The Sri Lankan army was in the Kanapathypillai school of Navakkadu in Jaffna on March 26, to donate an electric water pump.
Sri Lankan navy officers and Buddhist monks held a religious ceremony in Nainativu, where the extension of a Buddhist temple was officially declared open last week. The “alms hall” of the Purana Rajamaha Viharaya, situated in the Jaffna peninsula islet, was declared open on the Buddhist Bak Full Moon Poya Day. According to the Sri Lankan navy, construction of the hall was carried out by “civil engineering personnel of the SLN”. The Sri Lankan navy continued to say the construction, “fulfils (sic) a long-felt need of the historic temple and enables devotees to offer alms to the Maha Sangha at a spacious building, which is equipped with all facilities required for the purpose.”
Talks were held in Singapore this weekend between Tamil and Sri Lankan groups on promoting reconciliation and strengthening democracy in Sri Lanka. The meeting was organised by the government of Switzerland and the In Transformation Initiative (ITI) and held between April 3 and 5. "As part of an on-going dialogue process towards promoting reconciliation and strengthening of democracy in Sri Lanka, the Government of Switzerland and the In Transformation Initiative (ITI) from South Africa, invited a group of political, civil society, academic, diaspora and other international stakeholders including an observer from the Government of Australia to a meeting in Singapore from 3 to 5 April 2015," the ITI said in a statement released on Sunday. The meeting is believed to have included representatives of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA), officials from the Sri Lankan government, and Tamil diaspora groups, including the Global Tamil Forum (GTF) and all its key member groups. The GTF's current member organisations are Canadian Tamil Congress (CTC), Australian Tamil Congress (ATC), Norwegian Council of Eelam Tamils (NCET), Swedish Tamil Forum (STF), Malaysian Tamils and the US Tamil Political Action Council (USTPAC).
Stating that the Sri Lankan military's police powers would cease, the government said that the additional was unnecessary as using the Prevention of Terrorism Act, the "armed forces could be drawn back to maintain law and order in extreme instances where the police were unable to manage". “We will bring back the armed forces under the Prevention of Terrorism Act if the situation arises,” the cabinet spokesperson, Rajitha Senaratne was quoted by Sri Lanka's Sunday Times as saying. Related articles: Sirisena renews issuing of police powers to Sri Lanka's armed forces (03 Feb 2015)
Sri Lanka’s former Ambassador to Russia, Udayanga Weeratunga, who has been accused of selling weapons to pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine, has had his diplomatic passport withdrawn, reports ColomboPage . Mr Weeratunga, whose whereabouts are currently unknown, was accused of playing a key role in supplying the separatists with weapons, including assault rifles and other small arms during his tenure. The Ukrainian government had lodged a complaint with the Sri Lankan Foreign Ministry in Colombo, reported the Sunday Times , with Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera pledging “a full investigation into this matter”.
The United People’s Freedom Alliance (UPFA) MP Namal Rajapaksa, drawing on his constituent's concerns about weakening national security, urged the new government to consider national security when returning lands in the North-East. Expressing concern over returning land in High Security Zones (HSZ) to their original owners, the son of the former president Mahinda Rajapaksa, and UPFA MP, said, “Handing back private lands to their owners is important. But the question is whether the government intends on eliminating all high security zones in regions that were dominated by LTTE activates not too long ago.” Speaking on the feeling of the people in the Hambantota district, Namal added, “Positive steps are being taken toward strengthening national reconciliation, but the concern of the people I spoke to was that not enough is being done to also strengthen national security.” See our earlier articles:
Recent laws passed in Sir Lanka to combat hate speech would endanger the people’s right to freedom of expression, said the Bodu Bala Sena (BBS). The chief executive officer of the BBS Dr Dilanthe Withange, said that the new laws were passed by the new government to gain political benefits, reports Ceylon Today . See our earlier articles: Buddhist groups slam government move to allow Sri Lankan anthem in Tamil (23 Mar 2015) New gov, old BBS (13 Feb 2015) Sri Lankan monks to launch party to protect Buddhist culture from ‘minority threat’ (20 Jan 2015)
Sri Lanka’s president Maithripala Sririsena said that the Northern Provincial Council should work with a government delegation to negotiate a solution with the Tamil Nadu government with regards to the fishermen issue. Speaking in a meeting with fishing industry representatives from the Northern Province and the Tamil National Alliance, Maithripala Sirisena, said that he would like to visit Tamil Nadu, to reach a solution to the fishermen issue. Sirisena further added that until a solution was released, the Sri Lanka navy would continue to arrest and detain Tamil Nadu fishermen that they considered to encroach Sri Lankan waters.
“My leader is Velupillai Prabhakaran, but my political model is Modi,” said the Tamil National Alliance MP form the Jaffna district, speaking to the New Indian Express on Friday. Commenting on how the Indian prime minister Narendra Modi’s trip to Jaffna had inspired him, MP Sritharan said, “it’s his clear thinking , sense of mission and his rise from the very bottom of the social ladder to the very top.” Adding that India needed a stable Jaffna for its own security, Mr Sritharan said, “Given geopolitical realities, we cannot solve our problems without India’s help, and India needs us for its...
Sri Lanka's new prime minister, Ranil Wickremasinghe, pledged a new welfare centre would be set up for Tamil families, particularly women headed households, in the former LTTE administrative centre of Kilinochchi, reports Asian Mirror . "It is a well known fact that most suffered persons due to a war are women and children. In the north alone there are nearly 50,000 families that are headed by women. They are made destitute due to their inability to provide food, accommodation and educational needs to their children," the prime minister's office was quoted by the paper as saying in a statement on Sunday.