• International laws need to be incorporated into Sri Lanka's domestic law for war crime court - Taylor Dibbert

    Dec 04
    Commenting on the former Sri Lankan president's claims of setting up a war crimes court in January, Taylor Dibbert questioned how such an effective court could be set up without proper victim’s consultations and failure to ratify international law.

    Full opinion reproduced below.

    Sri Lanka has recently announced that it will create a new court to examine abuses which allegedly transpired during the country's civil war. The government has noted that this is going to be a domestic mechanism, but hasn't ruled out the possibility of some international involvement. The abrupt announcement of this special court came as a surprise to many. Former president Chandrika Kumaratunga has stated that the court will commence its work either later this month or in January.
  • IMF to consider Sri Lanka's request for stand-by agreement
    The International Monetary Fund is considering Sri Lanka’s request for a standby agreement after the country’s foreign exchange reserves fell to a two year low.

    The IMF’s response will depend on an assessment of Sri Lanka’s macroeconomic vulnerabilities, the nature of the balance of payments said the IMF’s representative in Colombo.

     Responding to emailed questions, Eteri Kvintradze said,
  • Sirisena says appointing Karuna as minister aids reconciliation
    President Maithripala Sirisena said that appointing the liberation Tamil Tigers of Tamil Eelam defector Karuna Aman as a minister and as Sri Lanka Freedom Party Vice President was the right decision.
  • Ranil and Mahinda hold close door meeting before addressing parliament
    Former President Mahinda Rajapaksa and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremasinghe has a private meeting in parliament on Friday.

    According to dailymirror.lk Mahinda Rajapaksa spoke in parliament immediately after the meeting.

    Mahinda Rajapaksa addressed parliament for the first time since the parliamentary elections on Friday.
  • Sri Lanka is committed to world peace says president
    Sri Lanka is committed to peace building and supporting world peace, said the country's president, Maithripala Sirisena, this week.

    Mr Sirisena made these remarks to a delegation from the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO) who he met at his Colombo residence, the Colombo Page reported.

    See more here.

  • No freehold land for China's port city project says Sri Lanka
    The Sri Lankan finance minister, Ravi Karunanayake, made clear on Wednesday that the ban on foreigners buying freehold land in the country, would include China's port city project, reported Reuters.

    The project, which was initially agreed by the former president Mahinda Rajapaksa, has been suspended pending further discussions since the new government came to power.
  • Chandrika calls for some political prisoners to be released
    The former Sri Lankan president and chair of the newly established Office for National Unity and Reconciliation (ONUR), Chandrika Kumaratunga, called for some political prisoners to be released.

    Speaking at a press conference on Tuesday, Ms Kumaratunga described the prisoners as falling into three categories and stressed that those who she called "LTTE murderers", could not be released "just like that".

    "There are only about 300 political prisoners who are in prisons, and the thousands who were reported missing are not imprisoned in secret camps; perhaps they have disappeared for good.These 300 have been categorised into three," she was quoted by Ceylon Today as saying.

  • BTF calls on British Tamils to donate towards Chennai floods appeal
    The British Tamils Forum called on Tamils in the UK to aid those suffering due to the severe floods in Chennai by donating to the public aid appeal initiated by the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu.

    "We are devastated to learn of the unprecedented destruction brought about by floods in the coastal areas of Tamil Nadu including Chennai. Two weeks of non-stop torrential rain has created a humanitarian crisis with 269 people dead, more than 700 people critically injured and tens of thousands of people made homeless and displaced," the BTF said in a statement released on Thursday, adding that further rain was expected over coming days.

  • Tamil girl hit by military vehicle dies

    A 15-year old girl died after being hit by a military vehicle on Thursday morning.

  • Exam period in the North-East

    Students in a school in the North-East resorted to holding umbrellas while writing their exams.

    Heavy rains meant that the roofs of the makeshift classrooms at the Iraanaipalai Roman Catholic Maha Vidhiyalayam, in Mullaithivu, were unable to keep students dry.

  • Sri Lanka's budget based on 'overly optimistic' presumptions warns Fitch
    Sri Lanka’s 2016 budget fails to tackle risk of further deterioration in the fiscal deficit said Fitch Ratings last week.

    The ratings agency found that Sri Lanka’s new budget relied on the presumption of a strong global trade environment, warning that Sri Lanka’s growth assumptions may be overly optimistic.
  • Mahinda slams involvement of international community in Sri Lanka

    Former president Mahinda Rajapaksa has criticised the involvement of foreign governments in Sri Lanka's affairs, including visits and demands to demilitarise the North-East.

    Mr Rajapaksa criticised the government for allowing the UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances to visit military facilities.

    "Officials of foreign organisations have been permitted unfettered access to Sri Lanka’s military installations such as the Naval base in Trincomalee. This has resulted in an immediate danger posed to members of the intelligence wing of the Navy,

    "Officials of foreign governments have visited our country and made demarches to Sri Lanka’s leadership about withdrawing the military from the Northern province. Decisions with regard to the deployment of troops are matters that should solely be within the sovereign jurisdiction of Sri Lanka. I cannot approve of officials of foreign governments declaring that they will remain ‘cautious and vigilant’ with regard to military matters in Sri Lanka," he said in parliament.

  • SLA Massacre of 32 Tamils in Othiyamalai remembered

    Villagers in Mullaitivu marked 31 years since the massacre of 32 young Tamils by the Sri Lankan Army in Othiyamalai.

    Photograph: Tamilwin.com

    On the 2nd December 1984, men in the village of Othiyamalai, Mullaitivu were rounded up by the Sri Lankan Army, dragged to the village community centre and stripped naked and tied up by their clothes.

  • Thousands left homeless in Chennai as relief operations mount

    Photo: FirstPost

    Incessant rainfalls have continued to swell reservoirs and rivers in Tamil Nadu, with the capital Chennai among the worst affected area.

    Large parts of the city are under water, and its international airport has been closed for a second day.

    Rains have caused the closure of schools for 17 days now, with electricity and communication lines suspended.

    More rain fell on the city in one day than in the UK in an entire year, with  a record 49 cm of rainfall in Tambaram in 24 hours, from 8.30 a.m. on Tuesday.

  • Tamil political detainee on day release robbed by police

    A Tamil political detainee, held in a rehabilitation camp under the Prevention of Terrorism Act, was robbed by police while he on day release to visit his sick daughter at their home in Chavakachcheri, Jaffna, Sri Lanka Mirror reported.

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