Azath sally biography of donald

Sri Lanka's government has ordered the removal of a mosque from an area it says is sacred to the country's majority Buddhists.

The order comes two days after Buddhist monks led a crowd trying to storm the mosque in the central town of Dambulla.

Prime Minister DM Jayaratne says the mosque has simply been ordered to relocate to another part of the area.

But the incident has angered senior Muslim politicians.

The BBC's Charles Haviland in Colombo says this statement by the prime minister appears to have been issued in a hurry, a day before the various parties to this religious dispute were due to meet.

Buddhist monks in central Sri Lanka had threatened to demolish the mosque next week if the authorities did not act first. A special meeting to discuss the issue appears to have been convened on Sunday, and this statement was produced.

The statement listed four prominent Muslims as present at Sunday's meeting agreeing to relocate the mosque - but according to a weekly Muslim paper, three of them say they were not there.

Cabinet minister AHM Fowzie told the BBC he had not been to such a gathering. He added that it would be acceptable to request such a relocation but not to order it.

Another politician of the governing party, Azath Sally, said that even if the mosque were illegal, people opposed to it should not "act like thugs".

"Do Tamils and Muslims not have a right to live in this country now?" he added.

Mr Jayaratne, who is also responsible for the affairs of the country's majority Buddhists, said he had ordered the mosque to be removed from a sacred area in Dambulla and that it could be relocated to "a suitable place in the neighbourhood".

He described it as a mosque which is in the process of being built and local Buddhists have reportedly said that a previously small structure is now being illegally expanded.

The chief of the mos

Former Colombo deputy mayor and founder leader of the National Unity front Azath Salley who was released after 8 days of “arrest” under the Prevention of Terrorism Act has denied that he had apologized to President Rajapaksa to secure his freedom as alleged in some sections of the state media. Salley in an interview to the “Ceylon Today”newspaper queried as to why he should apologize to the President and stated that all what he conveyed to the president was included in the affidavit he had submitted.

Excerpts of the interview and affidavit published in “Ceylon Today” are reproduced below-

Q: Did you apologize to the President in order to get released?

A: No. Why should I? The government media are now saying that I apologized. All what I said was included in the affidavit.

Q: What did the CID ask from you?

A: They took a statement before I was released on Friday.

Q: Does that mean, they kept you in detention for eight days without questioning?

A: On the first day of my arrest, they asked some basic questions and wrote 13 pages. You know those basic questions like my name, mother’s name and how my forefathers came to Sri Lanka centuries ago, stuff like that. Nothing substantial. After that, I was started fasting and I was not in a position to give a statement. And they had to take a statement from me before I was released. So they took a statement on Friday.

Q: What did you tell them?

A: I told them the same thing that I wrote in the affidavit. I also told them to go and arrest Bodu Bala Sena Secretary Galagoda Aththe Gnanasara Thera, because he had described 83 mosques in Akurana as Taliban bunkers. I told them (CID) to arrest him and get more information about the Taliban in Sri Lanka. I also told them to question Udaya Gammanpila, who had warned that the 1915 Muslim-Sinhala riots would happen soon. They (CID) should question him about those remarks, but the funny thing is that one who appeals for peace

By Dayan Jayatilleka –

If Azad Salley is a terrorist in the making, a terrorist who has to be pre-empted by recourse to detention under the Prevention of Terrorism Act, or a promoter of fanatical, fundamentalist ethno-religious hatred, he comes with the strangest of profiles.

Far from being born into and raised in anything like a backward, fundamentalist, religiously fanatical background, his father was a Communist (as comrade DEW Gunasekara could confirm) who later became a Maoist (or ‘Marxist-Leninist’). ‘Communist Salley’ as he was known, didn’t seem to have an ethno-religious bone in his body.

Azad’s father wasn’t only a communist, he was a journalist; and he wasn’t a journalist for a Saudi fundamentalist Wahhabi newssheet. He was a long time employee of Reuters. I was introduced to the slim, be-spectacled ‘Communist Salley’ by Mervyn de Silva, my father, at the tele-printer at the Reuters office.

My father had also introduced me to George Rajapaksa, his classmate and Cabinet Minister of the Sirimavo Bandaranaike administration, at the latter’s house down Flower Road. George Rajapaksa was of course the uncle of President Mahinda Rajapaksa and his brothers.

It is a tale so redolent of Sri Lanka’s ironic, often absurdist trajectory and travails, that the son of one of those (leftwing) personalities introduced to me by my father, has been detained under the administration of the nephew of another albeit better known (progressive) personality, doubtless by yet another nephew of that personality.

When Azad and I ran into each other, it was at former Mayor Sirisena Cooray’s house. Azad was a vibrant, jocular, spirited young UNP politician who attended every Premadasa commemoration that I was at (the last being 1999). We lost track of each other since, but I was not surprised that he had joined Mahinda Rajapaksa. I was even less surprised to hear that he had debated the BBS spokesperson on television in Sinhala, and from

Comments made by the Sri Lankan Ambassador to Israel, Donald Perera on the Israel-Palestinian conflict has sparked controversy that have prompted calls for being made to the External Affairs Ministry to recall him, immediately .

Ambassador Perera who was also the former Sri Lankan Air Chief Marshall, in an interview with Ynetnews – an Israeli media station – has pledged Sri Lanka’s staunch support for Israel in its fight against Palestine.

He has stated in the interview that Palestinians should be offered direct negotiations without preconditions and added, if they are not interested in a compromise, Israel should move on to a ‘military phase with full force’.

He had furthermore stated that Israel was a partner in Sri Lanka’s war against terror due to the relentless support they provided through the:

– exchange of information as well as military technology and equipment

– 17 Kfir warplanes and Dabur patrol boats

– pilot training and billions of dollars in aid over the past few years

Meanwhile, National Unity Alliance Leader and Western Provincial Councilor Azath Salley who has heavily criticized Ambassador Perera’s comments has described his statements to Ynetnews as ‘deplorable’ and ‘unacceptable’ due to the strong bonds of friendship, solidarity and goodwill between Sri Lanka and Palestine.

Pointing out that it was the Palestinian President Abbas who awarded Mahinda Rajapaksa with the award of the ‘Star of Palestine’ Salley has deplored the statements and demanded the External Affairs Ministry to recall him immediately.

Furthermore, he has urged the EAM to release a new statement to prevent further damage to Sri Lanka’s deep ties of friendship with the people of Palestine.