A protest was staged to condemn the ragging offences that took place against students and sexual harassment that was conducted via mobile phones, last Tuesday (Feb 11). 

Sri Lanka’s prime minister Mahinda Rajapaksa sent out a scathing warning to “born traitors who are waiting for the first opportunity to betray the country” as he confirmed his government was withdrawing from co-sponsoring a UN resolution on accountability for war crimes.

In a statement released this morning Rajapaksa slammed the US sanctions on Shavendra Silva, announced on Friday over his involvement in war crimes during a military offensive a decade ago, stating it was a “collective punishment reminiscent of the practice in medieval Europe”.

Amnesty International (AI) voiced their solidarity with the families of the disappeared who marched in Colombo on Friday (Feb 14) and insisted the government “must deliver justice, truth and reparation to the families of the forcibly disappeared.” 

Following the United States’ announcement that the head of Sri Lanka’s army was subject to a travel ban over his involvement in mass atrocities, there have been markedly contrasting responses from Sinhala and Tamil actors on the island and beyond.

The Australian Tamil Congress (ATC) welcomed the travel ban imposed Sri Lanka’s army chief, Lt. Gen. Shavendra Silva and his family, in a statement released yesterday.

A Sri Lankan parliamentarian and leader of the extremist Pivithuru Hela Urumaya (PHU) has lashed out at the United States, calling the country “the number one war criminal in the world” in response to travel sanctions placed on the commander of Sri Lanka’s army for his involvement in mass atrocities last week.

The former chief minister of the Northern Province C V Wigneswaran has praised the US travel ban imposed on Sri Lanka’s army chief, Lt. Gen. Shavendra Silva, last week and said he ‘speaks on behalf of Tamils of Sri Lanka’ when he says the decision is commendable.

Current Sri Lankan prime minister Mahinda Rajapaksa will lead a newly formed coalition between the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) and the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP), ahead of Sri Lanka’s parliamentary elections next month.

Sri Lankan police arrested a former LTTE cadre and two others in Vavuniya, for allegedly carrying out illegal excavations last week.

Sri Lanka’s president Mahinda Rajapaksa met with two US Congressmen and the US Ambassador to the island on Saturday, where they reportedly discussed “counterterrorism” and the relationship between the two governments.

Sri Lanka army commander, Major General Darshana Hettiarachchi, was brought out of retirement and reappointed as the Rehabilitation Commissioner General on Friday.

Senior Buddhist monks from Sri Lanka’s leading Sinhala Buddhist chapters have joined the chorus of outrage at US travel sanctions imposed on the head of the army, over his involvement in mass atrocities.

The Malwatte and Asgiriya chapters of Siyam Nikaya Chapters reportedly “expressed their displeasure” after the United States announced Shavendra Silva and his family would not be allowed to travel to the country on Friday, due to his involvement in reported war crimes, including extrajudicial killings, a decade ago

The Sri Lankan government has reportedly decided to withdraw from a United National Human Rights Council resolution that mandated an accountability mechanism for the prosecution of mass atrocities, just weeks before it was due to be discussed in Geneva.