• Sri Lanka denies reviewing country specific foreign policy

    Jun 19
    Sri Lanka’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced that Foreign Affairs Minister Mangala Samaraweera had not at any point referred to a review of Sri Lanka’s foreign policy regarding specific countries.
  • Sri Lanka considers re-establishing Tamil Nadu ferry link

    Sri Lanka's state-owned Ceylon Shipping Corporation said it is considering a plan to re-establish a ferry service between India and the island's North-East.

    Authorities said the service, which would run between Mannar and Rameswaram, would need the permission of Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalitha.

    Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to the island earlier this year breathed new life into the project. The Northern Provincial Council also passed a resolution earlier this year, demanding the recommencement of transport links between the North-East and Tamil Nadu.

    The United Nations refugee agency earlier this year also called on Sri Lanka to resume ferry services between India and Sri Lanka to help Tamil refugees in India return to the North-East of Sri Lanka.

    Earlier this week it emerged that India submitted a feasibility proposal to the Asian Deveopment Bank for a bridge across the Palk Strait. Sri Lanka however said it has not had any discussions with the Indian government regarding this matter.

  • SLFP official sacked over Mahinda rally

    Sri Lanka's President Maithripala Sirisena has sacked a local SLFP official for his role in organising a party rally in support of former president Mahinda Rajapaksa.

  • Sri Lankan military organises musical show for Tamil villagers

    The Sri Lankan army organised a musical show for Tamil villagers at a school in the North-East, reports the Kilinochchi Security Forces official website.

    Soldiers from the Sri Lankan army were on stage, complete in uniform, whilst Tamil villagers from Mulankavil watched on and sang.

  • Military commemorates Sri Lankan soldiers in Jaffna

  • Sri Lankan president says Buddhist clergy ‘sacrificed lives for motherland’

  • Chinese companies to build wells in North-East

    Two Chinese firms have funded the construction of five wells in the North-East, worth over $14,000, after a request by a local NGO.

    The China Communications Construction Company Colombo Port City Project Company and the China Harbor Sri Lanka Area Company donated $14,400 towards constructing the wells in the Puthukkudiyiruppu area.

    Vice General Manager of China Harbor Sri Lanka Area Company, Deng Bo told Xinhua on Wednesday that while Sri Lanka has made obvious development and progress in the recent years, the dilemma of having clean water in the northern region still existed.

  • UNP will go it alone at general election

    The United National Party (UNP), currently the main constituent of the present government led by the SLFP’s President Maithripala Sirisena, has decided to contest the upcoming general election on its own, according to Plantation Minister Lakshman Kiriella.

  • Sri Lanka will lead any investigation says foreign minister
    Sri Lanka’s foreign minister stressed that his government would lead any investigation of violations of international humanitarian law and that Sri Lanka has an "omnidirectional foreign policy", in an interview with Nikkei Asian Review published on Friday.

    Mangala Samaraweera stated that whilst international technical assistance may be accepted, the process to investigate mass atrocities on the island will be "a unique Sri Lankan mechanism".

    Tens of thousands of Tamil civilians were massacred during the final phases of the armed conflict, with the United Nations having commissioned an investigation into reports of mass atrocities that occurred.

    Stating that Sri Lanka’s parliament would be dissolved in the coming weeks, Mr Samarawera said that the new government "will be able to work out a durable political solution which will address the grievances of the different communities of Sri Lanka and work out the new contours of a nation united in its diversity".

  • ‘Transparent, responsive and pluralistic government can reap economic benefits' says Canada
    The High Commissioner of Canada to Sri Lanka said that the government “has an opportunity to reap the economic benefits of a peace dividend by fostering a transparent, responsive and pluralistic government”, as a partnership was launched between the Trade Facilitation Office Canada (TFO Canada) and Sri Lanka's Export Development Board (EDB).

    The High Commissioner of Canada Shelley Whiting said the newly announced agreement would allow small and medium sized businesses reach the Canadian market, adding that added that "it will support Sri Lankan efforts to harness Sri Lanka's economic potential well into the future".

  • Tamils struggle for freedom in Sri Lanka’s ‘new democracy’
    Mullivaikaal today is a picture perfect beach with a small fishing community. Boats line the seafront, stuffed with freshly caught fish, sting rays and even tiny sharks. It is hard to imagine that this beach was soaked in the blood of thousands of Tamils in 2009, as the Sri Lankan military indiscriminately shelled the last strip of territory controlled by the outlawed Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). The fishermen say they were allowed to return here in 2012, and the physical signs of massacre have mostly been erased now, apart from a few sand bags in a crater behind the beach. But the pain is still etched onto the memories of the survivors, and many live in ramshackle shelters struggling to make a living.
  • Sri Lankan army opens Buddhist monk residence in North-East

  • Mahinda Rajapaksa will not be given prime ministerial portfolio confirms cabinet spokesman

    Sri Lanka’s former president Mahinda Rajapaksa has been refused a prime ministerial portfolio in the upcoming general elections, said the government cabinet spokesperson on Wednesday.

    Speaking at a press conference after Sri Lanka’s president Maithripala Sirisena met Mahinda Rajapaksa, Rajitha Senaratne said,

  • TAG Eyewitness Account: Shanthi's Story
    Shanthi’s Story

    The following account is based on interviews to Tamils Against Genocide. Personal details of Shanthi (not her real name), place names and dates have been changed to protect her identity.

    “The smell of blood was so strong, [there were] flies everywhere,there were puddles with bodies lying in them.”

               This is how Shanthi describes the final two weeks of the war in May 2009. In an interview interspersed with deep sobs, she describes how she, her mother and her 4 year old daughter cowered in makeshift shelters, avoiding the bombs that were falling all around them. On the move constantly, they hid during the shelling and ran to different places in the lulls before new waves of shelling began. There was no food or water. People were injured and dying around her. The picture she paints is of a panicked populace, on the move constantly, strangers joining with other strangers to tend to the wounded, the dying and each other. This is her story.

  • Sri Lanka cuts levies on lentils to support locals in rising global markets

    Sri Lanka’s Finance Ministry, on Wednesday, announced that commodity levies on lentils would be reduced.

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