Tamil nation must ensure TNA holds true to elected mandate - JS Tissainayagam

It is up to the Tamil public, civil society and diaspora to ensure that the Tamil National Alliance remains true to the mandate given by the voters, said exiled Tamil journalist J.S. Tissainayagam on Friday. Writing in the Asian Correspondent Mr Tissainayagam noted Tamil discontent at ambiguous aspects of the Tamil National Alliance’s manifesto, and called on, “Tamil voters, Tamil civil society – especially organisations such as the Tamil Civil Society Forum – and the Tamil diaspora to keep the TNA accountable and not deviate from its policy statements declared before elections.”

Notorious SLFP Jaffna candidate put on national list after election loss

The SLFP's Jaffna organiser Angayan Ramanathan was selected as a national list member of parliament by the UPFA, after failing to be elected in the district. Mr Ramanathan is suspected to have been behind attacks and abductions as he carried out the Rajapaksa brothers' bidding while the SLFP was in power before January this year. Mahinda Rajapaksa's former human rights advisor Mahinda Samarasinghe was also selected as a national list MP after failing to get elected. Mr Samarasinghe was the government's representative at key UN Human Rights Council sessions in Geneva in previous years.

Another Tamil woman arrested at Colombo airport

A Tamil woman on her way out of Sri Lanka was arrested at Colombo airport on Thursday, the fifth Tamil to be arrested at the country's main airport this week. Jayanthini Siluvairasa (23) from Jaffna, was detained by the CID who said she was attempting to reach Italy via Abu Dhabi, JDS reported on Friday. Ms Siluvairasa was brought before Negombo magistrate court , charged with carrying a forged passport and was remanded until 25th August.

UNP selects Sinhala hardliner on national list

The chairman of the Jathika Hela Urumaya, a hard line Sinhala nationalist party, has been selected by the UNP to become a member of parliament on its national list. Athuraliye Ratana, a Buddhist monk, will represent the United Front for Good Governance and was selected alongside Karu Jayasuriya, UNP chair Malik Samarawickrama, D. M. Swaminathan and Dr. Jayampathy Wickramaratne to be on the national list of the party. Mr Ratana rejects any investigation into the mass atrocities which occurred during the armed conflict and in 2013 strongly opposed then-UN human rights chief Navaneetham Pillai's...

Sri Lanka ranks 122nd out of 152 countries in Human Freedom Index

Sri Lanka has ranked 122nd out of 152 countries in the Human Freedom Index compiled by the Fraser Institute, which was released earlier this week. The Human Freedom Index, which uses 76 indicators of personal, civil and economic freedoms, such as Association, Assembly, and Civil Society, Rule of Law, Security and Safety, Expression to rank countries from around the world. Using data collected from 2008-2012, Sri Lanka ranked 128th on personal freedom and 98th on economic freedom. See the full text of the report here .

UN Secretary-General calls on Ranil to ‘seize opportunity for peace’

The UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called on the newly appointed Prime Minister of Sri Lanka Ranil Wickremesinghe to ensure there was “long-term peace” on the island, in a phone call on Friday. Congratulating Mr Wickremesinghe on his election victory, the secretary-general “commended his message of good governance” and said the Sri Lankan government must “seize this opportunity to advance long-term peace for all Sri Lankans”. “The Secretary-General reiterated the United Nations commitment and support to the Sri Lankan people, the President, the Prime Minister and the new Government,” read a statement released by the UN.

Sri Lanka must ‘promote human rights and reconciliation’ says France

The French government called on Sri Lanka to “promote human rights and reconciliation between communities” in the wake of this week’s parliamentary elections. The French Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Development Spokesperson in a statement, that it “stands alongside the Sri Lankan authorities and people in this process and intends to work with the new government toward strengthening our bilateral relations". See the full statement here .

Tamils arrested at Colombo airport

Four Tamils have been arrested at Colombo airport over the last week and are being held in a high security prison in Negombo, JDS reported on Thursday. Two men were arrested after being deported from Turkey, while a man and a teenage woman were detained as they were about to board a flight to Qatar. K Rajkumar (36) from Batticaloa and Gengadaran Saranya (19) from Puthukkudiyirippu were arrested on August 18. Police claimed that Mr Rajkumar was on his way to Malta via Italy and that Ms Saranya was going to join her husband in Switzerland, JDS said. They were both charged with carrying forged travel documents wyhen produced before courts by the CID on Wednesday. Kurunathan Nirushan (26) from Kopay and Frederick Lawrence from Ragama were arrested following their deportation from Turkey on August 16. Both men were charged with possessing false travel documents.

SLFP agrees to unity government with UNP

The Sri Lankan Freedom Party agreed on Thursday to form a national unity government with the United National Party, which received the greatest number of seats in parliament on Monday's general election, though fell short of obtaining a simple majority. The decision follows a meeting this morning between the SLFP leader and Sri Lankan president, Maithripala Sirisena, and the SLFP Central Committee. The Committee has appointed a 6 member sub committee, which will be lead by the former president Chandrika Kumaratunga and includes Mahinda Samarasinghe, Nimal Siripala de Silva, S B Dissanayake, Dr Sarath Amunugama, and Susil Premajayantha, to negotiate the unity government with the UNP and produce a Memorandum of Understanding

Japan's Defence Attaché meets with Sri Lankan navy commander

Japan's Defence Attaché, Captain Mototsugu Shigakawa met with Sri Lanka's navy commander on Wednesday, at the naval headquarters in Colombo, reported News.lk . Discussions with the newly appointed Admiral Ravindra Wijegunaratne, focussed on "bilateral relations and cooperation between the two friendly navies", the news site added. Admiral Wijegunaratne was appointed as Sri Lanka's 20th navy commander last month.

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