Sri-Lanka
has become one of the most violent and dangerous countries in the world. Under
the Rajapaksa brothers, political violence and corruption have increased
dramatically.
1. Sri-Lankan governments have
been involved in state-sponsored terrorism and violence for the last 40 years.
In an
interview with the British television presenter David Frost, Chandrika
Kumaratunga - who was the President of Sri Lanka from 1994 to 2005 - stated
that at the time that her husband Vijaya Kumaranatunga was assassinated, "Sri Lanka
had killing fields; there was a lot of terror perpetrated by the government
itself, state terrorism.”
The Sri-Lankan
government is intensifying its crackdown on critics through threats,
harassment, imprisonment and violent attacks, Amnesty International said in a
report released in April this year.
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2. Sri-Lanka has the largest Cabinet
in the world with more than 90 Ministers.
But the
Rajapaksa brothers control more than 80% of the budget! The country is run like
a corner shop!
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3. Sri-Lanka's chief justice is a
pathological liar.
In
November 2011, Mohan Peiris said the following in Geneva: "An investigation into the
abduction of Prageeth Eknelygoda is being conducted by the police and by the
CCD. Investigation is being continued. So far no one has been arrested in this
connection."
But,
according to the Asian Human Rights Commission, in a question and answer
session after the presentation, Peiris said: “according to reliable
information, Prageeth Eknelygoda has taken refuge in a foreign country and that
the campaign against his disappearance is a hoax.” Peiris failed to provide
detailed information about where Eknelygoda had fled, the AHRC correspondent
said.
He was
ordered to testify before a court in June 2012 during the case over Prageeth Eknaligoda’s
disappearance. Peiris told the court that he was not aware of the whereabouts
of journalist Prageeth Eknaligoda!
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4. Sri-Lanka is one of the most
dangerous places in the world for journalists.
Reporters
Without Borders ranks Sri-Lanka 163 out of 179 nations on its global Press
Freedom Index 2011 - 2012. Sri-Lanka is ranked just above Somalia!
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5. Sri-Lanka has high level of
corruption and the Rajapaksa brothers and their cronies are involved in looting
the country.
A recent
S&P report pointed to the country’s weak external liquidity “in the context
of low income levels, relaxed lending practices and underwriting standards, as
well as a weak payment culture and rule
of law.”
During
the past 10 years, two state banks, Bank of Ceylon and Peoples Bank, wrote off 125 billion rupees, with the loan
defaulters mostly backed by government politicians.
Market
regulator Tilak Karunaratne quit in August 2012, saying he could no longer
battle against a "mafia of
crooks" preventing probes into insider trading and "pump-and-dump" scams in
which investors drive up shares and then sell them.
Karunaratne's
predecessor, Indrani Sugathadasa, also resigned in 2011, saying she was
unwilling to compromise her "principles".
According
to Transparency International, about US $ 500 million of the tsunami aid for Sri Lanka is
unaccounted for and more than $ 603 million has been spent on projects
unrelated to the disaster. In a report examining the funding, the group
concluded the discrepancy between relief money received and money spent ''does
not have a credible explanation''.
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6. Sri-Lanka relies heavily on
more than one million maids in the Middle East
for foreign exchange.
The
Rajapaksa regime is involved in slave trade. It sends Singhalese and Muslims women
to the Middle East to work as maids and
receives fees and remittances of $2.5 billion per year - the second largest
source of foreign exchange.
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