The chief minister of the Northern Province on Friday rejected concerns that the Northern Provincial Council (NPC) was trying to divide the country by calling a federal system. Speaking to journalists in Sinhala, Mr Wigneswaran said such a system would unite the country. “The country is not divided by a Federal system as claimed by some people. Politicians have reiterated for years that a federal system leads to division of the country and the people have been forced to believe that. This system is being practised in several countries such as India, America, Canada and Switzerland,” he was quoted by the Daily Mirror as saying.
Tamil National Alliance leader R Sampanthan challenged the Sri Lanka state to hold a referendum in the North-East to decide on whether the Tamil people wanted a power sharing mechanism on the island. Speaking to the Daily Mirror in a wide ranging interview, the TNA leader was questioned on whether proposals for federalism had the backing of the Tamil people of the North-East. “People want genuine power sharing,” said Mr Sampanthan. “Have a referendum in the North and the East and decide.”
Sri Lankan police have intercepted at least two attempts to smuggle cannabis across the Tamil North-East in the last week, as drug dealing continues to rise across the former conflict area. Tamil Diplomat reports that over 200 kilograms of cannabis was seized by Sri Lankan police after they searched two vehicles travelling from Mannar last week. Meanwhile another smaller seizure of 8kg was also made in the district, in the Talaimannar islet. The coastal town has become an increasingly popular route for drug smugglers to deliver packages of narcotics which are thought to be produced across the Palk Strait in Southern India. Smugglers have also looked to smuggle drugs to Jaffna, with Sri Lankan police stopping a fishing boat which was returning to Point Pedro on Sunday. A M Jaffar, Assistant Superintendent of Police for the Kankesanthurai region, though confirmed no drugs were found on the boat. Acting on a tip off, Sri Lankan police raided the vessel but only found a sack of tamarind and a motorcycle. All 4 men aboard the boat have since been arrested.
Three people believed to have been abducted in Vadamaradchi are being detained by anti-drugs police in Trincomalee. Mr Jeffrin, George Rasanayagam and V. Michael were believed to have been abducted as they were seized in vans by unidentified individuals and their families uninformed. The three men were reported missing by their families to Palai and Kilinochchi police and the case reported to the Human Rights Commission. The inquiries by the Commission led to the discovery that the three men had been arrested by a special drugs force from Trincomalee, despite no record of their arrests being...
Sri Lanka's CID officers arrested a man on Thursday for allegedly threatening the president, Maithripala Sirisena on the social media site, Facebook, reported the Daily Mirror . The man had been deported from Malaysia as he had been staying there without an adequate visa. The man was arrested at Bandaranaike International airport and brought before Colombo's chief magistrate court. He will be remanded in custody till May 6th.
An agreement was reached on Friday between Sri Lanka and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for a $1.5 billion bailout in order to rectify its finances and evert a balance of payments crisis. "The Sri Lankan authorities and the IMF have reached a staff-level agreement on a 36-month Extended Fund Facility (EFF)," the IMF mission chief for Sri Lanka, Todd Schneider, said in a statement. The three-year loan is the second bailout from the IMF since the end of the armed conflict in 2009, and will be depend on Sri Lanka implementing financial reforms including the reduction of the deficit.
Sri Lanka's defence secretary, Karunasena Hettiarachchi said the TID's arrest of former LTTE commanders is in relation to the reported finding of a suicide vest and unexploded explosives in Jaffna. In an interview with the BBC, Mr Hettiarachchi said he could not make any comment until the investigation was over. "After the investigations over and a reports are submitted only we can make a statement," he was quoted by Colombo Page as saying. Denying there was any threat to national security, he added, "we currently do not have such a threat but if there is such a situation we will be vigilant."
Tamil protestors in Puthukkudiyiruppu managed to deter Sri Lankan military surveyors from acquiring a tranche of privately owned land on Wednesday.
US- #SriLanka Action Plan signing today shows econ benefits that can come w/govt embrace of human rgts & transparency pic.twitter.com/r7VMzUDhj5 — Samantha Power (@AmbassadorPower) April 28, 2016 US Ambassador Samantha Power heaped praise on Sri Lanka as a “as a global champion of human rights and democratic accountability,” in a speech delivered in Washington on Thursday. Speaking at the signing of the United States-Sri Lanka Trade and Investment Framework Agreement Council, Ms Power said Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena’s administration “has made extraordinary progress” towards seeking “a durable peace, an accountable democracy, a new relationship with the outside world, and expanded opportunities for all”. The ambassador also reiterated the “importance President Obama, himself, places on the United States’ bilateral relationship with Sri Lanka”. “More specifically, our commitment – and his commitment – to Sri Lanka’s continued progress, and our determination to support President Sirisena in his efforts to ensure that this progress delivers socio-economic benefits for the people of Sri Lanka,” she added. “Sri Lanka has, since January 2015, emerged as a global champion of human rights and democratic accountability,” the ambassador stated.
Sri Lanka faces a high risk of diminishing remittances from migrant workers in the Middle Eastern economies due to the crashing oil prices, warns Fitch Ratings on Friday. In a brief on South Asia, Fitch Ratings said that workers remittance remains a vital source of hard currency for many Asian emerging economies, adding, “Remittance inflows in the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Vietnam are particularly strong relative to the size of their economies. The growth of remittance inflows is slowing in some of these countries, but absolute amount remains large and significant.”...