economic relations, pointing out that there is foreign direct investments from Sri Lanka in his own state.
Representing North Carolina’s 2nd Congressional District, Congressman Holding serves on the House Ways and Means Committee, Budget Committee and Ethics Committee.
With his focus on trade and commerce, Congressman Holding said strong economic relations can often play a significant role in enhancing overall relations between two countries.
Rajapaksa said that he agreed that there is a lot of potential for investments from the United States to Sri Lanka as well as from Sri Lanka to the United States. Other areas of cooperation were also discussed, including in the sectors of counter terrorism, tourism and energy.
US Ambassador in Sri Lanka Alaina Teplitz who also attended the meeting, talked about Sri Lanka’s larger role in the region.
“We support a strong, sovereign Sri Lanka,” Ambassador Teplitz said. “We’re thinking about Sri Lanka’s role in the broader region.

Udayanga Weeratunga admitted to Prison Hospital

Sri Lanka’s former Ambassador to Russia Udayanga Weeratunga, who was arrested and remanded yesterday, has been admitted to the prison hospital.
He had reportedly complained of a chest pain and was admitted to the prison hospital.
Weeratunga was arrested by the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) at the Bandaranaike International Airport yesterday, was produced before a Magistrate and remanded till 17 February.
Weeratunga was detained after arriving in Sri Lanka from Muscat, Oman and was questioned by the CID.
He was later produced before the Fort Magistrate who ordered that he be remanded.Weeratunga was wanted on charges of money laundering in the MiG 27 aircraft deal.
A warrant for his arrest was issued on 20 October 2016 and Interpol had also issued a red notice on him.
He has been in the UAE since 2018 and a case was filed seeking his extradition to Sri Lanka to face charges over his involvement in the 2006 purchase of four MiG 27 aircraft for the Sri Lanka Air Force.

World Association of Newspapers concerned over clauses in Sri Lanka Press Council Act

The World Association of Newspapers has raised concerns over some clauses in the Sri Lanka Press Council Act.
President of the World Association of Newspapers (WAN-IFRA), Vincent Peyregne, has sent a letter to President Gotabaya Rajapaksa congratulating him on his election as President of Sri Lanka with an overwhelming mandate from its citizens.
“We have noted with interest, several meetings you had with newspaper and other media heads and your assurances to them that there are no threats to media and they have the freedom to write factually,” Peyregne said.
He said that as the largest newspaper organization in the world with an international membership of more than 3000 media institutions, they welcome the President’s statements of assurances of media freedom as enshrined and guaranteed by Article 14(1 (A) in the Constitution of Sri Lanka which as stated, “gives every citizens the freedom of speech and expressions including publications”.
“We may point out that in the free world, democratic governments have permitted newspapers to be regulated on the principles of self-regulation rather than on statutory laws like Press Council Act, which includes a provision to jail publishers and editors,” the World Association of Newspapers said.
Peyregne urged President Rajapaksa to support the concept of self-regulation in Sri Lanka