Students at Jaffna University observed Karumpuli Naal - Black Tigers Day – on Sunday. A portrait of an unknown Black Tiger was adorned with flowers and candles were lit, in the secretly held ceremony at the Kalapeeda Puthiya building at the university. Also see our earlier post: Karumpuli Naal marked worldwide (05 July 2015)
A senior Buddhist monk says President Maithiripala Sirisena told him he did not know about the nomination of Mahinda Rajapaksa to contest the forthcoming general elections. Maduluwawe Sobitha, a key figure responsible for Sirisena's victory at January 8 vote, told reporters that he spoke with the president who claimed he was unaware of Rajapaksa getting a UPFA ticket. "He says "mama danne na" ( I don't know)," the monk told reporters . "Let's wait for him to make a statement." Several members of Sirisena's SLFP are reported to be holding discussions with the UNP to cross over, according to...
The Jathika Hela Urumaya, one of the main coalition partners of the current government led by President Sirisena, says it will leave the UPFA. JHU General Secretary Patali Champika Ranawaka addressing a media briefing said the Central Committee of the Buddhist party had decided to contest the elections from a new party, which will push for good governance and democracy. The party will be named the United National Front for Good Governance.
The Northern Provincial Council Chief Minister, stressed that the “end of the war did not signify end of conflict,” whilst calling on Tamils in the US to assist in the creation of an environment that allowed Tamils in the North-East to thrive. Addressing the annual conference of the Federation of Tamil Sangams in North America (FeTNA) on Saturday, CV Wigneswaran said that Sri Lanka’s government had reduced resources to the Northern Province. Noting that the “majoritarian” nature of the Sri Lankan state, Mr Wigneswaran slammed attempts of the government to provide a political settlement to...
The former army commander and suspected war criminal Lt Gen Jagath Jayasuriya is thought to have been denied a visa to enter the United States for a private trip, the Daily Mirror reports. The visa application is said to have been submitted in May for the trip at the end of June, but while Mr Jayasuriya's wife's passport was returned by the embassy, the former Chief of Defence Staff's passport had still not been returned. When contacted by the Daily Mirror , a spokesperson for the US embassy in Colombo said that as a matter of policy, they cannot comment on individual cases. “That’s all we have to say at this moment,” he said.
The US has renewed its Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) benefits programme with Sri Lanka. In a statement the Department of Commerce said “The US President signed into law HR 1295 on June 29, 2015 re-authorizing the US GSP Program until 31 December 2017 providing preferential duty free entry into US market for nearly 5000 products from 122 designated beneficiary countries and territories, including Sri Lanka.” “The Embassy of Sri Lanka in Washington DC was an active member of the Alliance of GSP countries which joined other US stakeholders in advocating early renewal of the US GSP Program. In 2014, the United States has imported US $ 178 million worth of goods under the GSP program from Sri Lanka demonstrating 12.5 percent increase compared to 2013,” the statement further said. A review on Sri Lanka's eligibility for the programme was initially carried out after a petition was filed in 2008, outlining shortcomings in Sri Lanka’s recognition of worker rights.
Sri Lanka's President Maithripala Sirisena said he would not allow the "silent revolution" of the January 8 win over Mahinda Rajapaksa to be overturned. Speaking at an event in Matara, the president said he would protect the change which came to the country. "I did not enter politics randomly or abruptly – my experiences in politics spans close to 49 years. . . I will not let any party decision tarnish or harm the transformations that occurred in this country after January 8 – I will protect it,” he has said according to the DailyMirror . Meanwhile former minister and Rajapaksa-confidante T.B. Eknanayake told the paper the former president would contest from the Kurunegala district.
A prominent United National Party (UNP) MP Harsha de Silva said that the party would give top priority to develop the country’s education and health sector after elections. Speaking at a media brief, the former deputy finance minister, Mr de Silva, said , “Sri Lanka’s education and health sector expenditures according to the Gross Domestic Product are exponentially lower than those of several other Asian countries such as Vietnam, Bangladesh, Korea, Thailand, Phillippines and Singapore. Last year's tax revenue was Rs 1,050 billion whereas the interests and installment payments stood at Rs 1,...
The UK’s All Party Parliamentary Group for Tamils has voted in a new chair and agreed on new objectives for the new Parliament. Conservative MP for Kingston and Surbiton, James Berry, was elected as the new chair of the group. Creating a new set of objectives at the group’s AGM, several MPs, including Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Theresa Villiers, agreed to work to ensure that the OHCHR Investigation and the UN international and independent investigation are completed; and to assess their conclusions and ensure that appropriate international action is taken in the light of those conclusions. Speaking to Tamil Guardian after the AGM, James Berry MP said that although the group did not wish to prejudge the contents of the UN report, they would not rule out encouraging the British government to employ soft powers, to further the objective of promoting reconciliation and human rights in Sri Lanka, including through supporting the UN investigation into war crimes. Mr Berry also said that he would prioritise the objective to get the Sri Lankan government’s ban on legitimate diaspora organisations withdrawn, commenting that the proscription of certain Tamil organisations was “absolutely absurd”.
Several prominent Tamil civil society groups from across the North-East have urged the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussain to “act swiftly” to prevent the “undermining” of the inquiry into Sri Lanka’s mass atrocities conducted by his office. In a letter to the high commissioner, the 15 organisations, led by the Tamil Civil Society Forum, said the government has not consulted with victims in initiating a process to design a domestic justice mechanism, noting that Mr Hussain urged Sri Lanka to do this. “We write to state with regret that we are unaware of any such process of consultation that the Government of Sri Lanka has initiated with the victims. A huge majority of these victims as you are aware are from the Tamil community and the government has not had any consultation at all with the Tamil community in the design of a mechanism,” it said.