Monthly Archives: October 2012

Different strokes for different folks at DWC as squatters refuse to budge

Reporting from Irudeniyaya, Kurunegala
Questions have been raised as to why the Department of Wildlife Conservation (DWC) is following a double standard against the Kahalla- Pallakelle sanctuary encroachers.
Kahalla- Pallakelle was declared as a sanctuary through gazette notification no: 566/ 5 on July 1, 1989 and is 21, 690 hectares in extent spanning through Kurunegala and Anuradhapura […]

By Nirmala Kannangara | Published on October 15, 2012 at 3:26 am

Politics, sea planes and sand mining controls the water as farmers go bankrupt amidst drought

Reporting from Bathalagoda and Nikaweratiya
Paddy farmers in Kurunegala district who have lost their paddy cultivation due to the drought
blamed irrigation officers for mismanaging the reservoirs and tanks.
Farmers in Bathalagoda and Nikaweratiya – two of the areas worst affected by the dry weather accused Irrigation engineers and their staff of wasting tank water to please political […]

By Nirmala Kannangara | Published on October 15, 2012 at 2:03 am

Government growing weaker but Mahinda still a formidable force in Sri Lanka

“For every failure, there’s an alternative course of action. You just have to find it. When you come to a roadblock, take a detour” – Mary Kay Ash
It’s hardly possible that President Rajapaksa is happy with what is going on in the country in
general and within his Government in particular. Even though the recent Provincial Council […]

By Vishnuguptha | Published on October 14, 2012 at 10:46 pm

Government’s Action Plan full of holes as UPR approaches

New missions in African countries aimed at courting the continent
The government has done a considerable amount of background work in preparation for the forthcoming session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva. In dealing with the Universal Periodic Review, which is a four year report on a country’s human rights performance, the
government is […]

By Dr. Jehan Perera | Published on October 9, 2012 at 7:33 am

Preserving Independence of Judiciary is most important

Recent decisions of the judiciary at the lower and higher levels have instilled greater confidence in the viability of a system of checks and balances that is necessary in a functioning democracy. The assault on the Secretary of the Judicial Services Commission has occurred in the context of tensions being reported between the executive and […]

By National Press Council | Published on October 9, 2012 at 3:47 am

The Rajapaksa siblings like Pirapaharan guilty of strategically blind maximalism

“…when the plague begins, it’s easy for people to see the first blackbird as a harbinger. But when it lands on the climbing fence it’s just one bird” – Salman Rushdie
(Joseph Anton: A Memoir)
The constitutional path to tyranny is a well-worn one; its many previous travellers include a former corporal named Adolf Hitler.
Sri Lanka’s path to […]

By Tisaranee Gunasekara | Published on October 8, 2012 at 6:05 am

Eye witness to Lasantha’s murder abducted in white van?

An eye witness to the January 8, 2009 murder of newspaper editor Lasantha Wickrematunge
says attempts have been made to abduct him and he is unable to return to Sri Lanka.
Mr. K Mudalige claims he witnessed part of the elaborate process that finally took Lasantha Wickrematunge’s life and for that he is now in grave danger.
Mr. […]

By Nirmala Kannangara | Published on October 7, 2012 at 9:30 am

Onion farmers on verge of suicide as government plays havoc with the trade

Reporting from Inamaluwa, Dambulla
Onion farmers in Dambulla have no other option but to commit suicide as they are forced to sell
their crops at a loss
Farmers say they have to sell a kilogram of Big onions at Rs.32 while it costs them Rs40 to produce.
In an economic climate that has hit all farmers across the nation […]

By Nirmala Kannangara | Published on October 7, 2012 at 9:02 am

Politicians grabbing wildlife conservation lands in North Central Province

Reporting from Kalawewa, Anuradhapura
It is not surprising that Sri Lanka’s politicians use government property and state land as if it were their own. Sri Lanka’s ruling family -the Rajapakses have done so for years.
Land rapes
The latest in a series of land rapes by the present regime is at the Kalawewa and Balaluwewa tanks in the […]

By Nirmala Kannangara | Published on October 7, 2012 at 7:55 am

Sri Lanka: Illegal drug trade on the rise due to political patronage

COLOMBO, 4 October 2012 – Law enforcement officials in Sri Lanka have documented an increase in illegal drug seizures since the end of a decades-long civil war in 2009, with activists pointing to lax law enforcement and political patronage as factors contributing to the apparently growing drugs trade.
Heroin and cannabis were the most common drugs […]

By IRIN | Published on October 6, 2012 at 2:35 am