A Tamil from Sri Lanka died whilst in Indian police custody in Chennai on Friday, reported the Times of India . The man, named Mohan, was detained by Chennai police in connection to an alleged fake passport incident. According to the paper, Mohan was arrested after escaping, and "developed health complications and fell unconscious" whilst being questioned by police. He was pronounced dead, on arrival at Perumbakkam hospital. See more here .
The Sri Lankan prime minister Ranil Wickremesinghe met the South African president, Jacob Zuma, on Saturday at the airport in Colombo as President Zuma was returning home after a visit to China. Welcoming #SouthAfrica President Jacob Zuma @presidencyza to #SriLanka pic.twitter.com/lnGGT7ZIn9 — Ranil Wickremesinghe (@RW_UNP) September 5, 2015
Updated 04 Sep 2015, 11:35 BST Tamil campaigner for the disappeared, Balendran Jeyakumary will remain in prison, after her planned release today did not go ahead. Lawyers who this morning produced two sureties, as required by the court, were told that the documents were not accepted. This means the campaigner will remain in detention until at least Monday. As of yet, no reasons have been given to Ms Jeyakumary's detention. Ms Jeyakumari was detained on Wednesday after being summoned to Kebithgollawa courts. She was issued with an arrest warrant on Tuesday and asked by police to report to the magistrate court the next morning. The court remanded her as she did not have two sureties and the police objected to her bail application, a statement by campaigners said.
As discussions on how to deal with the findings of the UN investigation into Sri Lanka’s mass atrocities (OISL) reach fever pitch, the newly elected chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group for Tamils, James Berry, spoke to the Tamil Guardian last week. Speaking ahead of the release of the UN report into mass atrocities and after meeting the Chief Minister of the Northern Province, the APPG-T chair reiterated calls for normalcy in the North-East and stressed the need for any process to deal with the findings of the OISL to have the full confidence of the victims.
The Tamil National Alliance has announced it will hand over the post of opposition whip to the JVP. In a press release, the TNA said it proposed to the speaker that JVP MP Anura Kumara Dissanayake be appointed to the post. The party also announced that in the absence of R Sampanthan, ITAK president Maavai Senathirajah would act as the leader of the opposition. Tamil National Alliance head appointed leader of opposition in Sri Lanka (03 September 2015)
Sri Lanka's national government has commenced taking oaths from its new cabinet. A total of 42 ministers were sworn in today, with Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe also taking his oath as Minister of National Policy and Economic Affairs before President Maithripala Sirisena. Some ministers took their oaths last week, with Mangala Samaraweera as the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Wijedasa Rajapaksa as Minister of Justice and DM Swaminathan as Minister of Rehabilitation. Mr Rajapaksa was today also sworn in as Minister for Buddhist Affairs, in addition to the justice portfolio.
The leader of the MDMK called on Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa to pass a resolution calling for an international accountability mechanism for the massacres of tens of thousands of Tamils in Sri Lanka. Vaiko told The Hindu that he had made the request to the Chief Minister, adding, “If such a resolution is passed, I will be the first person to support the same”. Earlier the MDMK chief had spoken out against a proposed Sri Lankan domestic mechanism, with a party memorandum saying, “Tamils have been demanding an independent international investigation into the genocide of Tamils by the Sri Lankan armed forces. We have demanded that the forces deployed in the North and East of the island be withdrawn.”
A signature campaign was launched in Jaffna today calling for an international accountability mechanism to examine mass atrocities committed during the final stages of Sri Lanka’s armed conflict, where tens of thousands of Tamil civilians were killed. Representatives from the Tamil National Alliance, Tamil National People’s Front, Religious leaders, civil society representatives, Jaffna University lecturers and students all took part in the campaign. Signatures were collected by Jaffna Central bus station earlier today.
Hundreds of protestors gathered in Mattala to protest after the town’s international airport was put in to use to store paddy earlier this week. As many as 500 people came together in Hambantota, the home town of former president Mahinda Rajapaksa, with whom the airport shares a name to protest for the second time this week. The Mattala Rajapaksa International airport is currently only used by a single carrier, Fly Dubai, which operates one flight into the airport. Officials announced that from this week onwards, the airport would be put to use and paddy would be stored there. Construction of...
India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi said his country attaches the “highest importance” to its relationship with Sri Lanka and that he looks forward to taking diplomatic ties to new heights, PTI reported. In a statement released to mark the visit by former Sri Lankan president Chandrika Kumaratunga, Mr Modi deeply appreciated the leadership role played by Kumaratunga in the country. He expressed confidence that Ms Kumaratunga would continue to play an important role in Sri Lanka to move towards genuine reconciliation and social harmony, where the aspirations of all the communities would be...