• Wigneswaran discharged from hospital and looks to reschedule meeting on land grabs

    Apr 18
    The Chief Minister of the Northern Province Justice C V Wigneswaran has been discharged from Jaffna teaching hospital today after being admitted with a brief illness, reports the Sunday Times.

    The chief minister was scheduled to meet Sri Lanka’s president and prime minister in Colombo on Monday, to discuss the ongoing occupation of land in the Tamil North-East by Sri Lankan security forces.
  • Sri Lankan experts slam Mittal houses for North-East

    The homes for Tamil IDPs which are due to be built by Indian giant Arcelor Mittal, after a controversial deal with the Sri Lankan government, have come under fire by experts from Moratuwa University.

    Engineers Prof. Priyan Dias and Dr Rangika Halwatura and architect Varuna de Silva published a preliminary report of their study, which found that the homes for the Tamil war affected people have inadequate foundations, insufficient roof support, are at risk of corrosion, are poorly ventilated and have no hearth and chimney, The Sunday Times reported.

    Meanwhile the TNA has attacked the government over the housing scheme.

    Spokesperson M.A. Sumanthiran accused the Ministry of Resettlement of adopting a disorganised approach in selecting the beneficiaries to provide the homes, The Nation reported.

  • Sri Lanka to meet EU for fishing ban discussions
    Sri Lanka’s Ministry of Fisheries Aquatic Resources Development retracted an announcement that the EU fishing ban will be lifted, in a statement made on Tuesday.

    In a statement issued after the in response to an announcement made by the ministry spokesman WMD Wanninayake, the Ministry said that a high level discussion between government officials and the European Union is scheduled for April 21 to discuss the lifting of the ban.
  • Persecution of Christians increased under new Sri Lankan govt
    The persecution of Christians has increased under the new Sri Lankan government, a human rights lawyer told Christian Today, with over 120 documented cases since the change of government last year compared to 52 under the previous regime.

    The cases reportedly include cases of violence and increasingly involve Buddhist monks, said the chief executive of the charity, Release International, Paul Robinson.

    "You don't normally associate Buddhism with violence, but time and again we hear that it is Buddhist monks who are leading the attacks against the churches," Mr Robinson said in a statement. 

    "And our partners have found the monks are being aided by pro-Buddhist authorities ... This has to be brought into the spotlight."

  • Sirisena opposes VAT increase
    Sri Lanka's president Maithripala Sirisena on Monday announced that he opposed the planned increase in Value Added Tax (VAT), LBO reported.

    At a public address in his hometown of Polonnaruwa, Mr Sirisena said the "new government is people friendly" and the increase on VAT would burden the people.
  • Sri Lanka's military occupies over 67,000 acres of Tamil land

    Sri Lanka’s military occupies over 67,427 acres of Tamil land found the British Tamils Fourm in a desk study conducted using field data from sources in the North-East and official government statistics.

    In a statement released on Monday, the BTF said,

  • Sri Lanka discusses PTA with UN counter terrorism committee
    Sri Lanka on Monday discussed revising the Prevention of Terrorism Act with the executive director of the UN Counter Terrorism Committee, Jean Paul, reported Hiru News.

    The meeting between Mr Paul and Sri Lanka's minister of law and order, Sagala Ratnayaka took place in New York, and followed a visit by the UN committee to Sri Lanka earlier this month the paper added.
  • Sri Lankan police attempt to arrest Tamil protestors

    Sri Lankan police officers attempted to arrest Tamil protestors in Jaffna on Monday, after they entered land which has been illegally taken over by the government's Coconut Development Board.

    Demonstrators, including Tamil National Alliance MP Sritharan, entered the 51-acre patch of land in Palai, Jaffna on Monday, demanding it be returned to its rightful owners. A decision had been granted in favour of the Tamil villagers by the District Development Committee, yet the Sri Lankan authorities continue their occupation.

  • Sri Lanka's territorial claim draws objections from neighbours

    The Sri Lankan government's claim on a continental shelf has raised objections from India, Bangladesh and the Maldives, reports the Dhaka Tribune.

    Sri Lanka has made a submission before the United Nations that claims a portion of a continental shelf, an underwater land mass that extends from the seabed of a country, which Bangladesh also laid claim too.

  • Trishaw driver attempts to abduct and sexually abuse Scottish tourists in Sri Lanka

    A trishaw driver in Sri Lanka fled after he attempted to abduct and abuse two Scottish tourists who are currently visiting the island, reports the Daily Mirror.

    The driver had reportedly picked up the women in his trishaw from Kandy, before driving to an abandoned building in Hantane, where he attempted to sexually abuse the women.

  • Sampanthan says political prisoners disrupted release process

    The leader of the Tamil National Alliance R Sampanthan is facing controversy over his 'disrespectful' treatment of two former political prisoners during a meeting in which he accused them of disrupting processes in getting them released.

    Video footage shows Mr Sampanthan flicking through a newspaper while the two Tamil men speak about the plight of remaining political prisoners.

    The former prisoners, Komahan Murugiah and Jeneevan Sivarasa can be seen telling Mr Sampanthan that they have not come to meet him for personal reasons, but that they were asked to meet him by the remaining Tamil political prisoners, while the TNA leader leafs through his paper.

    Mr Sampanthan, barely lifting his eyes off the paper, then tells the men that the release of the political prisoners is an important issue for the Tamil people.

  • NPC member highlights Sinhala colonisation of North-East

    More than 600 Sinhala fishermen have now settled in 9 different coastal areas across Mullativiu said Northern Provincial Council member T Ravikaran, as he outlined details of state-sponsored colonisation of the Tamil North-East.

    Mr Ravikaran also stated that at least 9 Buddhist viharas had been constructed in the Mullaitivu district in the last 6 years alone, all of which have been aided by the Sri Lankan armed forces.

    The councillor detailed the long history of state-sponsored colonisation, recalling that in 1981 12 to 14 fishermen had been granted temporary permits to settle in Kokkilai and fish. Now the number in that village alone is 300.

  • Wigneswaran's meeting on land grabs postponed after hospitalisation

    The Chief Minister of the Northern Province Justice C V Wigneswaran was set to meet Sri Lanka's president and prime minister in Colombo today, in order to discuss the ongoing issue of military occupation of civilians lands in the Tamil North-East.

  • Sri Lanka's National Security Fearmongers
    Sri Lankan police have recently uncovered ammunition, a suicide vest, and explosives in Chavakachcheri, a town in the country’s north. It’s widely (and realistically) believed that this is an old arms cache. Let’s keep in mind that from 1983-2009 a brutal civil war raged in this South Asian island nation. The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) were fighting for a separate Tamil state in the country’s Northern and Eastern Provinces.

    In May 2009, the Sri Lankan government – under the leadership of former president, Mahinda Rajapaksa – militarily crushed the LTTE. However, Sinhala nationalism and the idea (however remote) of the LTTE regrouping within the country can still be used for domestic political gain, especially by Rajapaksa. After all, in the eyes of many Sinhala people, Sri Lanka’s overwhelming ethnic majority, Rajapaksa remains a war hero who defeated a ruthless separatist organization.

    Though Rajapaksa unexpectedly lost the country’s January 2015 presidential election, he is currently a member of parliament. Given the wide-ranging corruption allegations against him and his family, he has no incentive to leave public life. In that context, it’s unsurprising that the former president has chosen to weigh in regarding the recent arms discovery. According to Rajapaksa, the weapons that the police found weren’t old, the implication being that the country should be concerned about a return to Tamil militancy in the Tamil-dominated north.
  • Sri Lankan officials in DC for IMF meet

    A high level delegation of Sri Lankan officials is in Washington DC to negotiate with the IMF about an economic programme to help ease its balance of payment crisis.

    Finance minister Ravi Karunanayake and Central Bank governor Arjuna Mahendran are attending the IMF and World Bank spring meetings in the US capital.

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