Igniting Racist Fires; Undermining National Unity

By Tisaranee Gunasekara -September 29, 2013 

“If Vigneswaran and Sumanthiran insist (sic) any more Nandikadals at Wellawatte, Mattakkuliya or in any other part of the country, they are bound to confront them”.- Champika Ranawaka (Nation – 29.9.2013)[i][ii]

Mahinda And Champika

In 2011, the Rajapaksasintroduced a hugely controversial new law: the Town and Country Planning (Amendment) Bill. Commonly known as the ‘Sacred Areas Act’, this bill gave the Minister of Buddha Sasana the power to expropriate any private land anywhere, just by labelling it a ‘Protection Area’, ‘Conservation Area’, Architectural/Historic area’ or ‘Sacred Area’.

On 2^nd December 2011, a Supreme Court bench headed by Chief JusticeShirani Bandaranayke decreed that the new bill cannot be presented to parliament without the consent of all provincial councils as land is a devolved subject. A few days later, the government withdrew the Bill.                Read More

Igniting Racist Fires; Undermining National Unity

| by Tisaranee Gunasekara-29 Sep 2013 

“If Vigneswaran and Sumanthiran insist (sic) any more Nandikadals at Wellawatte, Mattakkuliya or in any other part of the country, they are bound to confront them”.

- Champika Ranawaka (Nation – 29.9.2013)12

Igniting Racist Fires; Undermining National Unity by nelvely