Photograph: Sri Lankan Ministry of External Affairs UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon discussed human rights, accountability and reconciliation with the Sri Lanka’s Minister of External Affairs Mangala Samaraweera, outlining them as “critical priorities” for Sri Lanka on Friday. The meeting at UN headquarters in New York comes after Mr Samaraweera visited the UK and US, where he announced publicly that Sri Lanka was seeking to delay the findings of a United Nations investigation into mass atrocities on the island. Speaking to Reuters on condition of anonymity, UN diplomatic sources said Mr Samaraweera had made the same call to the UN Secretary General. Inner City Press reported that Sri Lanka's outgoing Ambassador to the United Nations Palitha Kohona was also present at the meeting.
The United States said it is focused on supporting “accountability and reconciliation” in Sri Lanka, following a visit from the Foreign Minister of Sri Lanka Mangala Samaraweera, who was in Washington on Thursday. “The United States, our focus and the focus of our partners in the international community is supporting accountability and reconciliation in Sri Lanka,” said US State Department spokesperson Jen Psaki, s peaking at the daily press briefing on Friday. “We’re determining the best way forward to address these issues,” said Ms Psaki, confirming that the United Nations investigation into mass atrocities against Tamils was discussed at Mr Samaraweera’s meeting with US Secretary of State John Kerry. However, she added that conversations around delaying the report would be kept “private”, stating that “this is a matter for the UN High Commissioner (Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein) to determine”. “We have absolute confidence in [the High Commissioner] and in this process,” she added.
The chief minister of the Northern province, C V Wigneswaran, told the Sri Lankan president that the resolution passed by the Northern Provincial Council (NPC) calling for an international inquiry into the crime of genocide against the Tamils by successive Sri Lankan governments expressed the Tamil people's "thoughts and feelings". Meeting President Maithripala Sirisena a couple of days after the resolution was adopted by the council, Mr Wigneswaran told BBC Tamil , that he also called for the Mr Sirisena's pledge of reconciliation between the North and South to be established sooner.
Leader of Sri Lanka's opposition and SLFP head, Nimal Siripala de Silva condemned the resolution passed by the Northern Provincial Council (NPC) calling for UN inquiry into genocide against the Tamil people by the Sri Lankan state, calling for the provincial council system to be re-considered as a result. "If the provincial councils go about doing this kind of work, we will have to take a closer look at the provincial councils system," Mr Siripala de Silva was quoted by India Times as saying on Friday. Stating that the resolution threatened Sri Lanka's national security, he accused the Tamil diaspora of being behind the resolution.
Sri Lanka's President Maithripala Sirisena has taken key responsibilities from the defence ministry. The move means the number of institutions under the control of State Minister for Defence Ruwan Wijewardene have been drastically reduced. President Sirisena is now in control of ten defence institutions, including the armed forces, only leaving the minister with four institutions, the Rana Viru Seva Authority (veteran welfare), the Defence Services College, Defence Services Command and Staff College and the National Cadet Corp, reported Colombo Post .
Sri Lanka's revised budget could stoke inflation and further economic imbalances, warned rating agency Moody's Investors Service. The 47 percent hike in public sector wages can boost consumption and growth but it would also boost inflation, a historic problem in Sri Lanka according to Moody's. "Given that public sector employees make up 15 percent of the work force, the 47 percent increase in nominal wages will boost consumption, thus supporting growth," Moody's said.
The Sri Lankan military held a special prayer service for themselves during the annual festival at Nagulesvaram Sivan temple in Keerimalai this week.
The Sri Lankan military's 553 brigade distributed uniforms and equipment to Tamil school children at the J/Uduthurai Hindu Primary School in Thalavady on February 6.
Photograph: U Shalin Lecturers at the University of Jaffna called for the UN report into mass atrocities against the Tamil people in Sri Lanka to be released next month without any delay, stating that "justice delayed is justice denied". Announcing a demonstration on February 24 at 11am local time in front of the university to call for the release of the report, the Jaffna University Teachers Association (JUTA) called on all organisations in the North-East to demonstrate their wish to see the report released and justice for the Tamil people. "It is as the voice of a destroyed community that requests an international investigation. The international community should consider this as the plaintive cry of a community that has been destroyed and not just a normal investigation," R Rasakumaran of the JUTA told a press conference on Saturday, adding that Tamils hoped the investigation would "prove that what occurred in the final years [of the armed conflict] was a genocide."
Sri Lanka’s President Maithripala Sirisena said the resolution passed by the Northern Provincial Council , calling on the UN to investigate genocide committed by the government, was beyond the limitations of the body, NPC opposition leader Sinnathurai Thavarasa was quoted by Ceylon Today. The president is reported to have said at a meeting with notorious paramilitary leader Douglas Devananda, that he was “dismayed” at the resolution. "The president, accompanied by his adviser and Eastern Province Governor Austin Fernando during his meeting with the EPDP leader and his delegation, said the alleged war crimes could not be called as genocide and the NPC has rushed for the resolution, when the new government has just embarked on its reconciliation process," Mr Thavarasa said to Ceylon Today .