#arrest the Rajapaksas

[vistashr22]

HanUMAN

What’s happening in Sri Lanka?

In late 2019, newly elected President Gotabaya Rajapaksa carried out populist tax cuts, reducing revenues just months before the pandemic devastated the economy, with international flights grounded and successive lockdowns ordered. Remittances from overseas Sri Lankan workers dried up as well as many lost their jobs. Even though Sri Lanka has received credit lines from neighbors like India, it was unable to regularly pay for imports of fuel and essential foods. Making matters worse was Rajapaksa’s pivot in 2021 to organic farming with a ban on chemical fertilizers that triggered farmer protests and saw production of critical tea and rice crops decline.

With foreign-exchange earnings plunging, Sri Lanka struggled to manage its external debt, which had grown in part due to loans from China to fund ambitious infrastructure projects. Policy makers flagged to creditors that Sri Lanka wouldn’t be able to make payments until its debt was restructured, and it was therefore in pre-emptive default, central bank Governor Nandalal Weerasinghe said May 19. A group representing Sri Lanka’s creditors was set up to conduct restructuring talks.

The $81 billion economy is close to bankruptcy, with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine raising global prices for oil and other commodities. Sri Lanka’s growth is slow and inflation is at multi-year highs; Consumer prices rose 54.6% in June from a year earlier, with transport surging 128% from the previous month and food 80% amid acute shortages. Sri Lanka abruptly restricted fuel supplies in late June and encouraged people to stay home. The authorities have raised interest rates, devalued the currency and curbed non-essential imports. But with a meager $2 billion in foreign exchange reserves -- and $7 billion in debt payments due this year -- restoring the country’s economic health is an uphill battle.

After months of refusing to resign, the president fled the country with his wife on July 13. Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, in his capacity as acting president, imposed a state of emergency after protesters stormed some government buildings. Rajapaksa tendered his resignation the next day in Singapore, and lawmakers voted Wickremesinghe in as president a week later. However, he’s also deeply unpopular among the protesters. The emergency rule gives the army and police powers to detain and arrest people. The new president has blamed “fascist” elements for escalating tensions.

The political uncertainty raises more questions about discussions with the International Monetary Fund on a rescue plan. Then-Finance Minister Ali Sabry told parliament in May that any IMF program would take as long as six months to start. He also said it may take two years for the country to emerge from the crisis. The Rajapaksa government had been deeply reluctant to ask for IMF help since it can involve unpopular austerity measures. It also has been seeking aid from India.

The country, off India’s southern tip, has struggled with conflict since gaining independence. Civil war between the Sinhalese-dominated government and the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Elam went on for decades and killed 100,000 people. The war ended in 2009 with a government victory -- and allegations of human rights violations on both sides. There was a lull in violence until the 2019 Easter Sunday suicide bombing attacks, which killed more than 200 people and which the government blamed on a little-known Islamic group. Rajapaksa, a former military officer whom many voters view as a hero of the civil war, was elected president months later. Sri Lanka has also become a battleground in which China and India compete for influence. Rajapaksa and his family members in government shifted the country closer to Beijing.  

Case in hand:

The Sri Lankan government has now appointed a special advisory committee to restore its financial situation. The committee is expected to prepare plans to restore the economy of the country by creating jobs in various sectors, inviting foreign direct investment and MNCs to set up their offices, manufacturing units in the country. A feasible location of at least 2000 acres is to be chosen for this project.

Task in hand:

Acting as the Chief of the Redevelopment Advisory Committee (RAC) you are required to create a plan for setting up an industrial/corporate hub in the country with an aim to revive the economy. Prepare the following:

Detailed summary of the present financial and employment scenario

Directives for the army and police to reduce police brutality

Unconventional Recruitment Strategy for the RAC

Unconventional Selection Strategy for the RAC

Locational Analysis for setting up the project

Budget for the construction of the project with special emphasis on HR Budget

Compensation strategies and reformed labor policies for workers involved in the development of the project

A pitch for inviting various stakeholders

Press Release for the people of Sri Lanka

Contingency Plan for the project

Deliverables: 

A report of not less than 25 pages

A PPT of not more than 10 slides

Pitch video not exceeding 1 minute.

Press Release Document 

Submission Details:

Deadline: 7:30 AM, 29th September, 2022 Email subject and File name: Hanuman_ECOXX Email Id: vistashr22@gmail.com

P.S. Go all out, we mean it!!!

[hussyknee]

THIS FUCKIN???? TURD????? HAS STILL NOT??? RESIGNED??????

His house has been taken over. His office is overrun. His private residence is surrounded. He had to leave the fucking country. He can't set foot in here even with an armed escort because the people will set on him like dogs. His own party is demanding he step down.

AND HE STILL HASN'T FUCKING RESIGNED???

[news-folds]

Rights groups call for Rajapaksa’s arrest after return to Colombo

Rights groups call for Rajapaksa’s arrest after return to Colombo

Deposed Sri Lankan president Gotabaya Rajapaksa is facing calls for his arrest as he returned to the country after fleeing in the middle of a historic uprising which saw protestors breaking into the presidential house demanding his removal. The 73-year-old former military officer who hails from the powerful Rajapaksa family which has ruled Sri Lanka for decades, spent weeks in Thailand exploring…

[news-tey]

Rights groups call for Rajapaksa’s arrest after return to Colombo

Rights groups call for Rajapaksa’s arrest after return to Colombo

Deposed Sri Lankan president Gotabaya Rajapaksa is facing calls for his arrest as he returned to the country after fleeing in the middle of a historic uprising which saw protestors breaking into the presidential house demanding his removal. The 73-year-old former military officer who hails from the powerful Rajapaksa family which has ruled Sri Lanka for decades, spent weeks in Thailand exploring…

[adminnewstrust24]

Sri Lanka: Demand for arrest of former Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa intensifies, lawyer files petition in court

Sri Lanka: Demand for arrest of former Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa intensifies, lawyer files petition in court

Sri Lanka: The case of violence during the protests in Sri Lanka has now reached the court. A lawyer in the Colombo court filed a petition seeking the arrest of seven people, including the former prime minister. The counsel, in the petition, said that the CID should immediately order the arrest of seven persons, including former Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa. Former Prime Minister Mahinda…

[bharatlivenewsmedia]

Case filed for arrest of former PM Mahinda Rajapaksa, six others in attack on peaceful protesters in Sri Lanka

Case filed for arrest of former PM Mahinda Rajapaksa, six others in attack on peaceful protesters in Sri Lanka

Case filed for arrest of former PM Mahinda Rajapaksa, six others in attack on peaceful protesters in Sri Lanka The personal complaint was lodged before the Colombo Magistrate’s Court where attacks on peaceful protesters outside the prime minister’s residence and near Galle Face were cited. The personal complaint was lodged before the Colombo Magistrate’s Court where attacks on peaceful…

[khaleesiofalicante]

Why are these happening in Sri Lanka?

*takes a deep breath*

We are currently facing a severe economic crisis. Sri Lanka has survived 30 years of civil war, Easter Sunday bomb attacks in 2019 and of course the covid pandemic.

But nothing has ever gotten this bad. Of course, all of the above (and many others) have had a negative impact on our economy. This is not something that happened suddenly. Our economy has been in decline for a long time now.

But the primary cause is our corrupt leadership (As you can see from the arbitrary arrests and curfews being imposed currently).

70% of Sri Lanka's budget is controlled by the Rajapaksa family. By a single family who runs the government.

Our president is Gotabaya Rajapaksa. Our prime minister is Mahinda Rajapaksa (former president). Our finance minister is Basil rajapaksa. Chamal Rajapaksa is the minister of irrigation. They are brothers!

They are more rajapaksas in our parliaments - handling different ministries - including the youth ministry and one of them is a cabinet minister.

Basically, they have been running our country and controlling our budget and basically exploiting the fuck out of us. While many of us knew it was bad, there is nothing we could because they are political majority in the country.

But now they've run us to the fucking ground. We have power cuts lasting up to 13 hours a day. The dollar rate has sky rocketed (from 170 rupees to 330). We have no fuel (hence no electricity). Public transport is basically nonexistent. Schools have closed down. Hospitals are operating at capacity - and without power. There are people - I shit you not - who only eat one meal a day because our cost of living is through the roof. Because we have no foreign currency in the country, we can't import anything because we can't pay for anything. This means we don't have medications, basic food staples and many other things because we important all of this.

In essence, it is a clusterfuck. Biggest in our history.

So, people are really fucking frustrated - and rightly so. There are riots and protests in the streets every day. Journalists and activists are being arbitrarily arrested (and assaulted) under the PTA (prevention of terrorism act) because anyone who speaks against the government is now being labelled as "extremists".

I don't know how or when things are going to get better. It doesn't look like it's going to happen anytime soon because things are really, really bad right now. I only hope the damage will be minimal as we find our way out of this possibly in the next few months (or years).

[merelygifted]

Sri Lanka: 50 injured as protesters try to storm president’s house amid economic crisis | Sri Lanka | The Guardian

Nearly 50 people were injured after authorities used teargas and water cannon to drive back a crowd that stormed the home of Sri Lankan president Gotabaya Rajapaksa, amid anger over the government’s handling of the nation’s deepening economic crisis.

The crisis, the worst in living memory, has caused massive discontent, with people unable to find gas for cooking, medicines, fuel and basic items of food such as milk powder because the country has run out of foreign currency to pay for imported goods.

A crowd of hundreds of people chanted for Rajapaksa and the entire cabinet to resign over his handling of the crisis. Videos circulating on social media showed the protesters shouting “lunatic go home”.

The Rajapaksa family rule the island. The finance minister, prime minister and agriculture minister are the president’s brothers. His nephew is sports minister.

The security forces fired teargas and water cannon to disperse the crowd. Near the presidents’ home in Mirihana, the demonstrators set fire to an army bus and police vehicle.

The violence prompted an overnight curfew, which was lifted on Friday, and the arrests of 45 people. Nearly 50 people, including some journalists, were injured and taken to hospital.

Official sources told AFP that Rajapaksa was not at home during the protest, which was the first to target the president after diesel shortages had sparked demonstrations elsewhere on the island.

The economic meltdown has left the city’s roads eerily empty as fuel pumps run dry. If residents can find petrol, the price has risen from 128 rupees a litre to 300 rupees.

With no air conditioners or fans, people are sweltering during the 10-12 hour power cuts. The government does not have the money to pay for the fuel needed by the power plants.

People with serious medical conditions are struggling to find medicines and hospitals have cancelled operations as they have no diesel to operate the generators that act as back-up during blackouts.

To save electricity, the government has switched off street lighting. Mobile phones have been affected because the standby generators used at the phone base stations have run out of diesel.

“We make sure we charge our phones during the hours we have electricity but the internet is very patchy because the towers aren’t working properly. Supermarkets are shut as they have no electricity for lighting or the freezer compartments and we are paying two to three times the normal price for basic food items,” tourism official Zainoor Adnan told the Guardian before the WhatsApp connection failed.  ...

[marquisoforder]

On the topic of Sri Lanka we NEED TO talk about the blatant violation of constitutional and human rights that’s going on in the country right now! Military and police brutality is rampant! Non-violent, peaceful protesters are being attacked ruthlessly by the military and the police in Colombo.

I was at the protest site in GalleFace in front of the presidential secretariat yesterday (09th July 2022) and was subjected to multiple tear gas attacks myself as we were trying to reach the area. We were not doing anything violent or breaking the law in anyway. They also shot tear gas at people who were protesting near the President’s residence. Moments before we got there, the police had also unleashed water canons on the protesters in the area. They had also attacked the protesters near the President’s residence with water canons.

[Police use water cannons to disperse protesters near the president's residence during a demonstration demanding the resignation of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, amid the country's economic crisis, in Colombo, Sri Lanka, July 9, 2022. REUTERS/Dinuka Liyanawatta]

[Protesters run away from tear gas used by police during a demonstration demanding the resignation of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, amid the country's economic crisis, near the President's residence in Colombo, Sri Lanka, July 9, 2022. REUTERS/Dinuka Liyanawatte]

The day before yesterday, on the 8th of July 2022, Inter-University Students’ Federation on a protest march to the same protest site was also heavily attacked with water canons and tear gas. AGAIN the students were in no way or form breaking any laws, committing any crimes, damaging properties or vandalizing anything.

[Police use tear gas and water cannons to disperse protesters near the president's residence during a demonstration demanding the resignation of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, amid the country's economic crisis, in Colombo, Sri Lanka, on July 8, 2022. REUTERS/Dinuka Liyanawatte]

Also armed security forces shot at unarmed peaceful protesters on Chatham Street, Colombo. In this footage you can see that one person collapse and how he has a head injury. And no, they were NOT rubber bullets. Those are apparently live rounds being shot at those civilians.

Also more video footages are emerging of Sri Lanka security forces brutally attacking protesters moments before protesters entered the President's house yesterday.

Last night two media personnel were attacked ON LIVE TV while they were reporting in front of the PM’s residence by the STF-Special Task Force of Sri Lanka. The reporter, a 23 year old named Sarasi Pieris and the cameraman, Waruna Sampath as well as more people from their crew were hospitalized following being repeatedly beaten and brutally assaulted by security detail at the Prime Minister's private residence.

More journalists and media personnel are now speaking out about how the police and the STF tried to get them out of the places they were hiding in order to round them up and wrongfully arrest them. (Thankfully they were on live the whole time.)

This is only a fraction of what they have done. I will keep updating as I come across more credible sources and first hand experiences. So while we all celebrate the achievements from yesterday (which should not be undermined in any way cause after all they are big steps forward in the fight against these corrupt politicians) let’s also be aware of how the government and its pet police and military will not hesitate to immediately attack the very civilians they swore to protect WITHOUT any provocation.

Additionally, under the cut are some reliable sources from Sri Lanka to keep an eye out for updates.

Twitter

News First.lk Sri Lanka

Roel Raymond (journalist)

News Wire

Team Watchdog

Instagram

Dinuka Liyanawatte

Amalini (live updates in stories)

Team Watchdog Instagram

[hussyknee]

Violence is never the answer. Choose love, not peace. You're a vicious dog who needs to get whipped.

What. The actual fuck. 💀💀💀

Anyway I think the houses of everyone in this fascist, genocidal government should be burned down (again), the PM's house being torched is excellent (although it wasn't us this time but the STF covering their asses), the President and his entire family should be dragged out of their hidey holes and lynched (they made themselves "war heroes" by genociding 40,000 Tamils, orchestrated the Easter Attacks that killed 280 people to come to power the second time, then robbed the entire treasury and starved the people, who are still dying in queues) and everything they own should be ransacked (we absolutely did not "ransack" any of the buildings we took over, those headlines are pure racism, in fact we turned in the stash of millions of rupees in cash over to the police, cleaned up the places and opened them to the public).

I hope that clears everything up. 🤗🌈💫❤️🇱🇰

Anyone else have a problem?

[khabrisala]

Man arrested for forging Sri Lankan President’s signature Image Source : ANI Man arrested for forging Sri Lankan President's signature A person has been arrested in Sri Lanka for allegedly forging the signature of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and misusing Presidential letterheads, it was reported.

[collapsedsquid]

The 43-year-old man’s arrest comes after he shared a photo of himself on Facebook at Colombo’s Presidential Palace, a police official told AFP on condition of anonymity.

The man was arrested earlier this week for alleged unlawful entry into a state building and retaining stolen property.

Did he really do anything wrong?

[news4me]

Revenge Politics, Says Senior Lanka Opposition Leader Over Former Minister's Arrest by Rajapaksa Govt

Revenge Politics, Says Senior Lanka Opposition Leader Over Former Minister’s Arrest by Rajapaksa Govt

[ad_1]

Ranawaka, who was the urban development minister before President Gotabaya Rajapaksa was elected on November 16, was arrested on Wednesday late night from his home over a 2016 traffic accident in which a youth was seriously injured. PTI

Updated:December 19, 2019, 3:06 PM IST

File photo of Champika Ranawaka. ColomboA senior leader of Sri Lanka’s main opposition, the…

[bharatlivenewsmedia]

Sri Lanka crisis: Mahinda Rajapaksa faces calls for arrest as ruling party MP among 5 killed

Sri Lanka crisis: Mahinda Rajapaksa faces calls for arrest as ruling party MP among 5 killed

Sri Lanka crisis: Mahinda Rajapaksa faces calls for arrest as ruling party MP among 5 killed Colombo, May 10: Sri Lanka’s former prime minister Mahinda Rajapaksa is facing calls for his arrest from Opposition politicians for inciting violence against peaceful anti-government protesters that claimed at least five lives, left over 200 people injured and saw arson attacks Colombo, May 10: Sri…

[thenewsfactsnow]

Sri Lanka News : People Face State of Emergency, Big Unrest

Sri Lanka News : People Face State of Emergency, Big Unrest, Uncertain Future #SriLankaNews #SriLanka #StateofEmergency #GlobalNews #SriLanka

Sri Lanka News presents a huge uncertain future for the island nation as the Government faces huge public unrest, and economic crisis. President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has announced a state of emergency in the nation giving the security forces wide authority to arrest and detain suspects with immediate effect. Gotabaya has issued the “Extraordinary Gazette” declaring a public emergency after…

[merelygifted]

Sri Lanka president declares public emergency after protests against economic crisis | Sri Lanka | The Guardian

Sri Lankan president Gotabaya Rajapaksa has declared a nationwide public emergency, following violent protests over the country’s worst economic crisis in decades.

Rajapaksa said in a government gazette notification late on Friday that he took the decision in the interests of public security, the protection of public order and the maintenance of supplies and essential services.

Hundreds of protesters clashed with police and military on Thursday outside Rajapaksa’s residence in a suburb of the capital, Colombo.

Police arrested 53 people and imposed a curfew in and around Colombo on Friday to contain sporadic protests that have broken out over shortages of essential items, including fuel and other goods.

The Indian Ocean island nation of 22 million people faces rolling blackouts for up to 13 hours a day as the government scrambles to secure foreign exchange to pay for fuel imports.

The country’s lucrative tourism industry and foreign workers’ remittances have been sapped by the pandemic, and public finances were hit further by deep tax cuts promised by Rajapaksa during his 2019 election campaign.

Ordinary Sri Lankans are also dealing with shortages and soaring inflation, after the country steeply devalued its currency last month ahead of talks with the International Monetary Fund for a loan programme.

An alliance of 11 political parties has urged Rajapaksa to dissolve the cabinet and form a government with all parties to deal with the crisis, local media said, in a nation where both India and China are competing to build influence.  ...