Category: News

A new Tamil political alliance is set to emerge in Sri Lanka ahead of the Local Government elections after coalition partners of the TNA met yesterday and ITAK decided to contest the upcoming Local Government polls separately.

Selvam Adaikalanathan, leader of the Tamil Eelam Liberation Organization (TELO) said the party will form an alliance with C. V. Vigneswaran’s Tamil People’s National Alliance (TPNA).

He said this while speaking at a media conference held today (11) at the Tamil Eelam Liberation Organization (TELO) office in Vavuniya.

Adaikalanathan confirmed that another constituent of the TNA, the People’s Liberation Organisation of Tamil Eelam (PLOTE) led by D. Siddarthan will also join the new alliance. In addition to this former TNA coalition partner, Eelam People’s Revolutionary Liberation Front (EPRLF) led by Suresh Premachandran is also expected to follow suit.

This will leave the Illankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi (ITAK) to contest the polls separately and alone.

People will be on our side. Now there is an election. Elections are not our goal. After this election, we are going to do activities that will create a legally registered structure, have continuous leadership, and take people’s advice.

There will be no favoritism of individual parties here. It is a combination. Leadership will be maintained in rotation. We should not be divided and people’s trust will not be wasted, we should act firmly and put forward the people’s welfare.

The ‘Nidahas Janatha Sandhanaya’ (Freedom People’s Alliance), a new coalition with the combined participation of 10 different political parties, was launched a short while ago.

The novel party was ceremonially launched today (11 Jan.), at the Headquarters of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) in Colombo 10.

Accordingly, 10 political parties, including the SLFP, the ‘Uttara Lanka Sabhagaya’ (Supreme Lanka Coalition) and the Freedom People’s Congress, collated to form the ‘Freedom People’s Alliance’, with the aim of jointly contesting for the upcoming Local Government elections.

A total of 35 MPs who entered Parliament under the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP), including former President Maithripala Sirisena, Wimal Weerawasna, Dullas Alahapperuma and Anura Priyadarshana Yapa are already part of the newly-formed alliance.

A top official from the US National Security Council had talks with President Ranil Wickremesinghe in Colombo today.

US National Security Council Senior Director for South Asia, Eileen Laubacher discussed promoting economic development, improving the global environment, and 75 years of partnership between the US and Sri Lanka, including US support for Sri Lanka’s people in their time of need.

The US Ambassador to Sri Lanka, Julie Chung said that Laubacher is in Sri Lanka with colleagues to discuss shared goals of economic recovery and stability for Sri Lanka and a free and open Indo-Pacific.

Foreign Minister Ali Sabry summoned the Canadian Acting High Commissioner Daniel Bood today and expressed the deep regret of the Government on the announcement of unilateral sanctions brought against four individuals including two former Presidents of Sri Lanka by the Government of Canada based on unsubstantiated allegations, the ministry said.

Earlier, the Foreign Ministry had called the move by the Canadian government as ‘harmful’ to the local reconciliation process.

A Sri Lankan gemstone company that was key to sanctioned terrorist facilitator Ahmed Luqman Talib’s revenue generation in support of Al-Qaeda, continued doing business after Talib was sanctioned and arrested, according to Kharon, a global security and commerce intelligence company.

Talib and a gemstone business that he owned in Australia were sanctioned by the US Department of the Treasury in October 2020, an action followed by his arrest by Australian Police in 2021, and the designation of two of his relatives and business associates more recently by the US Government in November 2022.

Right Gems, a gemstone trading company based in Sri Lanka, was a key partner in Talib’s revenue generation to support Al-Qaeda.

The trading company shares an address in the south-west coast of Sri Lanka with Mohammed Haris Nizar, who is one of Talib’s relatives and business partners most recently sanctioned by the US Government on 9 November.

In the fall of 2020, Right Gems shipped precious stones worth more than $ 100,000 to Talib and Sons (Pvt.) Ltd., the Australian gemstone company owned by Talib that was sanctioned in 2020, according to trade data reviewed by Kharon.

Talib’s and Nizar’s business dealings in Sri Lanka have generated nearly $ 200,000 per year in profit since 2018, and the majority of Talib’s income was derived from one-third of those proceeds, according to the US Treasury.

Right Gems continued to ship products to customers in 2021 after Ahmed Talib and his company were sanctioned by the US Government.

The international trail of Talib’s Al-Qaeda facilitation network extends into South America. Al-Qaeda facilitator Ahmed Talib was also a managing partner of the Brazil-based company Ottoman Trade Caravan Importacao e Exportacao Ltda. in 2020, according to corporate data.

Another manager of Ottoman Trade Caravan is Kais Altabbaa, who simultaneously worked for Brazilian jewellery business Aisha Stones, which shares an address and telephone numbers with Ottoman Trade Caravan.

Altabbaa himself repeatedly sold and shipped small amounts of rough gemstones to Right Gems in December 2020, according to trade data reviewed by Kharon.

Terrorist financing risks of trade in precious metals and stones were the subjects of both the US anti-money laundering/combating the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) rule for dealers in precious metals, stones, or jewels, adopted in 2005, and the 2008 Financial Action Task Force (FATF) guidance on the risk-based approach to AML/CFT for dealers in precious metals and stones.

More than a decade later, these terrorist financing risks continue to draw the attention of US and international authorities.

The Bar Association of Sri Lanka (BASL) says that it is gravely concerned of attempts by the Government to interfere in the exercise of franchise by the people at the elections to local authorities.

Issuing a statement, the BASL specifically refered to the decision of the Government on the 9th of January 2023 to instruct the Secretary, Ministry of Public Administration, Home Affairs, Provincial Councils and Local Government to direct all District Secretaries/Government Agents not to accept deposits from candidates for the Local Authorities election, until further notice and the consequent circular sent to District Secretaries/Government Agents by the Secretary to the Ministry which has now been apparently recalled.

The decision to direct all District Secretaries to refrain from accepting deposits from candidates for the Local Authorities election could result in the nomination process to the local authorities being brought to a standstill thus effectively overturning the decision of the Returning Officers and the Elections Commission to receive nominations and thereafter to conduct elections to the Local Authorities in the country, the BASL said.

The Bar Association pointed out that the Supreme Court has held in the case of Waruna Karunathileke and another v Dayananda Dissanayake 1999 1 SLR 156 that the exercise of the franchise by the people is a Fundamental Right which must be protected.

Fundamental rights and Franchise are two important aspects of the sovereignty of the people of Sri Lanka which is inalienable, the BASL stressed.

Any unlawful attempt to interfere with the exercise of the franchise and any attempt to prevent people from exercising their sovereign right to choose their representatives at whatever level of Government will be a blatant attack on the Rule of Law and Democracy in Sri Lanka. Such a move will have far reaching consequences. Previous attempts by different administrations over the years to interfere with the franchise of the people have resulted in disastrous consequences on the country and its people, the BASL pointed out.

The BASL said it is firmly of the view that the Elections Commission should be allowed to exercise its powers mandated under Constitution and the law without interference.

President and the Government must refrain from taking any steps which could be construed as an interference with the independent functions of that Commission and with the exercise of the franchise by the people.

The BASL noted that notwithstanding the decision by the Government by letter dated 10″ January 2023, the Commissioner General of Elections has called upon the returning officers to continue to accept deposits.

The BASL called upon the Chairman and members of the Elections Commission and all public officers to continue to act according to the Constitution and the law so that the franchise of the people will be protected.

The Media Division of the United National Party in a statement on Tuesday (10) evening said that the UNP is engaged in discussions with political parties, factions, and groups that support the government with regard to the upcoming Local Government Election.

It added that several rounds of discussions took place recently among the UNP members and the representatives from the other parties, and among them is the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna.

The statement said that the UNP is expected to engage in talks with other parties and groups shortly.

It added that the UNP Chairman Vajira Abeywardena, UNP Deputy Leader Ruwan Wijewardena, UNP General Secretary Palitha Range Bandara, and UNP Executive Director represented the party at these discussions.

It added that the talks are yet to reach the final stages, and when the discussions are over the manner in which the UNP will contest the Local Government Election will be announced officially.