The Sri Lankan president, Maithripala Sirisena on Thursday lauded the government's efforts within the international community, telling parliament that it was able to bring the international community together on Sri Lanka. "Sri Lanka had in the past caused a split in the international community over the human rights issue. But after the January 08 democratic revolution, the new Government was able to build good relations with all countries and the UN and ensure the international community took one stand on Sri Lanka," he was quoted by the Colombo Page as saying. "Even the UN Human Rights Council was split on the Sri Lanka issue but that situation had now changed," he added.
The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) reiterated calls for the release of all Tamil political prisoners in parliament on Thursday. The leader of the TNA R Sampanthan said he cannot understand why the governemtn is refusing to release the Tamil political prisoners. He added that both the Janatha Vimukthi Peeramuna (JVP) and former army commander Sarath Fonseka had also backed calls to free the detainees. 'Have we not lost enough lives for our rights?' - Jaffna Uni protests in tribute to student who committed suicide (26 Nov 2015)
An event hosted by the global One Billion Rising movement, due to take place this Saturday in New York City, will discuss state and police violence against women in several countries, including Sri Lanka, the US, Somalia, Palestine, India and China. The discussion, which is co-hosted in Columbia Law School by the African American Policy Forum and the Centre for Intersectionality and Social Policy Studies at Columbia Law School, will have several prominent academic speakers and will be moderated by Laura Flanders. Dr Nimmi Gowrinathan, an expert on gender and violence, will lead the discussion on Sri Lanka and state violence against Tamil women.
The capital of Tamil Nadu, Chennai, and other areas in the state have flooded after heavy rainfalls. The downpour is set to continue for the next 4 days, which is likely to worsen the current situation. People living on banks of the Adyar river in Chennai were evacuated, according to local officials . Many Chennai residents used Twitter to provide help and advice to locals and brought awareness of the hardship faced. Many are tweeting their phone numbers and offering shelters in their own homes to those in need, while several others complained about the lack of coverage in national media.
Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena held a meeting with nine senior army officers who lead military operations during the final stages of the armed conflict in 2009, to allay concerns that they be prosecuted for mass atrocities. The Sunday Times reported that at the meeting, which took place at the Outreach Hotel in Negombo, the military officers explained their role during the final phase of the armed conflict. Tens of thousands of Tamil civilians were killed during the closing stages, with a UN report released in September outlining reports of violations of international humanitarian law. A subsequent UN Human Rights Council mandated an accountability mechanism to prosecute the perpetrators. The senior commanders, some of whom are reaching their retirement age of 55, reportedly did not inform the Defence Secretary Karunasena Hettiaratchchi or Army Commander Lt. Gen. Chrisanthe de Silva that they would be meeting the president, breaking Sri Lankan military protocol.
Sri Lanka’s prime minister told parliament on Monday that he was seeking a “stand-by-facility” from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to support Sri Lanka in times of economic instability caused by terrorist attacks by Islamic State militants. Ranil Wickremesinghe said that Sir Lanka’s Finance Minister had been instructed to negotiate an agreement with the IMF to support Sri Lanka during times of economic instability arising from terrorism. See more here. IMF and World Bank will give Sri Lanka unconditional support says Finance Minister (11 Nov 2015) IMF says Sri Lanka is likely to miss...
US Ambassador Samantha Power praised the Sri Lankan president’s pledges to reduce his presidential powers as “striking” in an address to the UN Security Council this week. Speaking on what Ambassador Power called “this desire to extend one’s term or to ignore term limits” in parts of Africa, she drew on her recent visit to Sri Lanka and the North-East of the island. “I was just in Sri Lanka, in addition to visiting India, and it was so completely striking to hear from the Sri Lankan President a series of steps that he’s seeking to take to shrink his power and to actually restore the checks...
A Tamil youth has been arrested for photocopying the suicide note of R. Senthuran. The 23-year-old man from Jaffna, Balendran Prakash, was arrested by Koppay police on Tuesday. Rajeswaran Senthuran committed suicide last Thursday in protest at the ongoing detention of Tamil political prisoners. His suicide note, a letter in which the 18-year-old called on the Sri Lankan President to release all Tamil political prisoners with immediate effect, was found in one of his exercise books. The note was reportedly made public by those who found the book and photocopied the letter.
Sri Lanka’s increase in defence spending sends the wrong message, said Taylor Dibbert whilst commenting on the “continued militarisation of the historically Tamil northern and eastern provinces.” Noting that the Sirisena administration was “yet to address the issue of militarisation,” Mr Dibbert added that “there are no legitimate national security reasons for justifying” such an increased budget for Sir Lanka’s defence. Writing in the Huffington Post, Mr Dibbert added, “If the Sirisena administration was willing to speak candidly about militarisation and acknowledge that this is an issue...
Members of India's Lok Sabha expressed concern on Tuesday about the latest arrest and detention of Tamil Nadu fishermen by Sri Lankan navy personnel. The AIADMK party member, V Elumalai urged the men to be released immediately, the PTI reported. He also urged Mr Modi to ensure the Katchtheevu island was regained.