The Sri Lankan military announced the opening of a newly constructed building at its Eastern Province headquarters last week, as it continued to expand its presence in the region. The construction of the new officer’s accommodation block was a project launched just four months ago, reported an official military website . The opening comes just days before Sri Lanka’s army commander stressed there was no move to close camps on the Tamil North-East of the island.
The UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon is to visit Jaffna next week, as part of a visit to Sri Lanka. The 3 day visit will include discussions with the Sri Lankan president Maithripala Sirisena and prime minister, Ranil Wickremesinghe on August 31. "While in Sri Lanka, the Secretary General will also visit a resettlement site in Jaffna in north of the country and participate in an event on the role of youth in reconciliation and coexistence in Galle, in the south of the island," his spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric told reporters on Wednesday.
A Tamil political prisoner, who was admitted into Jaffna Teaching Hospital, escaped from Sri Lankan police on Wednesday night. The prisoner, identified as 37 year old Rasaiya Anantharaja, was admitted into Jaffna Hospital on 14 Aug, following a transfer from Anuradhapura prison hospital. Despite being held under police surveillance, at around 10 pm on Wednesday, guards noticed Mr Anantharaja was not at his bed. The alarm was raised and security forces immediately began an intense search of the surrounding areas. He has not yet been found. Mr Anantharaja was first arrested by Sri Lankan police...
Sri Lanka’s president has denied reports that he demanded bribes for construction project contracts to be granted on the island, following the leak of internal emails and an ongoing Australian police investigation. Maithripala Sirisena, said in an overnight statement that he had "no knowledge of the incident" and instead requested further details of the case.
A Red Cross officer was detained and interrogated by the Sri Lankan military after visiting the relatives of a missing person who was a high-ranking member of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, reports IPS . Speaking to IPS anonymously, the officer was reported to have been "detained by the military for over three hours". "“The family in India did not know, I did not know, that he was a high-ranking member of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. The moment I went to his house to seek information, the military was outside,” the officer said. A volunteer tracing coordinator in Mannar, Ravi...
Sri Lanka's army commander, Lieutenant General Crishantha de Silva this week rejected statements made by politicians that military camps in the North would be scaled back, stating that no decision had been made. “No decision has been taken to remove Army camps in the North and there is no truth behind this claim,” he was quoted by the Daily Mirror as saying on Thursday, whilst addressing a press briefing at the Colombo Defence Seminar. “Everyone should know what an Army camp is. A camp is a permanent facility for the lodging of army personnel. We are going to keep only the required area for...
One of Scotland’s most senior judges had criticised the current British Prime Minister for dismissal of a Tamil asylum claim last year. Former Lord Advocate Lord Boyd of Duncansby said that then Home Secretary Theresa May had “acted unreasonably” and was “too ready to dismiss” letters from the asylum seeker’s family who insisted his life was under threat in Sri Lanka. The asylum seeker, a former LTTE cadre, was attempting to stay in Scotland when the Home Secretary refused to allow further evidence to be heard in his case in November 2015. A July 2013 letter from the claimant’s sister said...
The body of a Muslim businessman who was abducted last week has been found, some 100km north of the southern capital Colombo. Mohammed Sakeem Sulaiman, a 29 year old from Bambalapitiya, was reported missing on Sunday. He had recently complained to the CID about fraud committed by other business people amounting to Rs 70 million, the Daily Mirror reported. The abductors had kidnapped him from his home. His body was discovered on Wednesday.
A major corruption scandal has revealed that Sri Lankan president Maithripala Sirisena demanded a “political donation” be paid by an Australian company, in order to secure construction contracts on the island. A Fairfax Media investigation uncovered company emails from the Snowy Mountains Engineering Company (SMEC) that revealed the Sri Lankan president and his adviser demanded a political "donation" be made in order to secure a construction contract. The emails further revealed that Mr Sirisena plotted to skim money from a 2009 World Bank funded project in return for awarding SMEC the...
Displaced Tamil families in Paravipanchan, Kilinochchi last week ended their hunger strike against the Sri Lankan military's occupation of their land, after the Tamil National Alliance leader, R Sampanthan assured them the land would be released within two weeks. In a series of video clips published by LankaSri, the elderly TNA leader is seen getting out of a vehicle to be met with the full team of key TNA figures, including the spokesperson, M A Sumanthiran, the Ilankai Thamil Arasu Katchi leader, Mavai Senathirajah, the Uthayan editor and TNA MP, Saravanabhavan and the Kilinochchi MP, S...