CCTV of anti-Muslim violence in Kandy this month reveal Sri Lankan politicians and police officers joined mobs launching the attacks, Reuters reported after reviewing the images and speaking to witnesses. "Victims and witnesses, whose accounts were partly backed by CCTV footage seen by Reuters, described members of an elite paramilitary police unit, the Special Task Force (STF), assaulting Muslim cleric and leaders," the news wire said. One Muslim cleric who witnessed the attack told Reuters that the police "came to attack", beating the people it was supposed to be protecting. “They were...
Tamils across the North-East have been campaigning for the pardon of a Tamil political prisoner, after his wife’s death left their two young children without support. A signature campaign calling for the pardon of Satchithanantham Anandasuthakaran has been underway across the North-East, after emotional photos of the funeral of Mr Anandasuthakaran’s wife, in which their young son performed the last rites and their young daughter attempted to board a prison bus with her father who was given three hours to attend the funeral, went viral on social media. The Chief Minister of the Northern...
A Tamil motorist was killed on the spot when a military vehicle crashed into him on the main road in Chavakachcheri on Saturday. The crash occurred when the victim attempted to pass a car that had been stopped by traffic police. There were tensions in the area as angry locals and witnesses blamed traffic police for unnecessarily stopping the car and causing the crash.
The Sri Lankan Army continues its involvement in Tamil schools as children from a Koppay preschool were taken on a tour of the Palali air base. The air base falls within occupied land which the Sri Lankan Army maintains as a “high security zone”, nine years after the end of the war. Teachers reported that Sri Lankan Army officials actively go to Tamil preschools to arrange such visits and activities and that teachers feel powerless to raise objections.
The No-Confidence motion against the Sri Lankan prime minister, Ranil Wickremesinghe is to be debated in parliament on April 4. The motion, reportedly signed by 55 MPs, was handed over to the Speaker of the House, Karu Jayasuriya on Wednesday. A state minister and two deputy ministers have signed the motion, the Sunday Times reported.
Pakistan and Sri Lanka on Friday signed three Memorandums of Understanding (MoU) on Friday, as the Sri Lankan president, Maithripala Sirisena visited Islamabad. The countries also pledged to enhance trade and economic relations. President Sirisena was reported by the Colombo Page as praising "the continuous assistance provided by Pakistan to Sri Lanka when the country face disastrous situations and also expressed his appreciation over the assistance provided by the Pakistan government to the security forces by training them, during the war period." Read more here and here .
India has delivered, what will be the Sri Lankan Navy’s most advanced ship, 25 days ahead of schedule reports, Colombo Gazette. The purchase of Offshore Patrol Vessels (OPV) from India formed one of the largest and most significant form of defence ties between Sri Lanka and India, with the purchase being considered one of India’s largest export contracts to a neighbouring nation. Speaking at the opening ceremony of the vessel, India’s Rear Admiral Shekhar Mital said, “This state of the art and largest ship in the Sri Lanka Naval fleet will help the increasing requirement of the Sri Lanka Navy...
The Sri Lanka Podujana Peramun (SLPP) has elected a new Mayor in the United National Party (UNP) controlled region of Negombo. After joining forces with the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) the SLPP local government members elected Dayan Lansa of the SLPP as the new mayor. The Negombo Municipal Council was won by the United National Party at recent Local Government elections. See more here.
The chief minister of the northern province, C V Wigneswaran this week urged the Sri Lankan president, Maithripala Sirisena to release a Tamil political prisoner, whose wife died this month, leaving their children without a present parent. "Considering the age of the hapless children Your Excellency could use your discretion to grant pardon to the prisoner on humanitarian grounds," Mr Wigneswaran wrote in a letter.
Families of the disappeared in Muthur staged a protest in Bharathipuram on Wednesday.