Gossiplankanewsng - Sri Lanka's main opposition begins drive to recruit two million members

Gossiplankanewsng.blogspot.com - Sri Lanka's main opposition United National Party (UNP) will take measures to initiate a targeted program this year to defeat the government and as a first step, the party will launch a campaign to recruit two million new members to the party, a party spokesman said Monday.
Addressing a media, Gayantha Karunathilaka said the inaugural membership drive will be conducted in the southern capital city of Galle from February 2-4.
UNP leader Ranil Wickremasinghe will lead the campaign with the participation of all representatives of the party including parliamentarians, Provincial, Municipal and Pradeshiya Sabha Councilors.
He said the party intends to attract 100,000 new members from Galle alone and the necessary media campaign has already started.
Karunathilaka criticizing the President's Cabinet reshuffle said changing ministers is not the solution to the issues faced by the country and would not prevent the country from falling into an abyss.
He observed that the appointing of new ministers would only increase the burdens shouldered by the people due to the increase in costs to maintain an expanding Cabinet of Ministers.
He compared the government's latest move to changing pillows to cure a headache.
According to Karunathilaka, the crises faced by the country could be solved only by a regime change and it is the right time to prepare to oust the present government which is duping the public with empty promises and as a result losing its voter base

Gossiplankanewsng - Sri Lankan Airlines office is now in Gampaha

Gossiplankanewsng.blogspot.com - Sri Lankan Airlines in a bid to increase its presence in all parts of the country opened its latest passenger sales office in Gampaha; under the patronage Chief Executive Officer of the SriLankan Airlines Kapila Chandrasena.
The branch office will facilitate travel formalities to a large clientele in the Gampaha district. This includes handling of reservations, ticketing, Prepaid Ticket Advices (PTAs), requests for special services, information on fares, schedules and packages - essentially offering the same sales activity carried out by any city office of the airline.

SriLankan has appointed Lando travels (Pvt) Limited, which is a leading IATA accredited travel Agency in Sri Lanka that caters the travel facilities for clients such as airline ticketing and reservations, travel insurance, outbound holidays ,inbound tour programs and worldwide hotel reservations.

Sri Lanka President asks Buddhist group not to arouse ethnic tensions in the country

Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa today stressed that acts aimed at creating ethnic discord among communities and inciting violence in the country will not be permitted under any circumstance.
The President made this stance when he met five Buddhist monks representing the controversial Buddhist activist group Bodu Bala Sena (Buddhist Power Force) of Sri Lanka today at the Temple Trees to discuss a range of issues.
During the meeting the group discussed a number of problems the majority Sinhala Buddhist community is facing and the current dispute between the some Muslim and Buddhist groups in the country.

One major issue the organization raised was the Halal Certification process for businesses and the President and the Economic Development Minister Basil Rajapaksa explained the process in detail and the reasons for the businesses to use the certification.

More Sri Lankan asylum seekers opt to return home from Australia

Gossip Lanka News - A group of seven Sri Lankan asylum seekers, who arrived in Australia illegally in boats, have opted to return home voluntarily.
Accordingly, the Australian authorities have sent the group of seven adult men back to Colombo today on a flight from Perth following their transfer from mainland detention sites, the Australian Department of Immigration and Citizenship confirmed.
"They chose not to pursue their asylum claims and no longer seek to engage Australia's protection obligations," a Department of Immigration and Citizenship spokesman said.
The spokesman said the return is further proof that there is no advantage engaging with people smugglers.
Earlier last week six Sri Lankan asylum seekers returned to Colombo voluntarily.
With the latest return 213 Sri Lankan asylum seekers have voluntarily departed Australia since August 13 when the Australian government announced irregular maritime arrivals would be liable for transfer to regional processing facilities in Nauru and Manus Island in Papua New Guinea.
Altogether 942 Sri Lankans have returned home - both voluntarily and involuntarily.
People detained in the offshore centers can voluntarily leave for home country at any time and those who return voluntarily may be eligible for reintegration assistance through the International Organization for Migration (IOM).

91 skeletons recovered from mass grave in Sri Lanka's Central Province

Colombo: Excavations continued at the mass grave found in Sri Lanka's Central Provincial town Matale have so far unearthed 79 human skulls, police media unit said. Another 12 skeletons without skulls have also been unearthed at the site in Matale District Hospital premises during the excavations.

The excavations, commenced on November 27th, are being carried out on an order by Matale Magistrate Chathurika de Silva and under the supervision of Consultant Judicial Medical Officer Dr. Ajith Jayasena.
The collective graveyard was found within the Matale Hospital premises when a backhoe was digging the area for a new construction.

Department of Archaeology has verified that the remains recovered from site have no archaeological significance.

Excavations are still being conducted and the investigations are conducted by the Judicial Medical Officer of Matale and the mystery behind the pit is yet to be revealed.
The JMO however, says it will take some time to identify the remains and no conclusions can be drawn until an expert team had finished its work.

Sri Lanka's Opposition Leader claims impeachment has created internal rifts in government

Jan 21, Colombo: The leader of Sri Lanka's opposition and the United National Party (UNP) Ranil Wickremasinghe has claimed that although the government received a majority vote to impeach the former chief justice, the impeachment debate has created internal rifts in the government.

The opposition leader has said that despite the claims made by certain people that the impeachment process strengthened the government with the two-third majority, in reality the government was totally weakened.
Although the government claimed the impeachment was a step towards protecting democracy, even some cabinet ministers either abstained from voting or voted against the impeachment, Wickremasinghe pointed out.

Wickremasinghe said he is aware of how many ruling party parliamentarians unwillingly voted to impeach the chief justice. Some coalition partners of the government have openly opposed the impeachment and made it clear that it was not a democratic process, he noted.

He said the UNP needs to take advantage of the rift in the Rajapaksa regime to strengthen the party to go forward and bring a UNP government to power.

Wickremasinghe called on people to elect a UNP government to condemn the corruption and bring an end to the suppression by the present government.

The opposition leader pointed out that all factions of the opposition need to unite from the grassroots level to defeat the government and only the UNP can do the job.

Senior members of the party are going from village to village across the country to drum up support to build a united opposition to take on the government, he added.

High-level US delegation to arrive in Sri Lanka

Gossiplankanewsng - A high-level delegation from the United States, comparing three US Deputy Assistant Secretaries, are set to arrive in the island next week on an official visit, aimed at discussing various issues such as the implementation of the LLRC recommendations and National Action Plan.

“Deputy Assistant Secretary of State James Moore, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense Vikram Singh, and Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Jane Zimmerman will travel to Sri Lanka and Maldives from January 26-February 1,” the US Embassy in Colombo said in a release today.

They are scheduled to meet with senior Sri Lankan officials, members of various political parties as well as civil society to discuss a wide range of issues, including progress in implementing the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission recommendations and National Action Plan, it said. 

The former Deputy Chief of Mission of the U.S. Embassy in Colombo (2006 – 2009), James R. Moore is the current Deputy Assistant Secretary of State in the Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs.