The Sri Lankan government is attempting to move the cases of Tamil political prisoners to Sinhalese districts, the prisoners’ families have complained to the Northern Province Chief Minister. In a meeting on Wednesday, family members of a number of political prisoners urged Chief Minister Wigneswaran to pressure the government to keep their relatives’ cases in Tamil courts and secure their release. During the discussion, which was led by NPC member V. Sivayogan, families of political prisoners said they had been told by the prisoners themselves that attempts were underway to transfer their...
The North-East has been the most affected by the current drought that has affected the island with hundreds of thousands suffering, according to the Northern Province Disaster Management Center. The Island reported the Center as stating Jaffna was the hardest hit region, with 126,296 persons of 34,049 families affected by the conditions. Areas in the north have not received rainfall for more than eight months it added. Other districts affected are Mullaitivu (115,308 persons from 35,730 families), Vavuniya (85, 571 persons from 24,507 families), Kilinochchi (83,378 persons from 24,066...
Sri Lankan police have arrested a Buddhist monk in Colombo as he staged a protest against the Bodu Bala Sena (BBS) on Wednesday. Watareka Vijitha Thera was arrested by Colombo Fort Police as he protested outside the Presidential Secretariat. The Daily Mirror alleges he was “behaving in a violent manner” while Colombo Gazette reports was arrested for “disrupting the duties of officials”. Bodu Bala Sena, an organisation led by Buddhist monks, has been accused of stoking violence against non-Sinhala Buddhist groups on the island. Earlier this year, the organisation’s leader Galagoda Aththe...
Sri Lanka’s Minister of Finance and Mass Media said media institutions on the island had a responsibility to report the truth, as he accused certain outlets of producing fake news. ColomboPage reported Minister Mangala Samaraweera as stating “it is the responsibility of the media to impart truthful information to the public with self-regulation”. “The Minister has added that certain social networking websites and some of the newspapers have become factories manufacturing false news,” ColomboPage reported. His comments come after Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe raised the...
Former Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa has signed an affidavit testifying against two senior Army officers who face corruption charges. Mr Rajapaksa’s testimony was in response to claims by the senior army officers that they had acted under the instruction of the former defence secretary. Former Army Commander Lt Gen Daya Ratnayake and former Additional Defence Secretary Sripala Hettiarachchi face allegations of multimillion rupee fraud involving removal of iron from the Kankesanthurai Cement Factory situated in the High Security Zone in Jaffna. Siripala Hettiarachi in a statement made...
Sri Lanka’s Inspector General of Police Pujith Jayasundera during the second day of his visit to Jaffna said the threat of the Liberation Tamil Tigers of Tamil Eelam has not been removed. Speaking at a meeting with religious leaders and civil society organisations, Mr Jayasundera said, “Though we have eliminated terrorism from the country, no one can make sure that seeds of terrorism had been removed completely. It is true that the weapons used to by terrorists wear handed over in large number to the Government but it doesn’t mean all the weapons had been handed over. Some extremists and...
The former navy spokesperson was re-remanded until August 10 today by the Colombo Fort magistrate over the abduction and disappearance of 11 Tamil youths in 2008, reports Daily Mirror . Commodore D K P Dassanayake was arrested last month after being identified as a suspect in the crime by Sri Lanka's Criminal Investigation Division. The leader of the PHU defended the former navy spokesperson and said the arrest "was merely an attempt made by supporters of the LTTE to get back at the individuals who helped defeat the LTTE using the government."
On 1st August 2007, Sahathevan Nilakshan, an up and coming Tamil journalist was shot and killed by suspected Sri Lankan military intelligence personnel.
The Sri Lankan government has cut import taxes on rice, flour, maize and fish in an attempt to keep prices down after drought affected crops, reports Economy Next . The 5 rupee import tax on rice has been cut to 25 cents and fish levy cut from 50 rupees to 25 rupees. The tax on wheat flour imports has been reduced by 10 rupees from 25 rupees per kilo to 15 rupees.
The commander of the Sri Lankan army has reiterated “strong army commitment” to peacekeeping missions at a seminar held at the Hotel Taj Samudra in Colombo today.