Maithripala Sirisena

Image: Once allies became enimies — President Maithripala Sirisena, right, with Ranil Wickremesinghe, whom he has sought to oust as prime minister   © Reuters. Preaching to others while lifting a supercilious finger at inequities patently becoming apparent in the return of the Rajapaksas to seats of power in Sri Lanka, the most recent of […]

Image: Remains of two UN peacekeepers killed in Mali arrive in Sri Lanka. His Excellency Maithripala Sirisena President of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka Presidential Residence Paget Road Colombo 07 Your Excellency, Re: His Excellency the President’s Statement in the Parliament about the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka. We have been made aware of […]

The allegations against the Hindu correspondent Meera Srinivasan by the government and its supporters regarding her reportage about a statement made at the cabinet meeting go beyond the right of reply and have become a threat violating the media freedom and freedom of expression, the Free Media Movement observes. The Hindu newspaper has published a news report, under […]

Image: Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena at a seminar in Colombo on October 11, 2018.   | Photo Credit: AFP. Prime Minister Narendra Modi unaware of plan, Mr. Sirisena tells Cabinet meeting. In a move that might seriously impair Indo-Lanka relations, Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena on Tuesday accused India’s Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) of plotting […]

ECONOMYNEXT – Sri Lanka’s President Maithripala Sirisena shocked his cabinet Tuesday by accusing neighbouring India of plotting to assassinate him on the eve of Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe’s visit to New Delhi, a ministerial source said. A visibly upset Sirisena accused his senior coalition partner, the United National Party (UNP), of not taking an alleged […]

President Sirisena’s second act of defection, if it were to happen at all, will be very different from his first act four years ago. The defection on 21 November 2014 was historic, heroic and dramatic. The likely second defection will be none of that, but unheroic, undramatic and opportunistic. There is more than speculation about […]

18 September 2018. “This time President Sirisena’s sword is nearing his own neck; not mere smoke flooding his eyes.” Penchant for playing with fire President Gamaralalage Sirisena has always had a penchant for playing with fire. He did fire-play at the local government elections when he made a disastrous U-turn and went round country blasting […]

At 3.30 am on September 10, Admiral Ravindra Wijeguneratne, the country’s highest ranking military official, boarded a Qatar Airways flight bound for Singapore. The Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) was travelling overseas to attend the 208th National Day celebrations in Mexico, according to his Office. The trouble was, September 10 was also the day Admiral […]

Image:Forensic archaeologists were brought in after building workers unearthed human remains. By Anbarasan Ethirajan, BBC News, Mannar.  Experts in northern Sri Lanka are trying to identify the remains of dozens of bodies in a mass grave in the country’s former war zone. So far the skeletal remains of more than 90 people have been unearthed in […]

Image : Lankaenews Editor Sandaruwan Senadheera and Sri Lanka President Maithripala Sirisena (onlinka news) (17 June 2018) The Sunday Times stands by story of arrest and deportation of Lankae-News Editor. The President’s Media Unit has responded to the front page report in the Sunday Times last week, that President Maithripala Sirisena urged British High Commissioner James […]

Lucien Rajakarunanayake. Come Wednesday night, politics will take a whole new narrative in the post-No Confidence action. The figuring of parliament certainly shows a success for Ranil Wickremesinghe, but our politics is so corrupt that even the best figures could be twisted by the powers of politics and money. Let’s not forget that the defeat […]

1 February, 2018: Leaders in health, politics and development have accepted to participate in the first-ever WHO Independent Global High-level Commission on Noncommunicable Diseases (NCDs), which aims to identify and propose bold and practical ways to curb the world’s leading causes of death and illness. The Commission was announced in 2017 by Dr Tedros Adhanom […]

  By Arjuna Ranawana. When President Maithripala Sirisena took office three years ago he voluntarily surrendered most of the powers of the executive presidency to the Prime Minister and Parliament, and supported a reduction in the term of office of the President from 6 to 5 years. It was a key part of the Reform […]

Image: President Sirisena who promised to do away with Executive Presidency in front of late Maduluwawe thero’s body now wants to continue for six years in his office. (credit: Daily News) Although President Sirisena has very clearly said that the term of president should be 5 years, now he has requested the Supreme Court of […]

Image: JSC Rosoboronexport. Muhammed Fazi. “The lobby is the army of the plutocracy” – William Graham Sumner. The last time when warnings of icebergs ahead went unheeded, the iconic Titanic ran aground with two-third of its passengers in chilly waters off the Atlantic Ocean. And more than a century later, the ‘Captain of the Sri Lankan […]

“If there are undue criticism and complaints against the decisions taken by me to stop corruption and fraud, I am ready to leave all positions and join the people to continue the struggle” says President Maithripala Sirisena. He was speaking at a public meeting held today (Nov. 24) in Nikaveratiya. “As the government of SLFP […]

Image:Police tackle Tamil demonstrators showing black flags to Sirisena in Jaffna, Photo: Tamil Guardian. P K Balachandran. Elections to the Sri Lankan local bodies and Provincial Councils are due in 2018. But President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe heading the Yahapalanaya or Good Governance regime in Colombo, not prepared for it. The lack […]

President Maithripala Sirisena called upon the international community to seriously consider the tremendous progress made by the government towards reconciliation, restoration of democratic freedoms, human rights and the rule of law and extend the fullest support to the slow, but the steady forward march of Sri Lanka to build a progressive, democratic, free and equal […]

Image: President Sirisena addressing the media heads and Editors. (Credit:PMD) PMD News.Wednesday August 30th, 2017. My commitment is to build SLFP as a clean, uncorrupt and principled party that gives leadership to the nation – President President Maithripala Sirisena said he is totally dedicated and committed to build the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) as a […]

Image:A participant at the public rally held on 15 Aug 2017 in Colombo to pressure government to implement its promises holing a booklet on ” Lets Support for a new constitution needed.”  (Friday Forum) This Government has been in office for two years, and its agenda seems increasingly disconnected from the hopes and expectations of those […]

Image: Shall we finish Sirisena? is that what Ranil asking?  Cabinet meeting bombshell exposes widening crack in National Unity Government; SLFP and UNP at crossroads amid reports of PC polls this year Sirisena wants to bring the Rajapaksas to book; but questions about how far he could go; Police say some important arrests are on the cards […]

PTI . The commission has urged the president “to take all the necessary actions against the instigators and perpetrators of violence and hate speech targeting the Muslim community”. An independent human rights watchdog has urged Sri Lanka President Maithripala Sirisena to tackle the alleged hate crime attacks from Buddhist extremist groups targeting the country’s minority […]

Image courtesy of  Narendramodi.in. MAYA MIRCHANDANI. This week, Sri Lanka is “Dhammadvipa”, the island of Buddhist philosophy, as it celebrates United Nations Vesak Day to mark the birth, enlightenment and death of Lord Buddha on Friday. There have been fourteen international celebrations, but this is Sri Lanka’s first time as host, even though it was instrumental […]

Image form Sri Lanka president’s media division shows the symbol of hammer and sickle as back ground to his may day message.  Meera Srinivasan.  One would have thought that political parties here would use this year’s May Day platform to reach out to agitating contractual workers or government doctors. But Tuesday’s rallies turned out be almost […]

By K. Ratnayake . Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena has called upon Field Marshal Sarath Fonseka to resign from the government’s ministry and return to the position of army commander. In a bid to “discipline the country,” Fonseka would be head of the country’s three armed forces for two years. Cabinet spokesman Rajitha Senaratne announced […]

Staff reporter of the Daily Mirror in his weekly column says that Sri Lanka Freedom Party led by president Sirisena is contemplating to leave the Unity government. By this September the  Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the two parties comes to an end. “The timeline, stipulated for governing together, will lapse in September making way […]

Image: Members of the CTF with president Sirisena. ( CTF face book photo) A face book post by the Consultation Task Force on Reconciliation Mechanisms (CTF) after having met president Sirisena says that ” the President clearly stated the prioritisation of Constitutional Reform over Transitional Justice”. This implies that the Transitional Justice process will take […]

Image: Is Sirisena a lair? Health Minister Dr Rajitha Senaratne, apparently contradicting what President Maithripala Sirisena said on Wednesday that he threw away a cabinet paper aimed at legalising homosexuality in Sri Lanka, yesterday told Parliament that there was never such a move. “There was never a move to legalize homosexuality or prostitution,” the minister said responding to a […]

There was a time when we were too ashamed to admit that we voted for Mahinda Rajapaksa. Even though we believed in all he stood for and the path he wanted to create toward a new Sri Lanka when we did vote for him. Just over a month ago a General Physician, whom I had […]

Ranga Jayasuriya. Few institutions in this country are as vilified as the executive presidency. The SLFP has been campaigning to abolish it since the very first day it was introduced under the 1978 Constitution. However, after they were elected to power, SLFP leaders did anything but abolishing the executive presidency. Chandrika Kumaratunga won a landmark […]