Drug gangs behind Sri Lanka Easter bombings, reveals President

coastaldigest.com web desk
July 15, 2019

Colombo, Jul 15: International drug syndicates orchestrated Sri Lanka's deadly Easter Sunday bombings, the country's top leader revealed today. The government had initially blamed the attacks on terror groups that operate in the name of Islam.

The statement comes amid a nationwide narcotics crackdown, with President Maithripala Sirisena aiming to reintroduce capital punishment for drug offences.

Authorities have said local jihadist group National Thowheeth Jama'ath (NTJ) were responsible for the suicide bombings in churches and hotels that killed at least 258 people in April. The attacks were later claimed by the Islamic State group.

Sirisena's office said the day after the bombings that local terrorists and international terror groups were responsible for the attacks.

But in a statement issued by his office Monday, Sirisena said the attacks "were the work of international drug dealers".

"Drug barons carried out this attack to discredit me and discourage my anti-narcotics drive. I will not be deterred," he said.

Sirisena is waging a battle against efforts by his governing coalition in parliament to abolish capital punishment, which has been subject to a moratorium since 1976.

Sri Lankan courts routinely hand down death sentences to drug offenders, murderers and rapists but it is automatically commuted a term of life imprisonment.

The president has marshalled public support for an end to the moratorium, saying that hangings would deter the illegal drugs trade.

"If the government brings legislation to abolish capital punishment, I will declare a day of national mourning," Sirisena said in the statement, adding that public opinion favoured hanging condemned criminals.

He said the leading Buddhist monk Omalpe Sobitha had advised him to resume hangings and not to abandon his war on narcotics.

Sri Lanka's Supreme Court earlier this month suspended Sirisena's moves to hang four drug convicts. The court banned any executions until it rules on a petition seeking a declaration that hanging breaches the country's constitution.

The next hearing in the case is in October.

Sri Lanka's last hangman retired in 2014, but officials said they had selected two new executioners from a pool of candidates.

Comments

ABDUL AZIZ
 - 
Tuesday, 16 Jul 2019

ALHAMDULILLAH, TRUTH PREVAILED AND EVIL PERISHED,   PUNISH THE CRIMINALS AND MURDERERS SOON , DONT BLAME MUSLIMS,    ISLAM is peacefull religion,  dont blame muslims as terrorists, 

 

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
News Network
April 3,2020

Bengaluru, April 3: Thirteen people in Karnataka, who had attended the Tablighi Jamaat event in Delhi, have tested positive for coronavirus, said state education minister S Suresh Kumar.

"13 attendees of Delhi's Tablighi Jamaat event have tested COVID-19 positive and 187 were tested negative," said Kumar, who has been entrusted to look into queries related to COVID-19.

He added, "A total number of four COVID-19 positive cases have been confirmed today -- a 75-year-old man in Bagalkote, a 70-year-old in Belagavi, a 26-year-old in Belagavi and a 20-year-old in Belagavi."

"The three people from Belagavi had attended the Tablighi Jamaat event in Delhi," he said, adding that the total number of cases in the state increased to 128.

The reports of 88 other people who had attended the Tablighi Jamaat event are yet to be received, the minister said.

The total number of COVID-19 positive cases in India on Friday rose to 2,547 including 162 cured/discharged and 62 deaths, according to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
coastaldigest.com news network
July 11,2020

Mangaluru, Jul 11: Deputy Commissioner Sindhu B Rupesh has set up an expert committee to look into the cause of deaths of covid patients in Dakshina Kannada.

The development comes after eight more fatalities including that of a CISF personnel attached to MRPL, were reported in the district on Friday.

The district has recorded 23 deaths since July 1 and 38 death cases have been reported in the district since April 19.

Of the 38 deaths, five were from outside the district. All the eight patients, who lost their battle to the virus in the district on Friday, were suffering from co-morbidities.

According to the govt bulletin on Covid-19 cases, comorbid conditions, like kidney failure, brain tumour, TB, pneumonia, liver damage, high BP, diabetes and others, were the main reasons behind the Covid-19 deaths reported in the district.

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
News Network
February 6,2020

Bengaluru, Feb 6: Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa inducted 10 BJP MLAs to his Cabinet here on Thursday. They are among the 17 Congress-JD(S) MLAs who defected last year.

The much-delayed expansion came almost two-months after the MLAs won the bypolls held in December. During the period, the defectors camp exerted pressure on Yediyurappa to expand the Cabinet and include all the MLAs who contested the bypolls.

The new ministers sworn in are S T Somashekar, Ramesh Jarkiholi, Byrati Basavaraj, K Gopalaiah, B C Patil, Dr K Sudhakar, Shivaram Hebbar, Anand Singh, Narayana Gowda and Shrimanth Patil.

One of the 11 MLAs from the defectors camp, Mahesh Kumathalli was not inducted as he hailed from the same constituency as Deputy Chief Minister Laxman Savadi. Three others, MTB Nagaraj, H Vishwanath and R Shankar are likely to be inducted in June.

Governor Vajubhai Bala administered oaths to the new ministers at Raj Bhavan, where hundreds of supporters came to witness the event. Authorities had also beefed up security arrangements outside Raj Bhavan for the ceremony.

Earlier, Yediyurappa was to induct 10 newly-elected MLAs and three old-timer BJP MLAs. But on Wednesday evening, the BJP's central leadership stepped in to decide that only 10 newly-elected MLAs should be inducted after disgruntlement surfaced among BJP MLAs over former minister C P Yogeeshwar's induction.

Several MLAs led by chief minister's political secretary MP Renukacharya had raised a hue and cry over allotting berths to those who lost Assembly polls. A group of 13 to 15 MLAs had also demanded adequate representation to Kalyana Karnataka region, alleging that the new Cabinet had excess representation from few districts of Karnataka, such as Bengaluru Urban and Belagavi.

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.