UNP Parliamentarian, P. Harrison, said they are prepared to join not only with the Lanka Sama Samaja Party (LSSP) but even Mahasona in order to topple the current government.

At this juncture, with the electricity tariff hikes, parties within the government are themselves preparing to desert 'the ship' and when the government is going to be in tatters, his party will join with any force and campaign against the government, the MP added.

It is pathetic that the Uthayan newspaper in Jaffna is constantly publishing news and editorials arousing communal hatred while misleading the Tamil people, said Dharmapuram Citizen Committee President Wanni Murugesu.

Murugeus, residing in Dharmapuram, Killinochchi said Opposition Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe delivered a speech rousing communal hatred in Jaffna and the Uthayan newspaper highlighted it.

Sri Lanka’s Northern and Eastern Provinces are under close US scrutiny ahead of forthcoming first Northern Provincial Council election with US ambassador Michele J. Sison touring Trincomalee and its suburbs on Friday (April 26) to inquire into the wellbeing of Tamil speaking Muslims.

Ambassador Sison was accompanied by several Colombo based US diplomats.

During meetings in Trincomalee with representatives of Muslim association, the US delegation had discussed about land issues, destruction of Muslim places of religious worship, setting up a security forces base at Kinniya in spite of protests due to the site being a place of religious worship, sexual molestation of children and whether the Sinhalese caused trouble to the Muslims, sources told The Sunday Island.

The Canadian government has taken its first decisive move with regard to the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) saying it will not send a full delegation to the November summit in Sri Lanka.

Earlier the Canadians had called for improvements on the human rights issue in Sri Lanka failing which the Canadian Prime Minister said he may reconsider taking part in the summit.

The main opposition UNP yesterday said they had played a trick on the government to prove that even the bombers of Boston could enter army run hotels in the North.

This trick played by the party was revealed by General Secretary Tissa Attanayake and UNP MP Ravi Karunanayake at a public meeting in Vavuniya last evening.

President Mahinda Rajapaksa says he is ready to hold talks with the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) on a political solution, but first they must join the Parliament Select Committee (PSC) on the National issue.

In an interview with the Tamil ‘Suda Oli’ newspaper, the President has said that it is wrong for the TNA to claim that the government is responsible for the talks on a political solution not progressing.

Hirunika Premachandra, daughter of slain politician, Bharatha Lakshman Premachandra, said yesterday the President should provide a solution to the 'Duminda Silva situation,' and complained, "the man who destroyed four families has now gone to meet the President."

Hirunika, addressing the media after United People's Freedom Alliance (UPFA) MP Duminda Silva – a suspect in the murder of her father – was released on bail and discharged from the hospital yesterday, said international claims of human rights violations in Sri Lanka "must have some truth in them, if such situations are allowed by the law."

TNA Leader, R. Sampanthan, has denied reports of a split within the Tamil National Alliance (TNA). Speaking at the S.J.V. Chelvanayagam memorial event on Friday (26), he said: "There is much speculation in the media, some of which is unfortunately mischievous, in regard to dissension within the TNA. I wish to categorically say there is no dissension whatsoever, within the TNA on any matter of policy, pertaining to the future of the Tamil people. Every constituent party of the TNA is committed to work in unity, towards a future for the Tamil people marked by equality, self respect, dignity and the fulfilment of their legitimate aspirations."

 

Canadian Foreign Minister John Baird has condemned the decision to allow Sri Lanka to host the Commonwealth heads of government meeting in November as "accommodating evil".

Baird spoke out after his Commonwealth counterparts in London on Friday agreed to press ahead with the meeting despite strong criticism over Colombo's human rights record.

United National Party (UNP) member of the Wayamba Provincial Council, Shantha Sisira Kumara was arrested by the Chilaw Police for allegedly attacking UNP MP Palitha Range Bandara’s vehicle.

The incident occurred in the protest that was carried out in the Chilaw Town last night against the hike in electricity tariffs.