Sri Lanka’s President Maithripala Sirisena claimed his government would regain the GSP+ trade concession by next week, in a speech delivered on Friday. Speaking at the opening of a bridge in Kandy, Mr Sirisena said during his tenure the government was able to rebuild relations with the international community. He went on to add that by next week, the GSP+ trade concessions, which were revoked during the previous government, would be returned. Mr Sirisena was speaking at an event alongside the British High Commissioner, government ministers and a Buddhist monk.
Joint opposition party supporters, locals and Buddhist monks marched in Amabalantota on Saturday protesting against the government's deal to lease land in an industrial zone in Hambantota port to a Chinese company. Government supporters attacked protesters with clubs, the AP reported. Protesters retaliated by throwing rocks. As the violence escalated, Sri Lankan police used water cannons to break up the protest. One Buddhist monk from the organisation, Monks' Organisation to Protect National Assets told AP "the clergy following an ancient tradition would issue a decree to the government to...
Sri Lanka's state minister of finance, Lakshman Yapa Abeywardene this week reiterated that the president, Maithripala Sirisena rejected the inclusion of foreign judges in any probe and under no circumstances would the government target 'war heroes' for war crimes charges. “President Sirisena and the government have full confidence in our judiciary, legal process and judges. We have extremely eminent and experienced judges and our judges have served in various countries and global organizations that have given much credit to the country," he was quoted by the Daily Mirror as saying. “The...
People cannot be prohibited from entering any Maaveerar Thuyilum Illam - LTTE cemeteries - a Kilinochchi court has ruled. The Kilinochchi magistrates court has rejected Kilinochchi police's call to bar people from entering the cemeteries, with the judge also stating that people had the right to remember and pay tribute to their dead relatives. Thousands of Tamils gathered at LTTE cemeteries across the North-East to mark Maaveerar Naal. The ruling follows the arrest on Thursday of five people attempting to construct a memorial monument at the Kanagapuram Thuyilum Illam. The five were released...
Sri Lanka's justice minister, Wijeyadasa Rajapakshes said on Friday that he had "no confidence" in the Consultation Task Force on Reconciliation Mechanisms (CTF), which was appointed by the prime minister, Ranil Wickremesinghe. "No one is complaining about the independence of the judiciary anymore. We have reconciliation and peace processes in place. This report, at this juncture, is totally unwarranted. Therefore, we don’t have to follow these recommendations by the CTF,” Mr Rajapakshe told the Daily Mirror . Reiterating that no one could force Sri Lanka to include foreign judges, Mr...
The Sri Lankan air force is currently in the process of finalising the purchase of further jets, reported the Daily Mirror. The ministry of defence was granted permission to proceed with the purchase by the president and Cabinet. “Contemporary aircraft which would be suitable for the coming years would be purchased,” SLAF Spokesman Group Captain Gihan Seneviratne was quoted as saying. Sixteen Kfir jets were bought from Israel between 1995 and 2005. At least seven were destroyed.
Kumar Ponnambalam, the human rights lawyer and former leader of the All Ceylon Tamil Congress (ACTC), who was assassinated 17 years ago was remembered by the Tamil National People's Front today. The TNPF held a remembrance event at their headquarters in Kandharmadam.
Tamil children at a nursery in Jaffna were taken on a tour of a Sri Lankan air force base by the military last week. The visit, organised to “enhance mutuality and strengthen Reconciliation process”, according to an official website, was organised by the Sri Lankan Headquarters Security Force (Jaffna). A group of 33 children and 4 teachers were taken on the tour of the Palaly airport, which lies inside a High Security Zone. Following the military guided tour, the group were then taken to the Sri Lankan naval base in Kankesanthurai, inside another High Security Zone, controlled by the armed...
Photograph: The Island A hardline Sinhala party led by Buddhist monks has accused the Northern Provincial Council (NPC) of “racism” and called on the Sri Lankan government to dismantle the provincial council system. "We are against the provincial council system and the JHU’s stand is to curtail existing powers of the PCs vis-a-vis demands for more powers and devolution to PCs," said Western Provincial Council member Nishantha Sri Warnasinghe at the JHU headquarters. The statement came as a response to a move by the NPC to prohibit the sale of toddy produced in the South. "The NPC may ban...
A scheduled debate in Sri Lanka’s parliament on a proposed new constitution has been postponed with no new dates set, reports The Island . The debate was due to take place on January 9th, but has now been cancelled, according to a “top parliamentary official”. No reason has been given for the postponement. Leader of the House Lakshman Kiriella told the Daily Mirror that it would be another two weeks until the debate takes place. A steering committee appointed by the Constitutional Assembly and headed by Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe is reported to be discussing the draft...