UNP candidate vies for Tamil votes in Jaffna

The United National Party candidate for Jaffna Vijayakala Maheswaran has released a poster with her photo appearing alongside the image of a Tamil Eelam map, as part of her campaign ahead of next week’s parliamentary elections. Earlier she had declared that if elected, Ms Maheswaran would allow Mahatma Gandhi’s 1927 visit to Jaffna to be commemorated in the North-East. The Indian leader visited the peninsula on the 26th and 27th of November, coinciding with important dates in the Eelam Tamil calendar - the leader of the LTTE Velupillai Prabhakaran's birthday on the 26th and the national day of remembrance Maaveerar Naal on the 27th of November.

SLMC leader says TNA manifesto is not ‘private conviction’ of leaders

The leader of the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) stated that the pledges contained in the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) manifesto does not reflect the thoughts of the party’s leadership, reports the Sunday Times . Rauf Hakeem said the TNA manifesto was made up of “political postures”, adding “they are not the private convictions of their leaders”. “At polls time they need to go back to their ideological positions,” he added. Mr Hakeem continued to say the southern electorate “should not buy into this” and concluded the TNA “would be practical”. Meanwhile Mr Hakeem said his party was opposed to a merger of the Northern and Eastern province as outlined in the 13th Amendment. “How can it be achieved?” questioned the SLMC leader, stating “we are opposed to the merger”. His comments directly contradict remarks made by the SLMC General Secretary Hasan Ali who said just weeks ago, “We welcome the stance of the Tamil National Alliance in its election manifesto to create a home land of Tamil speaking people, by re-merging the North and East.”

‘International scrutiny’ and ‘pressure’ required to tackle ethnically biased centralisation in Sri Lanka says ICG

Sri Lanka will need “international scrutiny” and “pressure” to rebuild the damage caused by “40 years of insurgency, civil war and ethnically biased centralisation,” concluded the International Crisis Group in its report on Sri Lanka’s new government. The report listed 4 key themes that would be need to be tackled to see reconciliation and accountability by any new parliament formed in Sri Lanka’s upcoming parliamentary elections. These included delivering on de-militarisation of the North-East, tackling barriers to impunity and accountability, deepening devolution and establishing an...

Another dead body found floating in Batticaloa lagoon

Sri Lankan police have confirmed that a dead body has been found in the Batticaloa lagoon on Monday. The body was identified as that of a 37 year old male resident of Eravur, according to the Police Media Unit . He has not yet been named. The finding comes after three dead bodies were recovered from the lagoon last month. See our earlier post: Three men found dead in Batticaloa (30 July 2015)

Ranil assures Sri Lankan traders that GSP+ will return

Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe assured garment traders that Sri Lanka will regain the GSP+ trade concessions from the European Union, at a meeting at Temple Trees on Tuesday. Mr Wickremesinghe made the assurance as he called on the traders to increase wages for workers once the GSP+ was restored. Earlier this year the prime minster had also pledged that the concessions would be restored after the upcoming UN Human Rights Council session in September, where a report on mass atrocities committed during the final stages of the armed conflict is due to be released. The previous government had blamed Mr Wickremesinghe for the concessions being withdrawn, after the EU stated it was concerned over human rights abuses.

Sinhala organisations demand Ranil clarifies rejection of international war crimes probe

The Federation of National Organisations (FNO) demanded that Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe reiterate his stance on whether an international investigation into reports of war crimes would be allowed to take place. The FNO’s Representative of expatriate Sri Lankans Nuwan Bellanthurawa told The Island that the postponement of the release of an OISL report into mass atrocities until September, was part of a strategy to increase international pressure on former president Mahinda Rajapaksa in the event he was elected as prime minister later this month. Mr Bellanthurawa went on to state that a leaked document from the United Nations named 47 people, who he described as “war heroes”, as responsible for violations of international humanitarian law, including Mr Rajapaksa. The National Freedom Front's Wimal Weerawansa also warned this week that the United National Party, led by Mr Wickremesinghe, would allow an international war crimes probe to take place. Earlier this year the UNP declared that it would protect Mr Rajapaksa from any potential war crimes probe.

Sri Lankan president praises JHU general secretary

Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena praised government minister and general secretary of the JHU Champika Ranawaka, calling him an “intellectual” who would “take the country forward”. Speaking at the launch of Mr Ranawaka’s book last week, Mr Sirisena thanked the minister for his support in the presidential elections and in helping “make the transformation required by the country and usher in a new era”. The president went on to say “the knowledge and experience of the intellectuals such as Minister Champika Ranawaka would help take the country forward”. Mr Ranawaka is currently the minister of technology and research in Sri Lanka and general secretary of the Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU), a Sinhala nationalist party led by Buddhist monks.

Sirisena administration pledges to allow Chinese infrastructure projects if elected

Sri Lanka will offer a compromise that will allow recently halted Chinese infrastructure projects to recommence said Sri Lanka’s finance minister Ravi Karunanayake. Speaking to Reuters on Monday, Mr Karunanayake said , the government was in the process of negotiating a deal that would, if it remains in power after elections, “help bring financial understanding that will bring a win-win situation.” Sirisena’s government, once coming to power in January, put a temporary halt on most foreign funded infrastructure projects to reevaluate if they were in the island’s best interests.

Military official admits questioning Eknaligoda

A senior military official has confessed to interrogating the abducted journalist Prageeth Eknaligoda, the first admission by a member of the security forces that the cartoonist was detained. The sergeant major, who was arrested on Sunday, told CID interrogators that Mr Eknaligoda was questioned on one of his publications and on his alleged connection to former army general Sarath Fonseka, the Daily News reported. He had said a senior Army officer, a major, who was also at the camp in Girithale, took Mr Eknaligoda away after the interrogation, saying the journalist had to “go somewhere”. The suspect told the CID that he did not receive any news about him thereafter.

Sri Lanka decreases foreign debt

The Sri Lankan government has decreased its foreign debt since the beginning of the year, while maintaining the foreign reserve at US$ 7.5 billion. Sri Lanka has borrowed Rs43bn in the first 6 months of this year from foreign countries, which, according to the Ministry of Finance, is due to the efficient manner in which reforms introduced by the new government to public administration and financial management. According to the treasury, the total outstanding government debt increased by 8.8% to Rs7,390bn by the end of 2014, from Rs6,793bn in 2013. See more here .

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