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Thondaman carries gifts for Indian poachers
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Minister Arumugam Thondaman visited the Anuradhapura Prison with gifts to see a group of more than 15 South Indian fishermen.
Together with police officials, bodyguards and cameramen, he held a meeting inside the prison with the fishermen who had been arrested while in Sri Lankan waters in the west coast near Mannar.
Minister Thondaman asked the fishermen for their own version of the events that led to their arrest and detention. Hundreds of Indian fishermen, mostly from Tamil Nadu systematically intrude into Sri Lankan territorial waters and poach to their hearts content.
Who says they are not treated well by the Sri Lankan Government?
Police store robbery: Suspect arrested by kattadiya points to police
Just a fortnight ago, Rs. 1.3 million was robbed from the cooperative stores at the Police Training School in Kalutara. One would have thought it would be a good opportunity for the sleuths to teach their new recruits how to catch a thief. The investigations went on.
One bright spark, in the meantime, thought he would seek the help of a kattadiya (exorcist). The man said he would find the culprit through what he called “kanappuwa karakanawa” or making a coffee table turn in the direction of the robber. He said later that the coffee table had turned towards the Police Library and then to the barracks. It had thereafter turned to the cooperative store itself. The mumbo jumbo continued.
In the meantime, the Special Crime Unit of the Kalutara Police arrested a labourer who is employed in the cooperative store. During a search of his house, Police found a duplicate key to the cooperative stores. Kalutara Division Superintendent Rohan Silva has commended the Unit for the breakthrough.
Money laundering Lankan firms also face exposure
Sri Lankan companies which secretly channelled funds to offshore accounts in tax-free foreign havens are among those who now face exposure. The Washington DC based International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) has launched its multiyear project stripping away the biggest mystery associated with tax havens – the owners of anonymous companies.
Some 86 investigative journalists from 46 countries used data mining software and old fashioned shoe leather reporting to unveil the previously hidden but thriving world of fraud, tax dodging and political corruption.
To analyse the documents, ICIJ collaborated with journalists from The Guardian and the BBC in the U.K., Le Monde in France, Süddeutsche Zeitung and Norddeutscher Rundfunk in Germany, The Washington Post, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) and 31 other media partners around the world.
Two Lankans and other South Asian writers hailed in US
This year seems to be a successful one for South Asian authors in the United States. Sonali Deraniyagala’s memoirs, titled “Wave”, about the monumental tragedy that struck her family during the tsunami in Sri Lanka received not one, but two positive reviews in the New York Times last month.
The NYT gave an equally positive review for “Beggar’s Feast” by Randy Boyagoda, a Canadian academic of Sri Lankan descent. “The lush style of Boyagoda’s prose suits the novel’s background of glittering paddy fields, verging at times on the baroque,” says the review.
Meanwhile, the soon-to-be-published “The Billionaire’s Apprentice” by Anita Raghavan, an Indian author, focuses on the rise of the South Asian elite and the fall of Galleon, the multibillion dollar hedge fund run by Sri Lankan born Raj Rajaratnam, currently serving an 11-year jail sentence in the U.S.
Last week, the spotlight was on a Pakistani author, domiciled partly in the U.S. His book “How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia” has been gaining traction in the literary world. But the book may not be a primer to the many Sri Lankan families who already know how to get “filthy rich” in a declining, corruption-ridden Sri Lanka.
Astrologer says Presidential poll after 2014
Amidst speculation about an early Presidential election, the President’s astrologer Sumanadasa Abeygunawardene received several calls from both Government and Opposition politicians.
They wanted to know whether there would be a Presidential election next year. He told them he was unaware of an election next year.
However he forecast the possibility of one after November 2014.
PM gets shock at his Ministry
Prime Minister D.M. Jayaratne paid a surprise visit to the Ministry of Buddha Sasana last Tuesday. He arrived there without even his security detail. He found several senior officials were not in the office. Nor had they taken leave.
Prime Minister Jayaratne directed that action be taken against those who were away from office without obtaining leave.
Whether action will be taken, of course, is another matter.
Gun treaty abstention: Lanka under fire again
Sri Lanka was one of 23 countries that “abstained” on a UN General Assembly vote last week on a landmark arms trade treaty aimed at regulating the global arms industry. The vote was an overwhelming 154 for the adoption of the treaty with three against (the predictable suspects being Iran, North Korea and Syria).
We were apparently in “good company” considering the fact that other abstainers included China, India, Indonesia, Russia, Kuwait and Qatar. But the New York Times, which has written several stories critical of the present regime in Colombo, couldn’t resist the temptation of pointing out, rather selectively, that the 23 abstentions came from many nations “with dubious recent human rights records — like Bahrain, Myanmar and Sri Lanka.” And that was bad company.
Vadai-and-fish quip at Sabaragamuwa show
A cultural, educational and industrial exhibition was held last week in Kegalle. It was organised by the Sabaragamuwa Provincial Council media unit. A. Nadarajah, India’s Deputy High Commissioner stationed in Kandy, was the guest of honour at the event. He was invited by Sabaragamuwa Chief Minister Maheepala Herath.
While the guests were visiting the exhibition they stopped at a food stall run by school children. Some of the guests tasted a few items.
Chief Minister Herath and India’s Deputy High Commissioner were seen sharing a vadai (a South Indian snack prepared using lentils).
An onlooker quipped: Probably this was how the Indians shared our fishing resources in the northern waters of Sri Lanka.
AI gets its place wrong
Sri Lanka’s Permanent Mission to the United Nations had one up on the human rights watchdog, Amnesty International (AI) this week.
AI had staged a demonstration against Sri Lanka in what it thought was outside the mission’s office in New York.
However, it had moved to another location. So officials at the mission had a hearty laugh!!. One diplomat said AI can’t get its facts right most of the time.
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