June 03, Colombo (LNW): The toll of casualties resulting from the ongoing adverse weather conditions across the island has risen to 12 as of today (03), Defence State Minister Pramitha Bandara Tennakoon confirmed.
Moreover, Tennakoon stated that five individuals remain unaccounted for due to multiple incidents triggered by the extreme weather, encompassing floods and mudslides.
In addition to the fatalities and missing persons, the State Minister disclosed that 23,707 individuals from 2,313 affected families have sought refuge in relief centres established nationwide.
June 03, Colombo (LNW): Former Minister Tissa Karalliyadde, previously serving as the Medawachchiya Constituency Organiser of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP), has announced his affiliation with the Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB).
Karalliyadde, a seasoned politician, previously held the position of Sri Lanka’s Cabinet Minister of Child Development and Women’s Affairs.
He also represented the Anuradhapura District as a Member of Parliament.
Alongside his political career, Karalliyadde is professionally recognised as an Agriculturist.
In light of his new alliance, Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa has appointed Karalliyadde as the co-organiser of SJB’s Medawachchiya Constituency.
June 03, Colombo (LNW): Breeda Jayasuriya, the mother of the renowned Sri Lankan cricketer Sanath Jayasuriya, has passed away at the age of 80.
Her demise was declared in a private hospital in Matara, her hometown.
Sanath Jayasuriya, who was accompanying the Sri Lankan cricket team in the USA as a consultant coach, will promptly return to Sri Lanka upon receiving the news.
Sri Lanka Cricket has confirmed his return to provide support to his family during this challenging period.
The funeral is scheduled to take place on Wednesday in Matara.
Breeda Jayasuriya was widely acknowledged for her unwavering support towards her son’s distinguished cricket career, which propelled him to international acclaim.
June 03, Colombo (LNW): The Sri Lanka Police have implemented multiple emergency hotlines to provide aid to those affected by the prevailing adverse weather conditions.
To ensure prompt assistance, the Police have set up a dedicated Special Operations Room, reachable via the following emergency hotlines:
June 03, Colombo (LNW): The Welipenna interchange on the Southern Expressway, previously shuttered due to inundation, has been reinstated for traffic, confirmed the Expressway Operation Maintenance and Management Division of the Road Development Authority (RDA).
Following adverse weather conditions leading to floods, the closure of this crucial interchange disrupted transport flow.
However, efforts by RDA personnel have ensured its prompt reopening, allowing for the resumption of smooth vehicular movement along this vital expressway route.
This development comes as a relief to commuters and businesses reliant on the Southern Expressway for efficient connectivity.
June 03, Colombo (LNW): The Colombo Port in April experienced a deceleration in its transshipment volume growth, shifting to single-digit figures after four consecutive months of double-digit expansion, a report by Daily Mirror disclosed.
This slowdown was influenced by disruptions in the Red Sea attributed to Yemen’s Houthi rebels.
During the month, transshipment volumes at the port increased by 8.1 per cent year-on-year (YoY), amounting to 525,936 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs). This marks the lowest growth rate observed since November of the previous year.
However, the overall container throughput at the Port of Colombo saw a 10.2 per cent YoY growth, reaching 626,926 TEUs, primarily driven by escalating imports.
Import container (laden) volumes surged by 22.7 per cent YoY to 36,457 TEUs in April, while export container (laden) volumes also experienced a rise of 6.6 per cent YoY, totaling 21,816 TEUs.
Conversely, restowing volumes at the port recorded a substantial increase of 60.9 per cent YoY, reaching 19,957 TEUs during the month.
The Colombo International Container Terminal (CICT), the port’s sole fully operational deep container terminal, managed to handle 268,513 TEUs throughout the year, marking a 7.8 per cent increase from the previous year.
Meanwhile, the Jaya Container Terminal (JCT) managed by the Sri Lanka Ports Authority, along with its partially operational East Container Terminal (ECT), jointly handled 184,286 TEUs in April, reflecting a 3 per cent YoY growth.
Furthermore, container volumes processed by the South Asia Gateway Terminal (SAGT) notably increased by 23.5 per cent YoY, reaching 174,130 TEUs during the month.
April witnessed 312 vessel calls at the Port of Colombo, a decrease from the 345 vessels reported in the corresponding period of the previous year.
These calls included 276 container cargo ships, five conventional vessels, and 16 other cargo ships.
“To know your future, you must know your past. – George Santayana”
June 1st evokes the scar of the Burning of Jaffna Public Library in 1981, the irreplaceable asset of Tamil people. This calculated arsenic destruction was one of the major cultural genocides against Tamil people masterminded by Sri Lankan state to destroy historic evidence of Tamil peoples’ rare books and manuscripts that are not available elsewhere.
BTF’S INITIATIVE WITH THE ADVANT OF SRI LANKA ACCOUNTABILITY PROJECT (SLAP)
With the advent of SLAP based on HRC 46/1 and HRC 52/1 of the UNHRC Resolutions achieved by the BTF’s relentless efforts in UNHRC Geneva, the Evidence Collection for SLAP is not limited to the last phase of the war, but is extended even up to the year 1948, when Sri Lanka became independent. This implies that the collection of evidence on “Burning of the Jaffna Public Library” plays an important element among much other crucial evidence. BTF has already submitted documentation with credible evidence in this regard.
BACKGROUND
The Jaffna Public Library was the pride of invaluable asset of Tamil people, not only for those who lived in Jaffna peninsula, but also for academics and research-scholars from all around the world. With a modest beginning in 1933, it grew to become a repository of significant Tamil palm leaf manuscripts, original copies of regionally important historic documents in the contested political history of Sri Lanka and newspapers that were published hundreds of years ago in the Jaffna peninsula. It thus became a place of historic and symbolic importance to the Tamil people.
On 01 June 1981, Jaffna Public Library was reduced to ash by the premeditated willful and malicious act of then Sri Lankan government with the presence of two cabinet ministers Gamini Dissanayake and Cyril Matthew were stationed in Jaffna to oversee the election process and campaign. They abetted the police forces and thugs especially brought from south and housed in Duraiappa Stadium under the guise of election duty of the District Council election on June 04th. Duraiappa Stadium is situated right across a road of Jaffna Public Library is and was adjacent to the location of Jaffna Police Station; all were in the same bordering vicinity separated by a road; at that time.
At around 10pm on 01 June 1981, Jaffna’s then Municipal Commissioner Mr. C V K Sivagnanam received a call from Mrs Yogendra Duraisamy, the wife of then Government Agent of Jaffna District and their house was within the vicinity of the library, telling him that there were smoke and fire coming around the library and asked him to check up. When he contacted his staff over the phone, and they told him that the library has been set on fire.
Please find former Municipal Commissioner Mr C V K Sivagnanam’s testimony as video statement (https://youtu.be/jzQ_6Wt0wew)
For Tamils, the devastated library became a symbol of cultural genocide. The attack was seen as an assault on their aspirations, the value of learning and traditions of academic achievement.
Thereafter, a committee was appointed by the President J R Jayawardena, and one-man committee was headed by Kingly Wickramasooriya, who was the DIG, came to Jaffna and collected evidence from several high-ranking officials and witnesses in Jaffna, including then Jaffna Municipal Commissioner Mr. C V K Sivagnanam, who was threatened to be shot by the police by a road barricade, when Mr. Sivagnanam was rushing in his car after receiving a phone call about Jaffna Library was on fire. Mr. Sivagnanam had seen the burning library and the policemen in the library area from the location where he was stopped by the police.
Despite of appointing a committee by the government at that time and up to now no action have been taken by any successive Sri Lankan government came to power thereafter, to grant justice to the heinous crime committed by the perpetrators by burning the cultural treasure of Tamil people.
This shows the clear evidence of Tamil genocidal intent of the Sri Lankan state’s policy that it hitherto continues.
TAMIL PEOPLE RIGORUSLY ENDEAVOURED TO RETAIN THE RUINED LIBRARY AS A MEMORIAL OF STRUCTURAL GENOCIDE OF TAMIL PEOPLES’ INVALUABLE INHERITANCE AND TO BUILD ANOTHER IDENTICAL ONE NEARBY
Nonetheless, their endeavor was shattered when subsequent Sri Lankan governments tacitly planned and refurbished the ruined Jaffna Library building with the motive of eradicating all evidence of their genocidal act. Despite the fascia of the library is restored, the acrimony of destroying irrecoverable invaluable manuscripts, original copies of historic documents and newspapers will continue to traumatise Tamil people as long as they live.
Tamil peoples’ will to retain and preserve the charred building as a living memory of structural genocide; a part of the atrocity crimes being continuously inflicted on them, has also been deliberately denied.
During one of the truce negotiations between Chandrika Kumaratunga’s government and the LTTE in 1994 – 95, the government of Sri Lanka purposely brought the issue of the Jaffna Public Library and a compromise was reached between the negotiating parties for a new library to be built next to the old one. Subsequently, an architectural design for the new library was submitted by the LTTE representatives to the government negotiators.
Nevertheless, contrary to such a negotiated compromise to retain the burnt library building, President Chandrika Kumaratunga, after militarily occupying the Jaffna district in 1996, undertook to repair & refurbish the old library building, deliberately to erase the scars of the burnt library.
This has been the hallmark of the Sri Lankan state’s structural genocide with the notion of eliminating Tamil people and their historical invaluable records form Sri Lanka’s history. Its enduring psychological scar will continue to traumatise Tamil people as long as they live.
SET FORWARD
· Establishing justice for the loss and suffering that we, Tamil People, hitherto incurred is depending on the outcome of the SLAP report and forthcoming UNHRC Resolutions for taking the perpetrators to an international criminal justice mechanism.
· Founding a permanent political solution for Tamil people with the arbitration of countries like India, the USA, the EU and the UK recognizing the legitimate aspirations of Tamils to live in peace and harmony by precluding the reoccurrence of cycles of violence and genocide inflicted on Tamil people to date.
June 03, Colombo (LNW): The Article IV Consultation and second review under the Extended Fund Facility (EFF) for Sri Lanka are slated on the agenda of the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) Executive Board meeting scheduled for June 12, Finance State Minister Shehan Semasinghe announced.
In a communication shared on ‘X’ Semasinghe stated, “The session will assess Sri Lanka’s economic policies and reform progress.”
The Article IV consultation and second review under the Extended Fund Facility (EFF) for Sri Lanka are on the IMF Board meeting agenda for June 12. The session will evaluate Sri Lanka's economic policies and reform progress. We look forward for continued support of all countries…
He further expressed Sri Lanka’s anticipation for continued support from all nations to facilitate a successful review, aiming to unlock the third tranche.
This, he noted, would bolster economic stability, growth, and reform initiatives.
Julie Kozack, Director of IMF Communications, previously disclosed that IMF staff and Sri Lankan authorities had reached a staff-level agreement on economic policies, marking progress towards concluding the second review of the four-year EFF-supported program and the 2024 Article IV Consultation.
“Upon approval by IMF Management and completion by the IMF Executive Board, Sri Lanka is poised to access approximately US$337 million in financing,” Kozack added.
June 03, Colombo (LNW): The ongoing adverse weather conditions across the island have resulted in at least 10 fatalities, the Disaster Management Centre (DMC) has confirmed.
Additionally, five individuals remain missing, while 20 others have sustained injuries due to various incidents prompted by the inclement weather.
Reports indicate that residents from 177 Divisional Secretariat divisions across 20 districts have been affected by the adverse weather, with a total of 36,504 individuals, representing 9,764 families, impacted.
Of these, 5,174 people have sought refuge in 38 designated safe shelters.
Moreover, there have been 28 instances of complete property damage and 4,119 cases of partial damage to houses reported.
The most substantial rainfall recorded within the past 24 hours, ending at 6:00 p.m., measured 377 mm in the Pallewela area of the Rathnapura district.
The Department of Meteorology has forecasted that many regions in the country may experience rainfall exceeding 150 mm today.
Meanwhile, the Irrigation Department has issued a statement indicating that the flood situation in several low-lying areas of the Nilwala River basin may persist, as outlined in an earlier announcement today (03).
Although floodwaters are receding in Pasgoda, Kotapola, Pitabeddara, and Akurassa, areas linked to the Nilwala River basin, flooding may persist until the end of the day in Athuraliya, Malimbada, Kamburupitiya, Thihagoda, Devinuwara, and Matara Divisional Secretariat Divisions.
As the water level continues to rise downstream, there is a possibility of slight overflow from the BR5 embankment, commonly known as ‘Galbund’, within approximately two hours.
However, the Irrigation Department assures that the overflow does not pose significant flood risks as the areas protected by the Nilwala flood protection dykes currently do not contain substantial water levels.
June 03, Colombo (LNW):The prevailing showery conditions are expected to continue in the south-western part of the island today. the Department of Meteorology said in its daily weather forecast today (03).
Showers or thundershowers will occur at times in Western, Sabaragamuwa, Central, Southern and North-western provinces.
Heavy showers about 100mm are likely at some places in Western and Sabaragamuwa provinces and in Galle and Matara districts.
Showers or thundershowers may occur at several places elsewhere of the island in the evening or night.
General public is kindly requested to take adequate precautions to minimise damages caused by temporary localised strong winds and lightning during thundershowers.
Marine Weather:
Condition of Rain:
Showers or thundershowers will occur at times in the sea areas off coast extending from Puttalam to Pottuvil via Colombo, Galle and Matara. Showers or thundershowers may occur at a few places in the other sea areas around the island.
Winds:
Winds will be south-westerly and wind speed will be (30-40) kmph. Wind speed may increase up to (55-65) kmph at times in the sea areas off the coasts extending from Kankasanthurai to Puttalam via Mannar and from Hambanthota to Pottuvil, and wind speed may increase up to 50 kmph at times in the sea areas off the coasts extending from in the sea areas off the coasts extending from Galle to Hambanthota via Matara.
State of Sea:
The sea areas off the coasts extending from Kankasanthurai to Puttalam via Mannar, and from Hambanthota to Pottuvil can be very rough at times. The sea areas off the coasts extending from Galle to Hambanthota via Matara can be rough at times. Waves heights may increase (about 2.0–3.0 m) in the sea areas off the coast extending from Kalpitiya to Pottuvil via Colombo, Galle, and Hambantota (this is not for land area). Naval and fishing communities are also requested to be attentive in this regard.Temporarily strong gusty winds and very rough seas can be expected during thundershowers.
