Sri Lanka News Updates with Discussions

Leader : SF
Co-Deputy Leaders: Anoma, Arjuna

Moka awath ochchara thamai...

rata kaala yanawa

A recent Gallup poll showed that Sri Lanka was among the Asian countries with the highest approval rating for its Chief Executive with 91% of Lankans approving of President Mahinda Rajapaksa s performance.

Laotians, Cambodians, and Sri Lankans were the most likely to express support for their leaders, with more than nine in 10 saying they approve of their job performance. The 20% approval rating that Pakistanis gave their president was the lowest in the region, the Gallup poll report stated.



The Gallup website reported that economic stability and peace dividends may help explain some of the relatively high approval that leaders of Laos, Cambodia, and Sri Lanka get from their constituentswhile adding that Mahinda Rajapaksa in Sri Lanka may still be benefiting from residents residual euphoria following the 2009 end of the country s 26-year civil war .

Fonseka now a prisoner in the open
Former CJ Sarath N. Silva

Former Chief Justice Sarath Nanda Silva yesterday observed that President Rajapaksa had not granted a full pardon to Gen. Sarath Fonseka.

The presidential pardon had not been backdated to the beginning of his sentence passed by the second military court martial, therefore he had lost his civic rights for seven years, the former Chief Justice said.

Making further observations on the pardon, Silva said when the President exercised his powers to grant a pardon to any prisoner it should not be done as a political act, but done as an act of a State leader.

Sarath Fonseka needed to be pardoned in two cases. They were the High Court conviction in the White Flag case and the second conviction by a military court. He had been fully pardoned from the High Court conviction, but he had not been pardoned from the part of the sentence already served from the second court martial conviction. What he had been pardoned from was the remaining part of the sentence, the ex-CJ said.

As he had not been pardoned from the portion of the sentence he had already served, he was liable to lose his civic rights for the next seven years. Gen. Fonseka had been made a prisoner in the open, he said.

Aiyo ehema kiyanna pea.
Lokka has 91% approval rate now.

Aiyo ehema kiyanna pea.
Lokka has 91% approval rate now.

monawada kiyanne even UN US approve Magodi Regime.

The television rights of the Sri Lankan cricket team s matches for the territory of Sri Lanka have been offered to sports channel Carlton Sports Network (CSN) for three years from 2012 to 2015, Sri Lanka Cricket President Upali Dharmadasa said yesterday.

CSN had been the only bidder for the local TV rights in response to advertisements SLC published in January in local newspapers and also on their website, so the SLC Sponsorship committee which met yesterday decided to grant it to CSN, Dharmadasa added.

Earlier last month, the SLC Executive Committee also approved CSN s bid of Rs. 125 million for the three years.

This comes as a stupendous achievement for a company which is just 15 months old having been incorporated on February 10 last year.

State Television Sri Lanka Rupavahini who had almost enjoyed a monopoly on local TV rights ever since Sri Lanka gained Test status has been notable absentee in the bidding process.

Rupavahini Chairman Mohan Samaranayake admitted they did not make a bid but said that they are still interested in winning the rights.

I have given my instructions regarding this matter to the officers concerned to write to them. I think our Marketing Manager has written to Sri Lanka Cricket, But I am sorry, at the moment I don t know what the reply was from SLC. Probably I can tell that by tomorrow morning, said Samaranayake who explained that they are also interested in the rights.

Rupavahini made a whopping Rs 556 million revenue during last year s cricket world cup having spent only Rs. 143 million to win the rights, and failure to secure SLC s local cricket rights is likely to come as a deadly blow to the loss-making TV giant owned by the government.

The fact that SLC Secretary Nishantha Ranatunga is also the Chief Executive of CSN created a controversy in recent times and the conflict of interest issue also received attention from the Sri Lanka Parliament s Committee On Public Enterprises (COPE) which investigated Sri Lanka Cricket last year.

The dissatisfaction of the Committee was expressed on offering the tender to an organization in which the Secretary of the Cricket Board was functioning as the CEO, stated the COPE report tabled in parliament on December 1 last year.

Last year, the government passed a law that all local television and radio broadcast rights for cricket matches will only be awarded to state media or dedicated sports channels.

CSN interestingly was the only dedicated sports media channel at the time the law was passed in July last year.

CSN first won the local TV rights for Australia s tour of Sri Lanka in June last year.

paw thamai