The Northern Provincial Council's Agriculture and Environment Minister P. Ayngaranesan said action is underway to ensure 100,000 trees are planted in the month of November, declaring it the first of an annual tree planting month. A motion proposed by Ayngaranesan was accepted and passed by Chief Minister C. V. Wigneswaran, ensuring the tradition would be carried on every year in the North from the 1st of November until November 30th, reports Uthayan. The absence of rainfall has caused a drought in the Northern Province, contributing to a lack of trees according to researchers. With the latest...
Dismissing Sri Lankan media reports that the US Secretary of State had assured President Mahinda Rajapaksa of a softening in the US' stance on Sri Lanka, the US State Department said it "has not changed and it certainly has not softened". Asked at a press briefing if the US stance had softened a spokesperson for the State Department, Jen Psaki, said "absolutely not". "The only thing that was right was that the Secretary did speak with the Sri Lankan President on the margins of the UN General Assembly. He did so with the express purpose of conveying that U.S. policy with regard to Sri Lanka has not changed and it certainly has not softened," she added.
Photo courtesy: Sri Lankan Ministry of Defence Two ships from the Pakistani Navy arrived to a ceremonial welcome in Colombo this week, as they made their way from Malaysia to Pakistan. The two ships, "PNS Saif" a frigate with Surface to Surface, Surface to Air missiles and a Close-in-Weapon-System, and "PNS Nasr" from the Pakistan Navy Fleet's 09th Auxiliary and Mine Warfare Squadron, are due to leave Colombo on Saturday.
A popular news website in Myanmar was breached by hackers who demanded an apology for the paper’s labelling of Sri Lanka’s Buddhist organisation, Bodhu Bala Sena (BBS) as “radical,” reports Agence France Presse . The hacker attack came after the news website covered a meeting between Buddhist organisations Wiruthu and the BBS, which hail from Myanmar and Sri Lanka. Evidence suggests that the hacking attempts of the site could be traced to be coming from Sri Lanka. The attack came days after staff at the newspapers office in Rangoon received a telephone threat of a fire bomb attack in response to the same article.
A Sri Lankan military official said the army was keeping a close watch on the activities of Tamils to prevent any promotion of “terrorism and anti-state activities”. Major General Sudantha Ranasinghe, head of the security forces in Kilinochchi, said that this was necessary to prevent a revival of the LTTE, reported the New Indian Express . “What is ‘spying’ for you is ‘being aware’ for us. It is a thin line which divides spying from being aware,” he said. Ranasinghe justified the presence of military personnel at civilian events. “We do not interfere with the proceedings. We just listen to find out if anyone is promoting terrorism and anti-state activities,” he said.
President Mahinda Rajapaksa has left Sri Lanka for a visit to the Vatican, on an invitation by The Holy See. The president is expected to meet Pope Francis on Friday, before talks with Cardinal Parolin, who is secretary of state and prime minister of The Holy See. Pope Francis is due to visit Sri Lanka in January next year. Rajapaksa will be accompanied by Minister of External Affairs G. L. Peiris, Deputy Minister of External Affairs Neomal Perera, Chief Opposition Whip John Amaratunga, Monitoring MP of the Ministry of External Affairs Sajin de Vass Gunawardena and Secretary to the Ministry of External Affairs Kshenuka Senewiratne.
The Centre for Policy Alternatives (CPA) expressed deep concern regarding the integrity and credibility of the Presidential Commission of Inquiry to investigate into Complaints Regarding the Missing Persons. A statement released by the Colombo based organisation, on Thursday, brought forward several criticisms after observing public sitting of the Presidential Commission. Some of the concerns included: inaccurate translations, a lack of witness and victim protection and misleading questions.
A Tamil mother in Mulangavil slammed the Presidential Commission of Inquiry into the Disappeared, after she was offered poultry farming when she had attended to register the disappearance of her son. “Who are you fooling, you cannot fool God. I want my child," she shouted, after s torming out of the Commission's session in Mulangavil.
Sri Lanka is not concerned by an Amnesty International report submitted to the United Nations Human Rights Committee said the Sri Lankan Human Rights Commissioner, on Thursday. Amnesty International submitted a 40 page report documenting violations of civil and political rights to the UNHRC International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), which will convene on 07 October. Speaking to Sri Lankan press , the Sri Lankan Human Rights Commissioner Prathiba Mahanamahewa, said, “This is only a report so nothing to worry about that but we, Sri Lanka, have to be very much concerned about...
Published 29/09/14 Updated 17:30 BST 01/10/14 Sri Lankan authorities have sabotaged a journalism training program set to take place in a resort in Negombo, reports the Associated Press and Reuters . Action Committee for Media Freedom, an umbrella media rights group, said that the owner of the resort was threatened by plainclothes police officers against letting the workshop go ahead. The owner of the Negombo workshop did not allow the workshop to take place and returned the advance payment to the Professional Web Journalists Association. The group which had organised the workshop on digital...