In her submission to the Congress Subcommittee on Asia-Pacific’s hearing on US influence in South Asia, the US Acting Assistant Secretary of State, Alice Wells on Thursday reiterated the need for Sri Lanka to implement a credible mechanism to investigate and prosecute alleged war crimes and fulfil the commitments outlined in the UN Human Rights Council resolution co-sponsored by both countries. Assuring the US’ commitment to work with Sri Lanka towards fulfilling the resolution, Ms Wells highlighted what she described as “specific steps” towards the resolution commitments including: “...
Sri Lanka's new Inland Revenue Bill was passed in parliament today with 100 voting in favour of it and 41 against. The initial bill had to be revised after the country's Supreme Court ruled that certain aspects were at odds with the constitution. Welcoming the bill, Sri Lanka's finance minister, Mangala Samaraweera said it was founded on four points - “burden proportionate to ability to pay, certainty, convenience and efficiency of collection”. He urged everyone to pay as much income tax as possible if they loved their country. The new provisions regarding income taxes would come into effect...
The Eastern Provincial Council has called for the UN and the international community to intervene to end the genocide of Rohingya Muslims by the Myanmar state. The Council will forward a special resolution passed unanimously by members on Thursday, calling on the Sri Lankan president and prime minister to urge countries to intervene.
Sri Lanka's Supreme Court has received 13 petitions against the proposed 20th Amendment, the Speaker Karu Jayasuriya told parliament on Wednesday, Ceylon Today reported. The Amendment seeks to hold all provincial council elections on one day, and has led to the postponement of elections in provinces such as the Eastern Province. It has been widely criticised by councils, as well as election monitoring bodies.
In a further attempt to distance itself from the former army commander, Field Marshal Sarath Fonseka, Sri Lanka's Leader of the House said this week that Mr Fonseka's views were personal and not that of the government's. "The statement made by Fonseka was his personal opinion and not that of the government," Mr Lakshman Kiriella told parliament, the Sunday Leader reported. The foreign minister would be making a detailed statement in two weeks, Mr Kiriella reportedly added. Last week, the former military general Jagath Jayasuriya was forced to flee Brazil after human rights organisations filed...
The former Sri Lankan defence secretary, Gotabaya Rajapaksa on Wednesday launched a new organisation aimed at defeating the government's plans for a new constitution. Claiming the new constitution was aimed at appeasing the "LTTE diaspora" and would lead to secession, Mr Rajapaksa vowed to defeat the project. "Separate state can't be given on platter vicariously thru new constitution after 30 years of sacrifice #SriLanka #Eliya #NoToSeparateState" he tweeted.
The Chemmani massacre of 1996, in which Sri Lankan soldiers raped and murdered Tamil schoolgirl, Krishanthi Kumaraswamy, and murdered three of her family members that had come looking for her, was remembered today in Jaffna.
A tense situation arose in Amparai on Saturday when police ordered Buddhist monks to stop construction work near a Buddhist vihara in Manikkamadu. The monks have been attempting to build a rest house on what they claim is land belonging to the vihara and Buddhist archaeological site on Mayakalli hill, but were told to stop by police when the Muslim and Tamil landowners obtained a court order against the construction. Eastern Provincial Council ministers went to the location to ensure the construction was halted, with police allegedly having to diffuse a tense situation between locals and...
The Indian government has provided an Offshore Patrol Vessel to the Sri Lanka Coast Guard, handing it over in a ceremony in Kochi, India on Tuesday. Formerly used by the Indian Coast Guard, the ship will be used by the Sri Lanka Coast Guard for patrolling and surveillance in Sri Lanka waters, humanitarian assistance and disaster response operations, prevention of maritime pollution as well as training purposes, the Sri Lankan Navy website says.
Japan has initiated talks with Sri Lanka and India with the view of developing the deep water port in Trincomalee, reports Dailymirror.lk. Speaking to journalists in Trincomalee, Japans Ambassador to Sri Lanka Kenichi Suganuma said, Trincomalee was an important strategically located deep sea port which had potential for future development. “We have begun discussions with India on how best to develop the port in the future. There are no concrete plans yet,” he said. Speaking on Japan’s approach to development in Sri Lanka, he said, “In the case of Sri Lanka, we have three sectors. One is high...