Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) parliamentarian Sunil Handunetti met a Lebanese couple when he was on a visit to that country sometime ago. The husband is a political activist in a students union in that country.
When the news spread that Handunetti was assaulted during a visit to Jaffna early this week, the couple who were in Colombo, were shocked.
They decided to join the JVP protest rally at Lipton Circus on Thursday to express their solidarity with their friend.
Later that night, they had a visit from the Police at a hotel in Kandy.
The couple were deported from Sri Lanka on Friday night. The Immigration Chief says that he got a CID report that the couple who were on tourist visas were participating in activity "inimical to the State".
MR's sartorial quip
Last Monday, President Mahinda Rajapaksa visited Sri Jayawardenapura University, where he had started work as a young library assistant.
He said at the time he was there, undergrads wore long hair, rubber slippers and dressed shabbily.
It was only after the university began enrolling female students that the male students turned up in smart attire, he said.
Mind your language sir!
The khakied top brass were at a brain storming session last Monday morning on measures necessary to ensure peace and harmony on Friday.
That is when President Mahinda Rajapaksa was sworn in for a second time as President of Sri Lanka.
Suddenly, the one who took the chair had a telephone call on his hot line. It came from an important place. There was a complaint that one top khaki man's people were removing posters and portraits of President Rajapaksa.
The one in the chair burst out "Ara H…………" The rest of the words used are unprintable. One top man said that the man in the chair deserved a honorary doctorate in obscene languages.
Fright on flight for politicos
Last Thursday morning, Ministers and UPFA parliamentarians were flown on Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) aircraft for ceremonies at Hambantota where the harbour was christened Mahinda Rajapaksa Port.
After the events, lunch for them together with President Mahinda Rajapaksa was at the Peacock Beach Hotel. Thereafter, the Ministers began their return journey by air.
The flight from Ratmalana to Wirawila airport in a fixed wing aircraft did not turn out to be a pleasant experience for Mahindananda Aluthgamage, Mahinda Amaraweera, Nirupama Rajapaksa, Dr. Sudarshani Fernandopulle and Kamala Ranatunga.
The pilot encountered heavy turbulence and was forced to hurriedly lower altitude. The unstable condition of the aircraft was to send shivers.
Aluthgamage said later that if they were travelling in a bus, he could have at least rung the bell and got down at the next halt. There was nothing he could do in mid air.
"I thought of my two children. They don't have a father. If something happened, they would have lost their mother too," declared Dr.Sudarshani Fernandopulle.
Kamala Ranatunga, who is unmarried and a UPFA national list MP said, I shut my eyes and clung on to my seat. "I was ready for the worst but had nothing to lose."
All their thoughts emerged after they had returned safely to Colombo.
Nirupama Rajapaksa said she was not frightened at all. A laughing Aluthgamage interrupted to say "neh neh. Oya gassey gassey hitiya"(No, no, you were shaking and shaking).
Jigmi honours Kadir
Bhutanese Prime Minister Kyongchchen Jigmi was the guest of honour at the President's second-term inauguration. The affable, well-spoken US educated Jigmi was hosted to a dinner by the local counsel for his country at the Hilton Hotel.
There, he spoke of Sri Lanka and its one-time Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar in glowing terms, referring to him as not just the best Foreign Minister of his time in South Asia, but one of the best in the world at the time. He said he knew the late Kadirgamar intimately when both of them were Foreign Ministers and that it was a pleasure to have known the likes of him.
Incumbent External Affairs Minister G.L. Peiris was also present at the dinner.
The Queen’s English!
Perhaps Buckingham Palace was busy with the impending wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton.
So it mixed up Friday's swearing in ceremonies for the second time by President Mahinda Rajapaksa.
What is even more surprising is that it slipped through those at the External Affairs Ministry. This is what a Ministry statement on Friday said:
"Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth Congratulates His Excellency President Mahinda Rajapaksa
Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth has sent the following message on 19th November 2010, to His Excellency President Mahinda Rajapaksa of Sri Lanka: "I send my congratulations on your re-election as President of Sri Lanka. I wish you and the people of Sri Lanka peace and prosperity in the years to come. Elizabeth R."
Ministry of External Affairs
Colombo"
If her majesty was congratulating President Rajapaksa for his re-election, it should have come soon after the presidential polls on January 26. Neither the Sri Lanka High Commission in London nor the External Affairs Ministry were able to point this out to the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office through which the message arrived.
Cattle kettle for Mervyn
The controversial Deputy Minister, Mervyn Silva, was at it again. This time, while in his old home town of Hambantota, he stopped a lorry load of cattle being transported for slaughter, paid the owner and released them.
Later, at a lunch with President Rajapaksa, at Peacock Beach Hotel, he said he did this good deed on his (the President's) birthday. "Oya satthu tika hondata balaaganna. Mervyntath mevagey visay aththi " (Look after the cattle well. They can be as mischievious as Mervyn)
But last Wednesday, "Dr".Silva figured in another cattle episode. Being Haj day, Muslims in Wattala had gathered them for sacrifice. He went with a police official and had all of them released.
A Muslim leader in Colombo had to appeal to a high ranking government official to seek their release, and their eventual release from life itself.
Seoul for Karannagoda
Former Commander of the Sri Lanka Navy, Admiral Wasantha Karannagoda, is being tipped in External Affairs Ministry circles to be Sri Lanka's new Ambassador in South Korea.
He was earlier billed to go as High Commissioner to Britain but EA sources say the move may not materialise.
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