Sri Lanka’s former president Mahinda Rajapaksa demanded RS 1 billion from Sri Lanka’s foreign minister, Mangla Samaraweera for alleged defamatory comments that Mr Samaraweeera had made. The letter sent to the foreign minister warned that if the amount was not paid within 21 days, legal action would be taken against him for defamatory comments, reports asianmirror.lk . The allegations refer to a media conference held on May 07, where MR Samaraweera alleged that Mahinda Rajapaksa had deposited $19 billion in secret offshore accounts.
A Sri Lankan government minister warned people from holding memorial events for cadres of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, as Sri Lanka prepares to commemorate 6 years since the end of the armed conflict this month. “Anyone trying to commemorate the LTTE which was a terror group will not be approved by the government,” said minister Karu Jayasuriya. “There are elements who want to misuse the new democratic freedom in the country to show that terrorism could rise its head again," he added.
Journalists in Chennai marked 10 years since the death of Tamil journalist Dharmeratnam 'Taraki' Sivaram by holding an event to celebrate his life this week. Organised by the Centre of Media Persons for Change (CMPC), young journalists from across the state discussed their experiences and paid tribute to the life of the slain Tamil journalist, screening a documentary on Sivaram entitled “You can't kill an idea”. Manikandan, chief of the CMPC, led discussions at the event, which also marked May Day and World Press Freedom.
Photos: @uthayarasashali Several members of the Northern Provincial Council marked the deaths tens of thousands of Tamils, in the run up to May 18, the day the armed conflict between Sri Lanka and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Tigers ended. Declaring the days between May 12 and 18 as remembrance week, NPC members on Tuesday travelled to Mullivaikal, on the coast of Mullaitivu, to remember the dead. According to sources, police and intelligence officers behaved in an intimidating manner, suddenly amassing at the location, but did not cause any disruptions.
The chairman of the Northern Provincial Council, CVK Sivagnanam on Tuesday reiterated the Tamil people’s right to remembrance of those who died during the armed conflict. Speaking to reporters, Mr Sivagnanam said as the government has changed its annual war victory day, marked on May 18, to a remembrance day, all dead, including fighters, scholars and civilians, should be able to be remembered without fear. "No one can issue a ban on the remembrance of fighters, scholars and civilians, who died during the final phase of the war. In the past, there was intolerance and prohibition of these...
Sri Lanka’s former defence secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa filed a fundamental rights violation petition to Sri Lanka’s Supreme Court requesting that it blocks any attempts by the government to arrest him. The move comes after Mr Rajapaksa was called in for questioning by the government initiated bribery commission on Monday, regarding allegations of corruption. He has been called to appear again in front of the commission by the Financial Crimes Investigation Division (FCID) on May 20. The former defence secretary cited Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, several cabinet ministers, the...
The head of the Tamil National Alliance has expressed his confidence in President Maithripala Sirisena’s ability to present a political solution based on autonomy for the Tamil people in their traditional homeland to the Sinhala people. “We have high hope that President Maithiripala Sirisena would speak to the Sinhala community with an open mind seeking support to find a sustainable political solution to the six decade old Tamil problem,” Sampanthan said at an event in Batticaloa. The leader of the TNA further said his party was not asking for a separate state or a federal solution within Sri Lanka.
Dozens of youth in India called for a boycott of all Sri Lankan products, at a demonstration held in Tamil Nadu this week. The Tamil Youths and Students Federation organised a protest in Chennai, calling for Sri Lankan products to be banned from the country due to the government massacres of Tamils in 2009 and the ongoing human rights violations on the island. “Even the state government has passed a resolution in the Tamil Nadu Assembly calling for ecconomic sanctions on Sri Lanka,” said co-ordinator V Prabhakaran, accusing Sri Lanka of carrying out genocide.
The United Nations Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances confirmed that it will visit Sri Lanka later this year. The working group will visit the island from 2-12 August, and has already met with Tamil diaspora groups in Geneva. A team of five independent experts are expected to visit the island, reports Colombo Page. The working group had previously made several requests to the Sri Lankan government for access to the ground and received no reply. The visit comes as the North-East of the island has seen an increase in protests by Tamil families, rejecting Sri Lanka’s...
Sri Lanka's minister for power and energy, Patali Champika Ranawaka, on Monday denied reports that there is a fuel shortage in the country, reports Colombo Page . Also rejecting reports that Ceylon Petroleum Corporation was incurring losses, Mr Ranawaka, pledged that Sri Lanka will begin natural gas production by the end of this year.