Sri Lanka President drops assassination bombshell, accuses India
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Sri Lanka President drops assassination bombshell, accuses India
A visibly upset Sirisena accused his senior coalition partner, the United National Party (UNP), of not taking an alleged conspiracy to kill him as well as former secretary to the ministry of defence, Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, seriously.
“The President said that RAW (India’s external intelligence agency, Research and Analysis Wing) was behind the plot,” a minister, who declined to be named, said.
Sirisena also said he was unhappy with the police Criminal Investigation Department (CID) inquiry into the plot and faulted the law and order minister for what he called the “very slow progress of the inquiry.”
A ministerial source said the Prime Minister was unusually assertive at cabinet Tuesday and appeared to be irritated by Sirisena’s barrage against his government. The premier had also retorted in annoyance, much to the surprise of some of the juniors in cabinet.
The alleged plot was disclosed by a paid employee of the presidential secretariat earlier last month. He had also worked as an informant of the police. Based on his testimony, the police have suspended a Deputy Inspector-General Nalaka Silva who is said to have been involved in the alleged assassination plot.
Weeks after the so called whistle blower identified as Namal Kumara went public about the plot to kill Sirisena and Rajapaksa, the president’s office issued a statement denying he was in their pay and called for a separate investigation into his conduct.
However, media reports said the presidential secretariat had issued letters to Namal Kumara confirming his employment with an anti-narcotics task force directly under the president.
Official sources close to the investigation said they have not found any evidence to support Namal Kumara’s claims of a plot, which also involved an Indian national who is residing in Sri Lanka pending an asylum application with the UN agency for refugees.
The ministerial source said the President did not give details of how India was involved in the plot and several cabinet ministers were aghast at his claim. “I think it was uncalled for (to accuse India) because he did not provide any evidence to support his claim,” the source said.
“So far, what we have is the figment of someone’s imagination of an assassination plot,” the source said. “What can now be done is to look at the genesis of this story and how it came about.”
The Presidential Secretariat scheduled a press conference at noon Tuesday to disclose what it called the details of the assassination plot, but cancelled it at the eleventh hour. The President’s former Coordinating Officer and the current Senior Advisor Shiral Lakthilaka was to preside at the press conference.
In the meantime, Gotabhaya Rajapaksa has lodged a formal complaint with the police over media reports of the twin assassination plot. When he was asked if he suspected any credible plan to kill him, the former official had said he was making the complaint to have the media reports investigated.
-East Terminal-
The atmosphere in cabinet had been unpleasant when they were discussing the awarding of the East Terminal of the Colombo port to India, those at the cabinet said. Sirisena is opposed to granting India access to develop the terminal just next to the China-run Colombo International Container Terminal (CICT).
The CICT was at the centre of a diplomatic spat with India during the last year of the Rajapaksa administration when the then government allowed Chinese submarines to dock there without New Delhi being in the loop.
Wickremesinghe travels to New Delhi on Wednesday for talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi to speed up Indian-backed projects in the island, including the East Terminal project.
On the cards is also the development of the currently unused oil tank farm at China Bay in Trincomalee. (COLOMBO, October 16, 2018)
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Re: Sri Lanka President drops assassination bombshell, accuses India
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Re: Sri Lanka President drops assassination bombshell, accuses India
Nodakin apith mun dennatama chande dunnane.කිත්සිරි ද සිල්වා wrote:එකෙක් බීගෙන පන්සල් ගානේ බුල් කියව කියව යනවා අනිකා නොබී බුල් කියව කියව යනවා.
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Re: Sri Lanka President drops assassination bombshell, accuses India
serene wrote:Nodakin apith mun dennatama chande dunnane.කිත්සිරි ද සිල්වා wrote:එකෙක් බීගෙන පන්සල් ගානේ බුල් කියව කියව යනවා අනිකා නොබී බුල් කියව කියව යනවා.
අනේ මන්දා, අපිත් උන්ගේ බුල් අහගෙන, උන්වම අයෙත් ගේනවා.
ඇහුවහම කියනවා, 'දන්න යකා හොඳයි' කියලා.
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Re: Sri Lanka President drops assassination bombshell, accuses India
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Re: Sri Lanka President drops assassination bombshell, accuses India
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Re: Sri Lanka President drops assassination bombshell, accuses India
Very pertinent.කිත්සිරි ද සිල්වා wrote:The usual "No Alternative" is just an excuse given by those who are not in favour of positive change.
https://www.ted.com/talks/julia_galef_why_you_think_you_re_right_even_if_you_re_wrong/up-next
Should we be Scout or Soldier
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Re: Sri Lanka President drops assassination bombshell, accuses India
Do we have that kind of spine is the Golden question.
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Re: Sri Lanka President drops assassination bombshell, accuses India
ECONOMYNEXT – India has sought clarifications from Sri Lanka President Maithripala Sirisena over his reported remarks that India’s external intelligence agency was plotting to assassinate him, officials said.
Indian High Commissioner Taranjit Singh Sandhu called on Sirisena on Wednesday, a day after reports of his claim that the Research and Analysis Wing, India’s foreign spy outfit, had planned an assassination.
“The High Commissioner of India called on the President this morning and during the meeting, all matters were clarified and bilateral relations were reassured,” the President’s Media Division said in a statement.
It said the President, at a cabinet meeting on Tuesday, had not mentioned any involvement of an Indian intelligence service in the alleged plot to assassinate him.
“At the said Cabinet Meeting yesterday, the discussions have taken place on the alleged plot to assassinate the President. The President emphasized the need to conduct a comprehensive investigation into the alleged assassination plot,” it said.
Among other subjects discussed at “various times during the said Cabinet Meeting, was the development of the East terminal of the Colombo port. The president highlighted the importance of Sri Lanka having a deep sea port terminal in the interest of the national economy.”
Ministers who declined to be named said Sirisena was against a government plan to involve India in the development of the East Terminal of the Colombo port despite pledges to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
While the President’s office tried to “clarify” reports of the heated exchange and the allegations against India at Tuesday’s cabinet meeting, the Foreign Ministry issued an outright denial saying media reports were “baseless and false.”
The foreign ministry said Sri Lanka shared intelligence with India and that relations were “strong.”
“It is disappointing therefore that matters of this nature have become the subject of distorted and erroneous media reports taking the President’s remarks out of context…,” the ministry said without saying what those remarks were.
However, multiple ministerial sources who were at the meeting Tuesday had confirmed Sirisena’s outburst against India as well as the open confrontation with Prime Minister Wickremesinghe over the East Terminal issue.
A visibly upset Sirisena had accused his senior coalition partner, the United National Party (UNP), of not taking the alleged conspiracy to kill him as well as former secretary to the ministry of defence, Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, seriously.
“The President said that RAW was behind the plot,” a minister, who declined to be named, said.
Sirisena also said he was unhappy with the police Criminal Investigation Department (CID) inquiry into the plot and faulted the Law and Order minister for what he called the “very slow progress of the inquiry.”
The alleged plot was initially disclosed by a paid employee of the presidential secretariat earlier last month. He had also worked as an informant of the police. Based on his testimony, the police have suspended Deputy Inspector-General Nalaka Silva who is said to have been involved in the plot.
Weeks after the so called whistle blower identified as Namal Kumara went public about the plot to kill Sirisena and Rajapaksa, the president’s office issued a statement denying he was in their pay and called for a separate investigation into his conduct.
However, media reports said the presidential secretariat had issued letters to Namal Kumara confirming his employment with an anti-narcotics task force directly under the president.
Official sources close to the investigation said they have not found any evidence to support Namal Kumara’s claims, which also involved an Indian national who is residing in Sri Lanka pending an asylum application with the UN agency for refugees.
The Presidential Secretariat scheduled a press conference at noon Tuesday to disclose what it called the details of the assassination plot, but cancelled it at the eleventh hour and rescheduled for Thursday. (COLOMBO, October 17, 2018)
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1.Math paththaren dekke.
2.mata eda 10 wenakota ninda giye ne. Mama heenen meka kiwwe.
3.Mama ehema ekak kiwwe nane.
4.aluth Tom pachayak.
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Re: Sri Lanka President drops assassination bombshell, accuses India
The First one is the Super Rich and they do not care who is in power because they know money is not evil as many say openly but willing to sleep with it behind the screen,
The Second is the Middle class and although they do not have much "Move or Shake" ability, yet they have loads of networks so they can get their things done using those networks.
The Last is the Poor and they have no alternative but to settle for a menial job in the state or semi-state sector or a few thousand rupees gifts are good enough.
The Third is the majority and they are in a vicious cycle with no escape in sight.
The Invisible wrote:So what are our alternatives? We are responsible for all these isn't it? What should be our next action for the next decade, giving them another chance to torture us or showing that we are not cattle anymore.
Do we have that kind of spine is the Golden question.
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Re: Sri Lanka President drops assassination bombshell, accuses India
කිත්සිරි ද සිල්වා wrote:There are three types of people.
The First one is the Super Rich and they do not care who is in power because they know money is not evil as many say openly but willing to sleep with it behind the screen,
The Second is the Middle class and although they do not have much "Move or Shake" ability, yet they have loads of networks so they can get their things done using those networks.
The Last is the Poor and they have no alternative but to settle for a menial job in the state or semi-state sector or a few thousand rupees gifts are good enough.
The Third is the majority and they are in a vicious cycle with no escape in sight.The Invisible wrote:So what are our alternatives? We are responsible for all these isn't it? What should be our next action for the next decade, giving them another chance to torture us or showing that we are not cattle anymore.
Do we have that kind of spine is the Golden question.
Agree with zero arguments. So the future fate is clear isn't it?
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Re: Sri Lanka President drops assassination bombshell, accuses India
AFP - Sri Lanka's president has heightened his security following reports of an assassination plot involving an alleged Indian intelligence operative, his advisor said Thursday.
Maithripala Sirisena took the undisclosed security measures after a police informant claimed that a senior officer discussed with him plans to kill the president, advisor Shiral Lakthilaka said.
"The president has taken the threat very seriously," Lakthilaka told reporters in Colombo. "The president's security has been increased."
Police in Sri Lanka said they were still investigating the alleged plot and had detained an Indian national.
Sirisena had "told the cabinet of local media reports of an Indian intelligence agency being involved," Lakthilaka said. "He did not name the agency."
But Sirisena's office has denied laying blame for the plot on the Indian government, following earlier media reports to that effect in Sri Lanka and India which quoted unnamed ministers in Colombo.
Both Sirisena and Indian Premier Narendra Modi spoke on the phone on Wednesday, with the Sri Lankan leader "categorically" rejecting reports he had accused New Delhi of involvement, Modi's office said.
Sirisena's predecessor Mahinda Rajapakse had accused India's external spy agency, the Research and Analysis Wing, of engineering his defeat at the January 2015 election, a charge New Delhi has repeatedly denied.
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Re: Sri Lanka President drops assassination bombshell, accuses India
ECONOMYNEXT – Detectives investigating the alleged Indian-backed plot to assassinate President Maithripala Sirisena have failed to uncover any incriminating conversations and have called in Chinese expertise for mobile phone analysis, official sources said.
The man who exposed the alleged plot, a former air force and army deserter Namal Kumara, had told investigators that his recordings of phone conversations with a police Deputy Inspector General had been mysteriously deleted.
Kumara called a press conference in early September to claim that he had in his possession recordings of his conversations with DIG Nalaka Silva, the then head of the Terrorist Investigation Division.
“Namal Kumara has not provided any of the recordings that relate to any conspiracy to assassinate the president,” a source close to the investigation said. “He says Indian intelligence may have planted some bug in his phone to erase those recordings.”
Detectives have only been able to identify that the voice of some of the other recordings are of Kumara and Silva, but nothing in those conversations relates to a plot to kill Sirisena.
“The authorities have now decided to send Namal Kumara’s phone to Chinese experts to analyse and recover any data that may have been deleted,” the source said.
Sirisena’s reported remarks blaming India’s Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) of planning to kill him had caused concern in New Delhi. Sirisena telephoned Modi on Thursday to smooth things over while Colombo issued three denials which were at variance with each other.
The Sri Lankan Foreign ministry issued a statement rejecting media reports of Tuesday’s cabinet meeting as “baseless and false.” However, within minutes, the President’s office issued a statement saying he had mentioned a plot to assassinate him, but had not mentioned any involvement of an Indian intelligence service.
The President’s Senior Advisor Shiral Lakthilaka a day later said the President did refer to an Indian intelligence service being involved, but that he was only quoting local media reports.
Lakthilaka said sections of the government were taking the assassination plot too lightly and were questioning the credibility of the virtual complainant, Namal Kumara, without paying attention to the substance of his claims.
However, on at least one count Namal Kumara failed the truth test even by his standard. Namal Kumara had spoken of a coalition between Sirisena and former secretary to the defence ministry Gotabhaya Rajapaksa. Lakthilaka said it was a figment of some people's imagination, there was no such plan to forge an alliance with Rajapaksa.
The conspiracy to assassinate Sirisena hinged on an assumption that Sirisena was going to contest the 2019 presidential election following an alliance with Rajapaksa.
“There is no such coalition and any such arrangement, that is a fabrication,” Lakthilaka told reporters on Thursday. His associate, lawyer Sarath Kongahage, said the Sirisena-Rajapaksa alliance was first mentioned by DIG Nalaka Silva.
Despite an in-depth investigation, sleuths have been unable to find any credible assassination plot and are now relying on China’s help to analyse Namal Kumara’s phone. They have also found several contradictions in statements given by Namal Kumara.
He had publicly claimed that an underworld figure known as Makandure Madush was to be contracted for the assassination, but told investigators that it was to be done by an Indian national who is now in custody.
Namal Kumara had claimed he was aware that a sniper weapon was to be used, but there was no indication of such a firearm in the hands of the Indian in custody.
However, it is reported that the TID had acquired two light machine guns in 2016. They are in proper legal custody and have been sent to the Government Analyst to check if those weapons had been used recently.
The authorities are even more mystified by Namal Kumara's declaration in bank records that he was employed by the Presidential Secretariat, a claim denied by the president’s office. (COLOMBO, October 21, 2018)
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Re: Sri Lanka President drops assassination bombshell, accuses India
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