Rejecting the report by the UN Special Rapporteur for human rights and counter-terrorism, Ben Emmerson, Sri Lanka's cabinet spokesperson said on Wednesday that the foreign ministry would going forward answer to the country's defence ministry and the Prison Commissioner General before foreign officials undertook any future similar visits. The decision came after the members of the government and the president, Maithripala Sirisena questioned why Mr Emmerson was allowed to visit the island and speak to Tamils detainees who the security forces claim are associated with the LTTE. “The ministers...
Five parliamentarians, led by Wimal Weerawansa, announced this week their decision to leave the constitutional assembly, Adaderana reported. From the National Freedom Front, the five parliamentarians - Mr Weerawansa, Jayantha Samaraweera, Weerakumara Dissanayake, Niroshan Premaratne and Padma Udhaya Shantha Gunasekera - gave the speaker a written notice of their decision to leave. The constitutional assembly was formed in March 2016 where all 225 members of parliament would meet with the intention of drafting a proposal for a new constitution. Their exit comes after senior members of the...
The TNA leader, R Sampanthan told the visiting foreign minister of Singapore, Vivian Balakrishnan that the unity government was essential to ensuring the success of the constitutional change process. Urging both the UNP and SLFP to "put their petty political agendas aside", Mr Sampanthan said, "this is an urgent need for the whole country and all its people." Meeting with Mr Balakrishnan on Monday in colombo, Mr Sampanthan also highlighted the slow progress made on the issue of missing persons as well as the repeal of the Prevention Terrorism Act, Adaderana reported.
The Sri Lankan navy on Sunday arrested another four Indian fishermen for allegedly crossing into Sri Lankan waters, reported TNN and The Hindu . The men and their fishing boats were taken to Sri Lanka's navy station, Elara. The arrest is the latest in a series of arrests of Tamil Nadu fishermen by the Sri Lankan navy. In total 81 men are currently detained.
Singapore and Sri Lanka committed to arriving at a free trade agreement by the end of this year, Singapore's foreign minister, Vivian Balakrishnan said following his meeting with his Sri Lankan counterpart in Colombo on Monday. "It will be a modern, comprehensive, high-quality, ambitious free trade agreement. It will demonstrate to the world that both of us are open for business and we encourage all investments," he was quoted by Straits Times as saying. Describing both countries as hubs of their respective regions for economic ties and shipments, Mr Balakrishnan said, "the bigger the...
Sri Lankan police detained an Indian citizen from Tamil Nadu who was on a family holiday in the island for wearing a dress with the image of Buddha on it, The Hindu reported. She was only released after she signed a statement and apologised. “Just as we were about to make the payment at the counter, three cops came up to us and said they needed to arrest and take my niece. We were terrified,” aunt of the woman who was detained told the paper. “One of my nephews rushed to the store next door and bought a T-shirt, so my niece could wear it over the dress. But the police did not allow her to do...
Sri Lankan police officers visited the Colombo office of the Tamil diaspora TV station, IBC Tamil two times over a four day period and sought the personal details of staff members. "The visit was on the same day a news item published in a Sinhala ultra-nationalist daily carrying accusations against an unnamed "Tamil Tiger diaspora TV" that provides information to London on "protests against government, security forces activities in the north and allegations against the government by visiting UN officials", JDS reported. See here for full article. Extract published below: "On Monday (17 July)...
A US $167.2 million disbursement has been approved by the Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) after completing the second review of Sri Lanka’s Extended Fund Facility (EFF). The IMF Executive board completed the review on Monday, allowing for the release of US $167.2 million which forms part of a 3 year arrangement to provide up to US $1.45 billion of assistance during Sri Lanka’s monetary reform process. To date a total of approximately US $501.5 million has been released to Sri Lanka, reports adaderena.lk. Following the Executive Boards review, the Acting Chair and...
Sri Lanka’s president Maithripala Sirisena reportedly questioned his cabinet on how the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights and Counter-Terrorism Ben Emmerson was allowed to meet Tamils detained as alleged Liberation Tamil Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) fighters. The Daily Mirror reported the meeting request was sanctioned by Sri Lanka’s Foreign Affairs Ministry. Mr Emmerson who concluded his visit to Sri Lanka with a damning statement on Friday said Sri Lanka had done “almost nothing” to hold human rights violators in the military to account adding that “the use of torture has been and...
A Tamil journalist was harassed by Sri Lankan soldiers in Vadamarachchi while on the way to report on the protest of the families of the disappeared in Maruthankerny. Jaffna-based journalist Uthayarasa Shalin was stopped by two soldiers on a motorcycle on Monday afternoon on the route to Maruthankerny. Having questioned Mr Shalin about his destination, the soldiers told him he could not go on as the mentioned protest had finished. Mr Shalin denied that the protest had ended and insisted that he had to continue, identifying himself with his media accreditation. After checking his media ID, the...