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.
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, 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.
Several MPs of the UPFA met in Colombo earlier today to discuss the agreement of the SLFP to form a national unity government with the UNP and its UNFGG coalition. Former minister Vasudeva Nanayakkara said a large number of newly elected MPs, including former president Mahinda Rajapaksa objected to the agreement. The Pivithuru Hela Urumaya (PHU), a member of the UPFA coalition also opposed the agreement, as it was against the UPFA’s mandate. General Secretary Udaya Gammanpila, who came third in the preferential votes list in Colombo, said people voted for the UPFA in protest at the UNFGG’s policies and forming a national unity government was not mentioned in the party manifesto. Mr Gammanpila said former president Mahinda Rajapaksa completely rejected the national government concept in his election rallies. “People voted for UPFA because they rejected UNP’s manifesto and forming a national government with them is against the mandate. We saw what happened to those who acted against the mandate at the general election. The same thing will happen to those who act against the mandate at the next election,” he said.
The National Freedom Front, led by former minister Wimal Weerawansa, won 5 parliamentary seats in Sri Lanka’s general election earlier this week. The party ran on the UPFA’s platform and five candidates from Matara, Kalutara, Moneragala and Colombo will now be in parliament. Mr Weerawansa, who is a close ally of former president Mahinda Rajapaksa, received the highest number of any UPFA candidate in Colombo’s 16 polling divisions, with 313,801 preferential votes, second behind Ranil Wickremesinghe who won 500,566 preferential votes. In fact, the preferential vote results show that although the prime minister topped the list, he is followed by four candidates of the UPFA, including the leader of another hardline constituent of the UPFA alliance, the Pivithuru Hela Urumaya’s Udaya Gammanpila, who came third with 198,818 votes.
Mahinda Rajapaksa has pledged to continue to engage in Sri Lankan politics, in a statement released on Wednesday. The former president, who was defeated in this week's parliamentary elections, said he "humbly accepts" the results of the poll. "I accept with humility, the result of the parliamentary election that just concluded and I thank the voters who placed their confidence in our party despite the unprecedented obstacles that we had to face. I also wish to extend my heartfelt thanks to all the activists and the people's representatives of our party who worked indefatigably in the election...
The UK will remain committed to delivering reconciliation and peace across Sri Lanka said the British Foreign Secretary whilst congratulating Ranil Wickremesinghe on his election as prime minister. The Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond, in a statement made on Wednesday, said, “On behalf of the British government, I send my warmest congratulations to Ranil Wickremesinghe on the occasion of his victory. The manner in which the election was run was a credit to the Sri Lankan people. The UK is and will remain a steadfast partner for Sri Lanka as it continues on the path towards delivering...
The UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon, welcoming "peaceful elections" called on Sri Lanka’s new government to “make further progress” on issues of accountability and reconciliation. In a statement released on Tuesday the Secretary general said , “The Secretary-General applauds the people of Sri Lanka for their peaceful and broad-based participation in the parliamentary elections of 17 August. He commends the President for having shepherded an inclusive process and the Election Commissioner for his exemplary efforts in helping guarantee the exercise of the right to vote of the people of Sri...
The head of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) party in Tamil Nadu urged Sri Lanka’s newly elected parliament to find a permanent solution to the issues faced by Tamils on the island, reports Times of India . Noting that the 16 seats secured by the Tamil National Alliance would be influential in Sri Lanka’s parliament, M Karunanudhi, said, “In this situation, the number of seats secured by the TNA will influence the decisions taken by the new prime minister, and this is a good time for Tamils to take forward their long-pending demands.”
The US State Department spokesperson John Kirby, welcomed Sri Lanka’s new parliament and commended Sri Lanka’s peaceful parliamentary elections. In a press briefing on Tuesday Mr Kirby, said , “The United States looks forward to working with President Sirisiena, the prime minister, and the new government.”