Australian cricketer Usman Khawaja's brother jailed for ruining the life of a Sri Lankan

Arsalan Tariq Khawaja, the brother of Australian cricketer Usman Khawaja was sentenced by an Australian court for plotting to brand Sri Lankan Mohamed Nizamdeen a terrorist, trying to frame him for an offence he had not done.

Arsalan Khawaja scrawled blueprints about killing prominent politicians and attacking Sydney landmarks in a notepad he stole from the budding IT business analyst Mohamed Nizamdeen. 

Nizamdeen was charged with terror offences, grilled by detectives for hours without a lawyer, and spent four weeks in Goulburn Supermax before his charges were dropped. 

Nizamdeen returned to Sri Lanka after the ordeal. He said his life was ruined because of this incident and called for an independent inquiry.

Khawaja was arrested and charged in late 2018 after a handwriting expert couldn't conclusively prove the plans had been written by Nizamdeen. He pleaded guilty last November to perverting the course of justice and dishonestly influencing a Commonwealth public official, and also admitted to forgery and inducing a witness to give false testimony. 

Khawaja, 40, was driven by jealousy over Mohamed Nizamdeen's friendship with a woman. 

Arsalan Tariq Khawaja was issued a non-parole period of two years and six months but could walk free from prison in June next year due to time served.

Mohamed Nizamdeen

How the US election would impact Sri Lanka - Prof. Rohan Samarajiwa

Well known Sri Lankan academic and political and economic analyst Prof. Rohan Samarajiva said that the election in the US was not a unified election conducted by a central election commission, but a collection of 51 separate elections with lots of postal ballots and such making it unlikely that the final results will be known in a few hours.

Further analysing the election especially focusing on the impact on Sri Lanka, Prof. Rohan Samarajiva expressed the following views:

The election was focused on the COVID-19 pandemic and the resultant effects on the economy. In my view, the pandemic is running out of control and the effects on the economy are likely to be severe. Whoever wins, the focus will be domestic as a result. Impacts on the scale of the Great Depression of 1930 are likely. If enough people in the US are affected, impacts on worldwide demand are likely. The US is Sri Lanka’s principal export market. We will definitely be affected. We should hope for an effective response to the pandemic and the economic crisis.

Trump has withdrawn the US from the WHO, which many people in the US and outside believe is needed as part of an effective response to this and future pandemics. If Biden wins, I expect the US to immediately rejoin. There will be a clear difference between the engagement of the US in multilateral initiatives that affect Sri Lanka such as on Climate Change and pandemics. Biden’s team will engage, Trump will try to go it alone.

In terms of geopolitics, I do not expect fundamental changes in initiatives such as the quad (US, Japan, Australia, and India) and the general efforts to balance or contain the rise of China. These moves are associated with the long-term interests of the US rather than a specific political party. Of course, the way things are operationalized may be different.

India will continue to be an important focus of US strategy and in many cases, Sri Lanka will be fitted into the larger strategies around India and China. As a tiny country on the other side of the world, it is a little unrealistic to think that we will be a high priority for the people who will be appointed to the foreign policy and defence teams.

Because the country will be preoccupied with domestic matters, the emphasis on human rights is likely to be less, whoever comes to power. Of course, if Trump returns, it will be close to absent, though the ingrained culture in the State Department will take some time to fully reflect that.

A new President will make thousands of new appointments of officials. These new appointees will be able to push some matters of importance to them personally, but at this point, it is too early to speculate. Kamala Harris’s primary identification is as an African American, rather than as a desi, even though her selection has motivated the large population of Americans of Indian origin to support her. My observation has been that the Sri Lankan diaspora in the US is less influential than in Canada and the UK.

I see the most impacts in terms of how the world deals with the pandemic, the related economic contraction and the larger problem of the effects of climate change. A Trump win will mean the US will try to go it alone and disregard science. A Biden win is more conducive to a multilateral approach that gives weight to science, but in the weakened state that the US is in, things will be sub-optimal, whoever wins.

Sri Lanka government grants permission to play LPL in the country

Sri Lanka Ministry of Health and COVID-19 Task Force have granted permission to go ahead with 2020 LPL (Lankan Premier League) of Sri Lanka Cricket. 

Commenting on Twitter about this permission, Minister of Sports Namal Rajapaksa thanked President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa, saying this is indicatory of the government's commitment to adapt to new normalcy and to return the country to normalcy whilst adhering to Ministry of Health guidelines. 

However, ournament director Ravin Wickramaratne told ESPNcricinfo that the 14-day quarantine that Sri Lanka's health ministry is insisting on increasingly appears a dealbreaker for some foreign players, as well as an operational obstacle for broadcast crews and commentators set to come for the tournament.

The tournament is scheduled to start on November 21st. The matches will be held in Pallekele and Suriyaweva international cricket grounds until December 13. Colombo, Kandy, Dambulla, Galle and Jaffna teams will play 23 matches within the 15 days. 

Sri Lanka planning to remove curfew

Sri Lanka government sources say that plans are underway to remove the curfew imposed in parts of the island and to reopen the country with strict quarantine regulations.

Meanwhile, government sources said that President Gotabaya Rajapaksa had been against the quarantine curfews imposed in parts of the country. However, the curfew had been approved by him because of the pressure mainly from the health officials. Sources say that the health officials are still pressurising the President to impose a countrywide curfew. The powerful Government Medical Officers' Association (GMOA) that represents the needs of the doctors is also pressurising the government to impose a curfew.

President Gotabaya Rajapaksa tweeted, "Everyone including President, ministers, health staff and people must understand the status of economy of the people who lives on daily wages and businesses. We cannot afford to close down the country anticipating a cure for COVID-19 would be discovered."

At the meeting of the Task for Prevention of COVID-19 yesterday President Gotabaya Rajapaksa spoke against curfews and his speech was released to media. The President highlighted that the public and private sector employees who had regular salaries could bear the brunt of the lockdowns until a cure is discovered but the daily wage earners were in extreme difficulty.

Sources say that the government is now considering the regulations to be imposed while the country will remain open. 

Develop a national mechanism to engage all sectors in COVID-19 prevention - NPP

"Develop a national mechanism to engage all sectors with knowledge and scattered in the society to face the COVID-19 pandemic in Sri Lanka", demanded epidemiologist Dr. Nihal Abesinghe, secretary of National Professional's Organization of National People's Power (NPP). 

"There is the possibility of the creation of similar clusters within a coming couple of years. Therefore, we must maintain measures like social distancing, working from home, online education and home delivery of goods and services for a long time," the epidemiologist said.

Further speaking, he said, "We need behavioural change regarding COVID-19 and the responsibility is on people. About one-third of the population are educated less than GCE Ordinary Level. Low level of education and poverty can aggravate the crisis. Some people have no access to essential equipment like face masks and hand sanitizers. Their problems might push them to deviate from social distancing. Therefore the less educated and low-income groups must be educated, engaged and empowered in the COVID-19 prevention measures." 

Hospital, public health and security personnel must be protected and helped by the society, Dr. Nihal Abesinghe pointed out.

Speaking about a probability of a community spread, Dr. Abesinghe said, "90-95% source of the COVID-19 cases is found thanks to the strength of the health sector. However, some sources may not be found. Community spread is a situation the source cannot be found. Therefore, it is good for us to be prepared for such a situation." 

The PCR tests conducted by the health authorities now are mostly targeted tests. It is the most successful method to identify patients, he said. 

National Professional's Organization is a partner of National People's Power (NPP) that is led by the People's Liberation Front (JVP). NPP parliamentarian Dr. Harini Amarasuriya is addressing the press conference when this news is published. 

 

One in 5 women experience intimate partner violence in Sri Lanka; half of them do not seek support

In Sri Lanka, one in five (20.4%) ever-partnered women have experienced physical and/or sexual violence by an intimate partner in their lifetime, a study conducted by the Department of Census and Statistics revealed. 

In analyzing women’s coping strategies when living with violence by a partner, the study found that nearly half (49.3%) of the women who experienced sexual violence by a partner did not seek formal help anywhere due to reasons such as shame, embarrassment and fear of being blamed or not being believed, and/or thinking the violence was normal or not serious enough to seek help.

In 2019, the Department of Census and Statistics conducted the first dedicated national prevalence survey on violence against women. Known as the Women’s Wellbeing Survey (WWS) it covered all 25 districts in Sri Lanka and interviewed more than 2,200 women aged 15 and above. 

This Women’s Wellbeing Study was technically supported by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) with financial assistance from the Government of Canada.

Violence by partners in any form can have a significant impact on women’s health and wellbeing and is also interconnected with the socio-economic recovery from crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic, said UNFPA in a communique.

A series of consultative workshops are scheduled to be held with key government stakeholders and other development partners over the next few months to better inform decision-making to ensure no one is left behind, the press release further said.

To access the full report, please visit http://www.statistics.gov.lk/

Sri Lanka Navy attempt to clean sea bed in Trincomalee

A diving team attached to the Eastern Naval Command of Sri Lanka Navy conducted a programme to clear plastic and polythene collected on the sea bed, covering the Trincomalee sea area on 02nd November 2020. The photo released by Navy shows a diver collecting plastic and polythene waste. 

Sri Lanka was ranked among the top five marine plastic polluters of the world by earthday.org in 2019 with a mismanaged plastic waste of 1.59 million metric tons per year.