The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) will not accept an internal inquiry following the publishing of the upcoming UN report examining mass atrocities in Sri Lanka, said the party spokesperson, Suresh Premachandran at a press briefing on Monday. Speaking at the Jaffna Press Club (JPC), Mr Premachandran responded to the current government's statements on the issue. "They said that once the UN report is released, we will give our response after reading that, or we will arrange to have an internal investigation. We [TNA] want to say something very clearly. The UN report must be released [and] we expect it to be released in September." "We expect that the UN report following the investigation, will include many issues such as who is responsible for war crimes, what were the reasons for this, issues relating to human rights violations."
The Sri Lankan MP and former UNP General Secretary, Tissa Attanayake, said the Tamil National Alliance's (TNA) manifesto was a threat to Sri Lanka's sovereignty stating that it called for LTTE members to be pardoned, reports the Daily Mirror . "The TNA’s manifesto released on Saturday is a challenge to the war victory because it wants a re-merger of the North and East under federal structure and right to self determination for Sri Lankan Tamils," he was further reported as saying by the newspaper.
The Sri Lankan cabinet has approved the exploration of the Eastern coast by the French oil company, Total, after the bid went for open tender following the end of Cairn India's exploration from Mannar basin, reports the Sunday Times. "The company would gain exclusive rights for scanning, data collection and mapping in the seas off the Eastern coast," the power and energy ministry secretary B M S Batagoda was quoted as saying. Bids were also received from Shell and ExonMobil. Commenting on the departure of Cairn India's Sri Lanka branch from the Mannar basin, Dr Batagoda said: “However, the two wells in the basin had yielded two trillion cubic metres of natural gas which would be sufficient to meet the demand of the country for ten years."
Sri Lanka’s prime minister Ranil Wickremesinghe claimed to have saved former president Mahinda Rajapaksa from the International Criminal Court (ICC) by not ratifying the Rome Statute. Reiterating that Sri Lanka would conduct a domestic probe in response to the release of the UN report into Sri Lanka’s atrocities, Mr Wickremesinghe added that an independent judiciary under Maithripala Sirisena meant that an international judicial process would not be needed. Speaking to the Sunday Leader , Mr Wickremesinghe said, “I have saved Mahinda Rajapaksa from the electric chair and ICC (International Criminal Court) since we have not signed Rome Statute. He should always be grateful to me for that. No one can take our soldiers to ICC. But wherever a soldier commits a crime and an issue pertaining to the reputation of our armed forces, it is an offence punishable both under our domestic common law system as well as the military law. Therefore we don’t need ICC or any international probe. We have firmly stood by the premise that no international probe can be initiated since we are not a signatory to the Rome Statute and so we will have our own domestic mechanism instead.”
At least 8 accounts of torture and sexual violence under Sri Lanka’s new government are expected to be documented in a report released by the International Truth and Justice Project Sri Lanka (ITJP) this week. The ITJP will release a report that expands on a previous study entitled “ An Unfinished War:Torture and Sexual Violence in Sri Lanka, 2009-2014 ,” reports Ceylon Today. The updated study will exhibit 180 cases of post-war torture and sexual violence in Sri Lanka, including eight accounts that occurred after the presidential elections of Jan 8 2015 and fourteen cases which took place in...
The right to autonomy will not be granted in Sri Lanka, said a senior government minister when responding to questions regarding claims by the Tamil National Alliance that a United National Front (UNF) government would grant Tamils self-rule. Speaking to journalists in Colombo on Thursday, Sri Lanka’s cabinet spokesperson Rajitha Senaratne, refuted the TNA’s claims, stating , “We do not approve of it. They say these things during elections. Any power sharing will be within a unitary state.” The latest reaffirmation of Sri Lanka’s rejection of Tamil self-rule comes days after the deputy...
The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) election manifesto , released today, called for constitutional changes that accept the Tamil people's entitlement to their right to self-determination under the United Nations International Covenants on Civil political rights and Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICCPR). TNA lau nches manifesto in Jaffna Photograph:Tamil Guardian Noting that any political solution should accept the Tamil people’s right to self-determination and that Sri Lanka had ratified the international treaty, the TNA election manifesto, said: “The Tamil People are entitled to the right to self-determination in keeping with the United Nations International Covenants on Civil and Political Rights and Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, both of which Sri Lanka has accepted and acceded to.” On accountability and reconciliation, the manifesto added that “truth, justice and reparation and the guarantee of non-recurrence are fundamental to the national question being comprehensively addressed so as to ensure permanent and genuine reconciliation.”
A campaigner with the Tamil National People's Front (TNPF) was detained by the Sri Lankan police in Poonahari on Thursday. The detained campaigner was falsely accused of distributing election leaflets after 11pm in the Kilinochchi district, said the party's media spokesperson and Jaffna district candidate, V Manivannan. The detained campaigner has been since released on bail.
Indian fishermen were attacked by Sri Lankan navy personnel on Saturday night, off the coast of Katchatheevu islet, reported PTI. The navy officers fired into the air and threw stones, bottles and fuel wood at the boats, PTI quoted one of the fishermen from Tamil Nadu, named Murugan as saying.
Sri Lanka’s new government has approved a proposal to conduct a feasibility study that looks to construct a naval base at the Hambantota port. The Hambantota port, which was built using a Chinese loan of $316 million, faced criticism from the United National Party (UNP) for being underutilized, reports the New Indian Express . Future Chinese investments in Sri Lanka have been put under review by the new government, with moves suggesting that they may be given the go ahead after an internal review. Sri Lanka will reconsider 'Port City' (18 Jun 2015) Sri Lanka denies Chinese claim Sirisena...