choosespite

[Ranga Sirilal @rangaba]

Selective amnesia: The @Dailymirror_SL editor is either reading a different statement or rewriting reality. Today’s @ICCMediaComms release does not back her June 22 “exclusive” about an ICC ultimatum to Sri Lanka. Where is the deadline, exactly? OUCH, OUCH.

[The Examiner @ExaminerLK]

So far, only one of the island’s 166 “pooja bhoomi” gazette notifications defines the activities the land can be used for: the one for Anuradhapura. It took over 40 years to complete it, and this plan includes commercial activities within the zone.

https://t.co/eDMK0j8KCo

[choosespite @lordspite]

@NewsWireLK The drum beat is going faster so the monkey is dancing more vigorously

[choosespite @lordspite]

@ForzenStur Hotel prices should be much much higher , hotel owners are eventually going to realise they can’t keep pandering to middle man travel agents and operations who don’t even bring the dollars into SL.

[Chathuranga Abey @Chathurangaab]

Sri Lanka is moving fast on reforms which are 20 years due. We are Systematically opening up the markets. This will allow Sri Lanka to access other markets via FTAs and PTAs #SMEnexus

Same time we are strengthening the Anit Dumping Policies and Import standards which is essential for the above reform to successfully take effect

[Yasiru @YRanaraja]

Six new BESS units (120MWh / 68MW each, from Huawei) just arrived at Colombo Port, boosting Sri Lanka’s energy grid. Part of a larger 160 MW project, these systems will be installed across 6 locations. Each stores 120MWh (day), releases 68MW during peak. Rs 40bn investment cuts generation cost from Rs 115 to Rs 30/unit, saving $2.6M/month in fuel imports.

[choosespite @lordspite]

@SanukaPerera_ @rangaba @CBSL So preserving foreign exchange balances and letting the rupee depreciate (as all other currencies have ) is a bad thing now ? Absolute garbage.

[Chaminda Dias @chami9539]

Back in April 2022, before the Aragalaya became what it did, I wrote that Gota would not go willingly because too much was at stake. Not just one family or one presidency... but an entire system built on impunity, patronage, corruption and protecting each other.

That is exactly why he ultimately had to be forced out, which happened a few months later.

But even then, I said that removing one man was only the beginning and that once power shifts, the real danger begins like evidence disappearing, witnesses silenced, files altered, chains of custody broken, institutions compromised.

Why did the Rajapaksas fight so hard to regain state power after losing it the first time? Why the constitutional coup?

I would argue it was because they suddenly understood something they never imagined possible: that they could actually lose power and face accountability. Until then, they acted like the state belonged to them permanently.

Look at the Wasim Thajudeen case.

Even bone fragments reportedly went missing. How do you build a prosecution when evidence itself disappears?

Now, years later, more people connected to high-profile cases are dead under suspicious or unresolved circumstances. This is also the second person connected to SriLankan Airlines to die like this. First being Rajeewa Jayaweera.

That is why accountability in Sri Lanka was always going to be a long, ugly, difficult fight.

This is also why the NPP cant afford to lose credibility.

If the government starts looking arrogant, careless, politically selective or incompetent in other areas, it weakens public confidence everywhere else too... including in legitimate prosecutions and investigations that absolutely must happen.

The tragedy is that the opposition remains largely feckless and morally bankrupt, and represents much of the same political culture the Aragalaya rose against. Issue is that the government is leaving openings it does not need to leave open for these idiots to creep through.

If the NPP truly understands the scale of what it inherited, it needs to get its act together quickly, tone down the arrogance and rhetoric, strengthen institutions, and remember that credibility is not a luxury in a transition period like this.

#SriLanka
#SystemChangeLK
#AccountabilityProjectLK

[choosespite @lordspite]

@NewsWireLK The circus is missing a monkey.

[Hasitha Liyanage @h_liyan]

Am I the only person irritated by members of the previous government, who idly stood by while their leaders drained the country dry, now taking to Twitter with ChatGPT generated advice on how to preserve fuel and dollar reserves?

[Rehan Jayawickreme @RehanJayawick]

I would bet my last dollar that Azad Moulana will return to the country. His testimony could be crucial in uncovering what really happened and whether certain high-ranking officials knew about, or enabled, the Easter Sunday attacks to consolidate GR’s election victory.

[Chaminda Dias @chami9539]

Suresh Sallay is not a distraction or some rando being dragged into this. He was the head of Military Intelligence in 2019. That places him at the heart of the intelligence structure in the months leading up to Easter.

For a @GoodGovYaya roundtable discussion, we had collected all of this information and intended to present it, but we never got the opportunity.

So here are the known facts..

– Over 200 intelligence reports on Zaharan and related extremist activity between 2016 and 2019.
– RAW warnings in January and March 2019.
– A detailed suicide attack alert circulated on April 9.
– Further warnings on April 18, 19 and 20.
– Explosives discovered in Wanathawilluwa in January 2019.
– Warrants already existed for Zaharan.

This was not a state operating in the dark. The network was known and the reporting was there and the escalation pattern was visible.

Military Intelligence was part of that information chain and Sallay was at the top of that command structure. In intelligence systems, leadership responsibility is not symbolic. If the system had visibility, then the head of one of its most powerful agencies cant claim to be blind when that visibility fails to prevent an imminent attack.

Then there is the "Sonic–Sonic" Telegram account disclosed in court which is an intelligence-linked account communicating with an ISIS intermediary connected to the network. The existence of that contact is not speculation. The unresolved question is what that engagement represented.

There is also the SIM overlap issue, where communications infrastructure tied to Easter suspects intersected with earlier military intelligence investigations, including the Lasantha Wickrematunge murder. That raised serious questions about who knew what inside the state intelligence machinery.

None of this by itself proves anything but it establishes structural, operational and authoritative proximity. It makes clear this is not someone at the margins of the story.

If the investigation is now moving into this phase, then it is moving into the architecture of the intelligence failure itself and possibly one step closer to whoever truly sat behind it all.

So no... This is not a witch hunt and Suresh Sallay is not a distraction but a linchpin in this case.

#SriLanka
#AccountabilityProjectLK
#JusticeForEasterAttack

[Ramesh Srivats @rameshsrivats]

Pretty brave of Sri Lanka to allow Hanumankind after what he did in an earlier visit.
#INDvsPAK

[choosespite @lordspite]

@sonaljay8 Fantastic for Sri Lanka - I work in the boutique hotel space and definitely our biggest growth market. Great clients and lovely people , Welcome to Sri Lanka !

[choosespite @lordspite]

@dinidu @sonaljay8 @Seductv Kangaroo is good !

[Shenelle Rodrigo @Shenelle_r]

So many of you are concerned about visiting Sri Lanka and this journey is to show you that yes, cyclone Ditwah affected certain parts of the country, but that doesn’t mean all of Sri Lanka is flooding or experiencing landslides. There are still many places you can travel to

[Sanjee #GoodGovernance🇱🇰🇪🇸🇧🇪🇪🇷🇿🇼🇳🇦🇫🇮 @nomadic_sanjee]

"If there’s accountability, media, too, must be held accountable."

#SriLanka
#FakeNews
#Misinformation

[Sulochana Peiris @Sulo_Peiris]

I didn’t see any media coverage of an impending cyclone in the days before it landed in Sri Lanka. I for one would not have gone on a filming tour to the north, had I seen any media report pertinent to an early warning of a cyclone by MET dept, etc. This behavior by media is quite contrary to how aggressively everyone covered the recent opposition rally. If there’s accountability, media, too, must be held accountable.

[Sanjee #GoodGovernance🇱🇰🇪🇸🇧🇪🇪🇷🇿🇼🇳🇦🇫🇮 @nomadic_sanjee]

@adaderana A conversation with Grok about @adaderana & @TheMorningLK claims on 12 November warning by director of Meterogical Dept.
Grok has debunked claims by Dilith Jayaweera Disinformation machine that claims SL govt was negligent & ignored the disaster warnings.

https://t.co/uNuxNxSeoQ