The leader of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) R. Sampanthan called for power to be shared to the North-East in order to reach a solution to the island’s enduring ethnic conflict. Speaking to the Sinhala language daily newspaper Divaina, in a piece headlined ‘We ask for the Tamil kingdom that the British handed over to the Sinhalese’ , Mr Sampanthan detailed the history of the Tamils in the North-East. “There was a separate kingdom in the North,” said the TNA leader. “The Sinhala people should know the truth. Sinhala leaders should tell the Sinhala people the truth.” Calling for the devolution of power, Mr Sampanthan said: “We all have to come together and share power... It is good for the country and also its people. The Tamil people mostly lived in the North and East. We ask power to be shared to that region.” He also spoke about his recent trip to Scotland, where he and other TNA members attended a constitutional workshop. “A lot of things have happened in Scotland,” he said. “A referendum was held in 2014. It [the referendum] was to decide if Scotland was to be part of the United Kingdom or not.” “We gained awareness about it,” added the TNA leader. “It [having awareness] is good.” Mr Sampanthan also emphasised his support to implement a UN Human Rights Council resolution on an accountability mechanism in full, which included the participation of international judges. The topic filled “most” of his discussion with UN human rights chief Zeid Al Hussein recently, he said, adding “we discussed the need to fulfil completely the matters agreed to in that resolution”.
Northern Provincial Council Chief Minister CV Wigneswaran was scheduled to meet Prime Minister Ranil Wickrememsinghe to discuss a mechanism to obtain foreign aid from development projects in the North-East. The Chief Minister has long sought to establish a mechanism that allows the Northern Province to raise its own funds for development. A request which has until now been denied by Colombo. Ministers of the Northern Provincial Council, District Secretaries and several state officials are expected to join the discussion, reports HiruNews.
Maithripala Sirisena met with German Chancellors Angela Merkel today. Sirisena who is on a 3-day visit to Sri Lanka commenced bi-lateral discussion with the German Chancellor. Delivering a statement after the meeting, Sirisena called on investors to take advantage of Sri Lanka. "We invite more German investors to take advantage of the increasing economic opportunities in Sri Lanka," said Sri Lanka's president. Angela Merkel who is in her final year as German Chancellor is widely tipped as a credible candidate for the post of UN Secretary General after Ban ki-Moon vacates the position. Germany...
The British Government reaffirmed its commitment to help Sri Lanka strengthen its democracy in the country, reports Colombo Gazette. The UK High Commissioner to Sri Lanka James Dauris said the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association UK (CPA UK) visit to Sri Lanka aimed to support Sri Lanka’s parliamentarians in the aim of creating a strong independent oversight committee system. The visit involved British MPs visiting Sri Lanka to participate in a 3 day workshop with Sri Lankan parliamentarians. The British High Commissioner to Sri Lanka James Dauris said the CPA’s work in Sri Lanka was an...
Sri Lanka’s navy denied allegations that they attacked Indian fishermen reports Sri Lanka’s Daily Financial Times. The Sri Lankan Navy spokesperson Captain Akram Alavi said, “The SLN will never attack or do any physical harm to the innocent fishermen even when they cross the International Maritime Boundary Line (IMBL). But we will take them into custody and will hand them over to the Police or the Department of Fisheries for further legal action.” Jaya urges Modi to halt Sri Lankan navy's repeated arrests of Indian fishermen (13 Feb 2016)
Tamils in the North-East reiterated calls for self-determination, as the Sri Lankan government’s Public Representations Committee on Constitutional Reforms launched its first meeting in Jaffna this week.
The unitary character of the Sri Lankan state hence “permits Sinhala Buddhist nationalism to impose a deep hegemony on the island”, said the Tamil Civil Society Forum (TCSF) in a submission to the Sri Lankan government’s Public Representations Committee on Constitutional Reforms on Tuesday, calling for a “self-determination inspired approach to federalism”. Stating that the idea of a “unitary state… has nothing or very little to do with the idea of a united country”, the TCSF said in Sri Lanka “it has everything to do with centralising power in the majority Sinhala Buddhist nation.” “The unitary character of the state hence permits Sinhala Buddhist nationalism to impose a deep hegemony through a composition of bounded unity of territory, state and nation of the island revolving around a majoritarian axis of Sinhala Buddhist religion, language, culture and people,” it added, saying such a solution was “unacceptable”. Instead the TCSF called for “a self-determination inspired approach to federalism” and a new constitution that would “institutionally recognise the self-determination of its distinct nations”.
Northern Provincial Councillor M. K. Shivajilingam called for Sri Lanka’s constitutional reform process to have “involvement, assistance, and assurance” from the international community, in a submission made to the Sri Lankan government’s Public Representations Committee on Constitutional Reforms. As the committee held their first meeting on Monday, Mr Shivajilingam noted that “the Tamil people in the island of Sri Lanka have been struggling for their political rights for about 70 years without any solution to their grievances”. Bearing that in mind the councillor called for India, the United States, the European Union and the United Nations to function as “witnesses and guarantors” during the process of constitutional reform, in order to achieve a “credible, trustworthy, and honourable process”.
As the Sri Lankan government's Public Representations Committee on Constitutional Reforms launched its first meeting in Jaffna this week, a submission called for Tamils to be allowed to remember fallen LTTE cadres, on 'Maaveerar Naal'. A man from Sulipuram in Jaffna said the new constitution should enshrine the Tamil people's right to honour the LTTE cadres who sacrificed their lives for the nation.
The Sri Lankan government is considering a bailout package by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Sri Lanka's Sunday Times reported on Tuesday. "Sri Lankan government is considering the conditions made by the IMF for a Fund supported programme as one option to address the balance of payment issues faced by the country," the newspaper quoted a senior Treasury official as saying. "The IMF representatives have brought to the notice of the Finance Ministry at meeting held in Colombo recently that their bailout package would be worked out following he assessment of macroeconomic vulnerabilities, the nature and size of balance of payments needs, and Government policies to address those vulnerabilities," the official further added.