Author: TELO Admin

Nearly 10,000 soldiers who deserted the Sri Lanka Army have received legal discharge as of May 4 during an amnesty period declared by Sri Lanka’s Ministry of Defence.

The Sri Lanka Army, under the Ministry of Defence’s directive, has announced a General Amnesty from April 20, allowing all Army absentees to receive an official discharge from their service.

The general amnesty is in effect for one month, from April 20 to May 20, 2024. During this period, Army absentees have been given the opportunity to legally discharge from the Army in coordination with their respective Regimental Centers.

As of the end of the first two weeks of this amnesty period, between April 20, 2024, and May 4, 2024, a total of 9,735 Army personnel who were absent without leave since December 31, 2023, and earlier have been temporarily discharged from their Regimental Centers.

The Army said that 35 army deserters currently abroad are also among those who have received legal discharge.

Srisaba’s 38th Remembrance Day – 06/05/2024

We’ll NEVER FORGET THE FORGOTTEN Two hundred of our fellow members were killed or wounded we will never, ever forget them or the sacrifices they made.

TAMILS DAY OF CONFLUENCE

“Tamil National Unity Week- (29 April- 06 May)”

State Minister of Finance Shehan Semasinghe has met with the Chinese Vice Minister of Finance Liao Min.

This meeting was held on the sidelines of the ADB annual meeting in Georgia.

Minister Semasinghe said on X ”at this discussion China assured its fullest support and cooperation to conclude the debt restructuring process in Sri Lanka.”

Furthermore, he said that China reaffirmed steadfast support to Sri Lanka on all fronts.

Sri Lanka’s travel trade has appealed to President Ranil Wickremesinghe over high priced visas and hidden fees charged by IVS-GBS-VFS Global, a private contractor, which has made getting tourist visa difficult and as well as more expensive.

Sri Lanka’s widely acclaimed ease-of-use ETA web page operated by the Department of Immigration was shifted to a private contractor for reasons that are not clear, leading to a website which is seeking a lot of information through a complex process.

“The previous system was straightforward and extremely easy to use for those with limited IT knowledge,” key travel associations wrote to president.

“The current system is complex with an OTP system, scrolling sections that are not easy to find, requirements of documents, complex format requirements for documents, unnecessary required fields (Second Address Line, Post Code)…”

The website was also asking for tourists twitter handles and facebook pages, taking more time. It is not clear why the IVS-GBS-VFS Global is asking for the information.

In the Maldives tourists are only required to fill in an arrival form.

The inconvenient visa platform was also charging a hidden previously undisclosed ‘convenience fee’ as well as processing free of 18.5 dollars per visa.

A survey by the travel associations showed that Sri Lanka was charging as much as 100.77 dollar from a tourist while competitors like Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam were either charging nothing or 25 dollars.

A family of four would have to spend 400 dollars before even entering the country.

“We respectfully urge you to intervene and restore a competitive and user-friendly visa process through a government-operated website, similar to the previous ETA system to enable a tourist to obtain the necessary 30-day single entry visa with ease,” the letter said.

“This is crucial to sustaining the positive momentum in our tourist industry and supporting the broader economic recovery efforts.”

Sri Lanka Association of Inbound Tour Operators, Travel Agents Association of Sri Lanka, Sri Lanka Association of Professional Conference Exhibition and Event Organizers, Association of Small and Medium Enterprises in Tourism, IATA Agents Association of Sri Lanka, Boar of Airline Representatives, Sri Lanka Association of Airlines Representatives are making the appeal.

It the website and the fees are charged from tourists Sri Lanka may not be able to reach the 2.3 million target for tourism.

The private consortium stands to make about 12.7 billion rupees in 2024 based on a tourist target of 2.3 million, not counting a ‘convenience fee’ which may range from 5 to 7 odd dollar, which may add another 4 billion if all the cash goes to the firms.

However the travel trade warns that Sri Lank may miss the tourism target due to the IVS-GBS-VFS Global visa fees, the island may only get 2.0 million visitors.

Private firms like VFS Global are employed by Western nations who want to make it difficult to get visas and limit people entering their countries especially from Asian and African nations due to fears of illegal immigration.

Sri Lanka has dropped fifteen places and ranks 150th in the 2024 World Press Freedom Index, published annually by Reporters Without Borders (RSF).

Sri Lanka’s ranking was 135 out of 180 countries last year. Pakistan is ranked 152 while India is 159th this year.

The index ranks 180 countries on the ability of journalists to work and report freely and independently.

On Sri Lanka, the report states: “Press freedom issues are closely tied to the civil war that ravaged the island until 2009, and to the still unpunished crimes of violence against many journalists when the Tamil rebellion was being crushed. With a media sector lacking diversity and highly dependent on major political clans, journalism is still in danger in this country of 22 million inhabitants.”

“Sri Lankan law does not restrict freedom of expression, but nothing guarantees the protection of journalists,” it said, adding that Parliament passed an internet regulation law in January 2024 creating the Online Safety Commission, whose members are appointed by the president. “Under the guise of defending “national security”, it can censor the content and accounts of dissident voices on social media, and suspend the confidentiality of their sources.”

On the safety of journos, it said: “Many media professionals were killed or disappeared during the past two decades, marked by the crushing of the separatist Tamil Tiger rebellion. No journalist has been killed since 2015, but the previous killings have gone completely unpunished.

“The tenth anniversary of the end of the civil war in 2019, was marked by a troubling increase in attacks on reporters based in the north and on the east coast, the traditional Tamil homeland. Journalists there are subjected to systematic surveillance and harassment by the police and army, and independent media are excluded from these areas. “

In the Asia-Pacific region – the world’s second most difficult region for practising journalism – five countries are among the world’s ten most dangerous countries for media personnel: Myanmar (171st), China (172nd), North Korea (177th), Vietnam (174th) and Afghanistan (178th).

In the Middle East and North Africa, the situation is “very serious” in nearly half of the countries. The United Arab Emirates joins the eight other countries in the red zone on the map: Yemen, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Palestine, Iraq, Bahrain, Syria and Egypt.

Palestine, occupied and under bombardment by the Israeli army, and the deadliest country for journalists, is also at the bottom of the Index. Qatar is now the region’s only country where the situation is not classified either as “difficult” or “very serious.”

The countries where press freedom is “good” are all in Europe, and more specifically within the European Union, which has adopted its first media freedom law (EMFA). Ireland has dropped out of the Index’s top three countries, replaced by Sweden, while Germany is now one of the top ten countries. Press freedom is nonetheless being put to the test in Hungary, Malta and Greece, the three lowest-ranked EU countries.

The overall decline in the political indicator has also affected the trio at the top of the World Press Freedom Index. Norway, still in first place, has seen a fall in its political score, and Ireland (8th), where politicians have subjected media outlets to judicial intimidation, has ceded its leading position in the European Union to Denmark (2nd), followed by Sweden (3rd).