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Vigneswaran backs president, wants monks not to interfere

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Sri Lanka President Ranil Wickremesinghe has a clear vision for the country which must be supported and the Buddhist clergy must stay out of the reconciliation process, Jaffna district MP and former Northern Provincial Council Chief Minister C V Vigenswaran said.

Responding to questions by reporters on his way out of parliament on Wednesday February 08, Vigneswaran said the president’s throne speech delivered that morning was good.

“I welcome it,” he said.

In his speech, President Wickremesinghe reiterated a pledge to fully implement the 13th amendment to the constitution, which has drawn fiery opposition from nationalist Buddhist monks.

A group of monks, some of whom are known to hold hardline positions, had gathered outside the parliament complex Wednesday morning protesting the proposed implementation of the 13th amendment.

A video of one of the monks setting fire to a copy of the amendment was widely circulated.

Asked to comment on the monks’ protest, Vigenswaran likened it to a similar intervention in 1958 when a group of monks forced then Prime Minister S W R D Bandaranaike to abrogate an agreement reached with Illankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi (ITAK) leader S J V Chelvanayagam. The pact was on the creation of a series of regional councils to provide some level of autonomy to the Tamil minority.

Bandaranaike famously tore the agreement to pieces after vehement protest by the monks.

“Aiyo, it was the monks that in 1958 did the same thing and created a problem,” said Vigneswaran.

“Monks must not interfere with these things. They think they alone can save the country and give good [unclear] to the country,” said the MP.

President Wickremesinghe has repeatedly stated that he plans a full implementation of the amendment.

The 13th amendment to Sri Lanka’s constitution emerged from the controversial Indo-Lanka Accord of 1987 as a purported solution to the worsening ethnic conflict, four years after war broke out. Provincial councils came in the wake of this amendment, though land and police powers have yet to be devolved to the provinces as originally envisioned. Both Sinhalese and Tamil nationalists have historically opposed the amendment, the former claiming it devolved too much, the latter complaining it didn’t devolve enough.

A full implementation of the amendment will see land and police powers devolved to the provinces, a development that is not likely to garner support from Sri Lanka’s more nationalist-oriented parties including sections of the ruling Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP).

(economynext.com)

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Several showers expected today

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Several spells of showers will occur in the Western, Sabaragamuwa and North-western provinces and in Nuwara-Eliya, Kandy, Galle and Matara districts today (July 03), the Department of Meteorology said.

Showers or thundershowers may occur at a few places in the Uva province and in Ampara and Batticaloa districts during the afternoon or night.

Meanwhile, fairly strong winds of about 30-40 kmph can be expected at times over Western slopes of the central hills and in Northern, North-central and North-western provinces and in Trincomalee and Hambantota districts.

The general public is kindly requested to take adequate precautions to minimize damages caused by temporary localized strong winds and lightning during thundershowers.

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Kahawatte OIC transferred

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The Officer-in-Charge (OIC) of the Kahawatte Police has been transferred to the Jaffna Police Division to facilitate the investigation into the youth who was shot dead on June 30 in Kahawatte, Police said.

A 22-year-old youth died while another was critically injured in a shooting incident in the Yainna area of Kahawatte.

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List of families eligible for ‘Aswesuma’ Phase 2, released

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The list of eligible families selected for the second phase of the ‘Aswesuma’ welfare benefit allowance has been officially released.

The list has been displayed on the notice boards of all Divisional Secretariat offices and Grama Niladhari officers as well as in the offices of the relevant field officers in charge of the subject. It has also been published on the official website of the Welfare Benefits Board, (www.wbb.gov.lk).

Furthermore, applicants who believe there is an error or any changes in the information provided during the second stage of data collection, and whose names are not included in the list of eligible candidates, have the opportunity to submit an appeal.

Additionally, individuals who submitted initial applications for ‘Aswesuma’ Phase 2 but were not visited by a government field officer for housing data collection are also eligible to appeal.

Before filing an appeal, all applicants are advised to review the information recorded about their households in the IWMS database during the housing data collection process.

Appeals and objections can be submitted through the official website by accessing the Appeals and Objections section. For further assistance, applicants are also advised to visit their nearest ‘Vidatha’ Resource Centre when submitting appeals and objections online.

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