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Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Parliamentarian M.A. Sumanthiran has this week blamed Parliament officials for their lackadaisical attitude towards implementing the Official Language Policy.

Speaking during the adjournment debate on the spread of COVID-19 in the country, Mr Sumanthiran said a Private Members Bill he presented calling for a declaration of a public health emergency to tackle the COVID-19 pandemic, but the letter from Parliament informing him that his draft bill had been referred to the Health Ministry was entirely in Sinhala.

“How many times do we have to raise this? A Tamil Member of Parliament is being sent letters in Sinhala. I’m told that circulars for (Parliament) employees too are done only in Sinhala. At least in this Parliament, can we give effect to the Constitutional provisions that there are two official languages in this country? Why do you continue
to observe this in the breach?” an angry Mr Sumanthiran asked the House.

When A/L results brought in the good news, she was working in garment factory

When the results of Advanced Level examinations held last year were released on Tuesday, Maheswaran Kalyani who came first in Kilinochchi was working in a garment factory. She came to know about her results (2As,1B) in the Biotechnology stream only after she returned home in the evening.

Ms Kalyani, a resident from Paranthan, joined the garment factory to support the family of five following her examinations. Her father is a labourer and mother is a homemaker.

As she is receiving congratulatory messages and wishes from her relatives and local politicians these days, she is determined to continue working at the garment factory until her university studies begin.

TID investigates LTTE uniform issue

The arrest of Jaffna Mayor Visvalingam Manivannan over the use of uniforms similar to the ones worn by the cadres of the defunct Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) did send a strong message to local politicians in the North.

This week, the Terrorism Investigation Department (TID) summoned to Colombo the five youths who wore the uniform as members of a security outfit the mayor had set up to record statements.

Mayor Manivannan also came under severe criticisms recently for recruiting some youths who don’t live within the municipality as his personal staff despite allegations of nepotism.

The fisherman wearing a t-shirt with image of Prabhakaran

Indian fishermen pose covid dilemma for Navy in the mid-sea

These days Navy personnel are deployed in the Northern sea for around-the-clock patrol to ensure that Indian fishermen do not trespass into Lankan waters and come into contact with the local fishermen as India is breaking grim records for hitting the highest number of covid cases.

The additional concern for the Navy is the recent attempts by locals to use the sea route to illegally migrate to foreign countries.

On Monday, the Navy intercepted eleven Indian fishing vessels with 86 fishermen on board and detained them in mid-sea for more than 12 hours. The matter was raised through diplomatic channels with Indian High Commission in Colombo and by evening they were sent back to India.

The following day, Navy personnel spotted another Indian fishing vessel with a fisherman wearing a t-shirt carrying a familiar face.

It was the image of the slain LTTE leader Velupillai Prabhakaran. Even though the LTTE chief is considered a terrorist in India, he still has a significant Che-Guevara revolutionary type following in Tamil Nadu.

Navy personnel took photos of the person with his t-shirt which proclaimed ‘His Excellency V. Prabhakaran- TPK’, an acronym for a local club or his followers group in the fishing villages along the Tamil Nadu coast. The fisherman was not arrested or detained. He too was allowed to return home.

Presidential covid fund: Rs. 1.6 billion unutilised: SJB

As the country reels from a third COVID wave and the health sector struggles to handle the influx of patients, questions are being raised as to what the Government has done with the ‘Itukama’ COVID-19 fund managed by the Presidential Secretariat.

Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa and Samagi Jana Balawegaya Parliamentarian S.M. Marikkar raised the matter in Parliament this week, noting that there had been little transparency regarding how much funds had been collected or how they had been spent. They asked how much was spent to procure vaccines, medicines or set up hospitals.

The SJB was raising concerns that sections of the media, civil society groups and some members of the public have been asking for some time now. The website of the Itukama Fund notes that nearly Rs 1.7 billion has been raised so far, but does not indicate by which date that amount has been raised.

According to the Presidential Secretariat website, however, Rs 42.6 million from the fund has so far been spent on PCR testing while Rs 38 million has been spent on quarantine facilities. A further Rs 24.3 million has been spent on the fund’s advocacy programme. Accordingly, just over Rs 105 million of the fund has been utilised thus far, meaning that nearly Rs 1.6 billion is yet to be spent.

Local councillors make news for wrong reasons

Several incidents involving local government representatives and officials this week raise questions
on whether these elected representatives and officials believe they are law unto themselves.

In the latest such incident, a minor employee of the Sri Jayewardenepura Kotte Municipal Council (MC) has been interdicted by the Municipal Commissioner on charges of being outside his place of work during working hours. Some local councillors, however, allege that the employee had been interdicted because he allegedly angered the Municipal Commissioner by suddenly crossing the path of his vehicle as it was entering through the council gate.

This week, a video of an ugly physical confrontation between two ruling party councillors of the Maharagama Urban Council (MUC) went viral on social media after a video of the confrontation between the female and the male councillor was leaked to the media. The confrontation, which occurred while the UC session was on, saw the female councillor repeatedly hitting her male colleague. It later emerged that the reason for the confrontation was a video earlier shot over a mobile phone by some female UC members showing the male councilor allegedly sexually harassing female councillors. The male councillor has now been arrested and been placed in remand custody till May 10.

Meanwhile, Moratuwa Mayor Samanlal Fernando was also involved in an angry confrontation between his own constituents when Moratuwa MC workers tried to knock down several alleged unauthorised constructions which were obstructing a canal. Some residents who were affected objected stating that the decision to knock down the constructions was an arbitrary one taken by the Mayor. A furious Mr Fernando then clashed with the residents, saying “Don’t come to teach me.” He even argued with police officers who arrived on the scene.

All this is happening while the country is facing a third and far more dangerous wave of COVID-19 wave. As one resident in Moratuwa was heard saying on video during the clash with the Mayor: “Are these really things that should be happening now?”

Ontario passes bill on Tamil Genocide Education Week, as Canada High Com still headless

A private member’s bill to declare a Tamil Genocide Education Week was passed in Canada’s Ontario legislative assembly this week and will become law on receipt of Royal assent.

The Act establishes seven days each year–May 11 to 18–during which Ontarians are “encouraged to educate themselves about, and to maintain their awareness of, the Tamil genocide and other genocides that have occurred in world history”.

Its preamble claims: “Not only does this acknowledgement honour the lives that were lost, but it gives a sense of hope to those who have suffered since it represents the first step to healing and reconciliation. Most importantly, by recognizing the Tamil genocide, we affirm our collective desire to maintain awareness of this genocide and other genocides that have occurred in world history in order to prevent such crimes against humanity from happening again.”

The development occurred even as
Sri Lanka is grappling with finding a suitable person to head the diplomatic mission in Canada. Attorney General Dappula de Livera, who retired this week, learnt only from media accounts that he was to be posted to Canada as Sri Lanka’s High Commissioner. He refuted the report and declared that he preferred to remain in Sri Lanka.

The Government’s first nominee, former Air Force Commander Sumanagala Dias, was rejected by the Canadian Government who gave in to protests by Tamil Canadians and parliamentarians.