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Sunday October 1st, 2023

Sri Lanka court slaps travel bans on ex-PM, other MPs over May 09 violence: report

ECONOMYNEXT – A magistrate court in Sri Lanka issued travel bans on 17 individuals including ex-Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa, his son and MP Namal Rajapaksa and nine other government MPs as well as a senior police officer on Thursday (12) over an unprovoked attack on peaceful anti-government protestors on Monday (09).

According to the privately owned NewsFirst, the Fort Magistrate issued the bans on 13 legislators representing the ruling Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) including Johnston Fernando, Sanath Nishantha, Pavithra Wanniarachchi, C B Ratnayake, and Sanjeewa Edirimanne.

Senior Deputy Inspector General (SDIG) of the Western Province Deshabandu Tennakoon is also in the list of people the court held need to remain in the country for investigations into Monday’s violence.

A number of government MPs’ homes and offices were torched by angry mobs around the country Monday and Tuesday, in a wave of spontaneous violence that was triggered by a widely condemned attack on anti-government protestors by supporters of former Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa.

Prime Minister Rajapaksa resigned hours later, but not before mob violence erupted in retaliation.

Rajapaksa, who was evacuated from his Colombo official residence Temple Trees Tuesday morning is now at a naval base in Trincomalee under heavy guard, according to Defence Ministry Secretary Gen Kamal Gunaratne.

In a televised address to the nation, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa Wednesday (11) evening said action would be taken against the instigators of Monday’s “incident”.  (Colombo/May12/2022)

 

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  1. kapancake says:

    .. And they all lived happily ever after…. what fairy tales come out of Sri Lanka. How about promoting Sri Lanka as a movie land, there will be many award winning films that can bring in more dollars and put Sri lanka on the map again, this time not as a gem in the ocean but as a ground for real life film making. We are not short of real life actors here, so we may beat those all time favorite movies like ” All the presidents men”, Frost/Nixon (Based on the watergate scandal of 1972) and The report. And for us Sri Lankan masses “We the fools” may be a comedy in the making.

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  1. kapancake says:

    .. And they all lived happily ever after…. what fairy tales come out of Sri Lanka. How about promoting Sri Lanka as a movie land, there will be many award winning films that can bring in more dollars and put Sri lanka on the map again, this time not as a gem in the ocean but as a ground for real life film making. We are not short of real life actors here, so we may beat those all time favorite movies like ” All the presidents men”, Frost/Nixon (Based on the watergate scandal of 1972) and The report. And for us Sri Lankan masses “We the fools” may be a comedy in the making.

Sri Lanka National Christian Council opposes Online Safety Bill

ECONOMYNEXT – The National Christian Council of Sri Lanka (NCCSL) in a statement on the Online Safety Bill, said that the existing legal regime is adequate to deal with instances of harmful speech, making it unjustifiable to enact such “stringent laws”.

The Council called upon the government to withdraw the bill immediately.

The body expressed “deep concern” over the proposed bill, detailing its potential to curtail freedom of speech and how, according to the Council, the piece of legislature is inconsistent with the principles of democracy.

“The bill proposes the establishment of an entity named the Online Safety Commission without provisions to guarantee its independence and impartiality,” the statement said.

Chapter 3 imposes restrictions on online communication of certain statements, many of which are vague and overbroad, leaving room for executive control and the curtailing of legitimate criticism and dissent that are basic features of democracy, the statement said.

“The laws granting wide discretion to the executive and its investigative agencies with expansive reach have been misused in the past.”

The Council said that the bill was not drafted with the process of public consultation and discussion, which might have ensured the bill would be less draconian in nature.

“The National Christian Council of Sri Lanka calls upon the government to withdraw this anti-human rights and anti-democratic bill immediately.” (Colombo/Sep30/2023)

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Sri Lanka to implement new vehicle revenue licence issuing system

ECONOMYNEXT – A new system of issuing vehicle licences called eRL 2.0 is to be implemented in 5 provinces, excluding the Western Province, from 3 October onwards.

The new system is to be implemented beginning in the North West, South, North Central, Central and Sabaragamuwa provinces, respectively. The existing vehicle licence issuing system eRL 1.0 will continue to be used in the Western Province.

The issuing of revenue licences islandwide at Department of Motor Traffic head offices and regional branches will be temporarily halted on October 2.

The facility of obtaining vehicle permits online will also be temporarily halted on 6 October till midnight.

The Sri Lanka Information and Communication Technology Agency (ICTA) and the Provincial Motor Traffic Departments are working to modernize the current vehicle revenue license issuance system.

The implementation of the new eRL 2.0 system is expected to be an important step in the digitalisation of Sri Lanka. (Colombo/Sep30/2023)

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Sri Lankan Airlines flights cancelled as aircraft grounded

ECONOMYNEXT – State-run SriLankan Airlines has apologized to passengers who were stranded as multiple aircraft were grounded at the same time.

The airline said it has strict procedures which requires aircraft to be grounded when technical issues are discovered.

“Unfortunately, in this case we suffered a number of groundings at the same time,” the airline said.

“We apologize for the disruption and inconvenience caused and assure all our loyal customers that we are working diligently to minimize such occurrences moving forward.”

The airline said it was booking passengers on other airlines while some have been accommodated at hotels. (Colombo/Sept30/2023)

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