Sri Lanka’s parliament did not take up the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance Bill this week, despite it having been scheduled for debate on Wednesday. Leader of the House Minister Lakshman Kiriella and Deputy Speaker Thilanga Sumathipala said the bill would not be debated as scheduled. No reason was given for the decision and a future date to debate the bill was not announced. The bill has been fiercely opposed by members of Sri Lanka’s Buddhist clergy. The move comes despite Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena promising Tamil...
More than 75 senior Buddhist monks from all three sects of the Sangha called on the Sri Lankan government not to abolish the much criticised Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA), after a meeting in Kandy this week. Following a four hour meeting at the Sri Chandananda Buddhist College of Asgiriya, all the leading Sangha agreed to deliver a present a memorandum signed by the prelates to Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena, urging him not to abolish the PTA. The move comes just days after monks from the Buddha Sasana concluded that major amendments to Sri Lanka’s constitution were not needed...
The mother of a young Tamil construction worker has reported him missing from Jaffna since Friday 30th June. 18-year-old Grecian Premilan from Mulankavil, Kilinochchi left work in Navanthurai, Jaffna for home on Friday evening and has not been seen since. Photograph: Tamilwin Jaffna police have stated that they have been searching for Mr Premilan accordingly with the details of the missing person report.
The Sri Lankan government will be taking steps to rehouse the families of 3650 dead Sri Lankan soldiers before President Sirisena’s term ends, the Minister of Housing and Development has said. The minister, Sajith Premadasa, made the remarks while laying the foundation for a housing scheme for 34 dead soldiers’ families in Anamaduwa, Puttalam. According to adaderana.lk , 34 underprivileged and homeless families will receive 15 perches of land each.
Sri Lanka’s Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe told parliament that he had instructed an investigation into claims of a threat to the US Embassy in Colombo. Sri Lankan newspapers reported on the weekend that there was a threat to the US Embassy in Colombo stating that the threat was from ISIS militants. Mr Wickrememsinghe said the newspaper claimed it has information on the threat to the US Embassy, adding that the US Embassy itself had no information of a threat. See more here.
A new constitution for Sri Lanka will be formulated and put to public referendum after being passed through parliament, said Sri Lanka’s co-cabinet spokesperson Dr Rajitha Senaratne. Dr Senaratne said that the unity government was given a mandate by 6.2 million people and would respect this. Responding to comments made by journalists regarding rejection of any new constitution by senior monks of the Buddhist clergy, Dr Senaratne said that the mandate of 6.2 million for a new constitution also includes support from Buddhist monks and leaders of other religions. "The monks can have their views...
Tamils in the North-East marked Karumpuli Naal in a series of events today, commemorating the men and women of the LTTE’s Black Tigers.
Former Sri Lankan President, Mahinda Rajapaksa held a rally in Trincomalee on Monday.
A business delegation from Japan expressed concern on Monday to Sri Lanka's finance minister, Mangala Samaraweera over the country's frequent changes to its tax policy. The delegation requested that at least six months notice was given ahead of any enforcement of new tax changes, warning that such amendments had an impact on exports and would discourage investors. The concerns were expressed at a meeting with Mr Samaraweera on Monday, Colombo Page reported. Japan's ambassador to Sri Lanka, Kenichi Suganuma was also present.
Sri Lankan state departments are refusing to comply with requests of information, said the Right to Information (RTI) Commission this week. Despite the RTI Act of Sri Lanka having been passed earlier this year, the Commission said it had received several complaints that various state departments have refused to disclose information after requests have been made. As a result, the Commission itself has had to step in and directly issue orders to departmental officers to ensure information was released. See more from Adaderana here .