The Chief Minister of the Northern Province, C.V. Wigneswaran said the government was withholding funds, whilst publicly announcing it had been delivered. "They [the government] are proclaiming that Rs 500 lakh budget has been given to the Northern Province, but the majority of the funds has not been given [to us]," Justice Wigneswaran was quoted by the Uthayan newspaper as saying. The government was meanwhile claiming via press statements on television and in newspapers that all the funds had been delivered, the Chief Minister said. "Only two-fifths of the funds have been given to us, the...
Sri Lanka’s Terrorist Investigation Division (TID) has detained another Tamil student from Sabaragamuwa University, following his discharge from hospital where he was receiving treatment after being attacked. Santhirakumar Sutharshan from Muhamalai was arrested on his return to the university hostel by Sri Lanka’s TID. The student had been receiving treatment at Balangoda and Ratnapura after he had been attacked on Sunday. Following Sutharshan’s arrest, his parents were told that he had been sent to the infamous 4th floor of Sri Lanka's Criminal Investigation Department in Colombo. Another Tamil youth, second-year student Yoganathan Nirojan, was arrested on Tuesday and is also being detained at the 4th floor. See more the Uthayan here .
A meeting discussing joint cooperation between Sri Lankan investors and the Bahrain Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BCCI) was held Friday in Beit Al-Tejjar, reports the Colombo Gazette . The two groups discussed joint investment cooperation in all economic sectors and methods of increasing the volume of trade between the two countries economies. “The meeting followed up-results of the successful Sri Lankan business delegation’s visit to Bahrain last April,” said the BCCI vice chairman, Yusuf Al-Hawaj. Sri Lanka to strengthen ties with Bahrain (06 April 2014)
The Police in Northern Ireland (PSNI) held a meeting between British officials and a Sri Lankan military adviser a month over 70,000 Tamil civilians were killed in the Sri Lankan government’s final onslaught in May 2006, reports The Guardian . A freedom of information request resulted in UK government lawyers confirming that no official minutes were taken during the meeting, in Belfast between the two parties. A researcher from the pressure group Corporate Watch, who submitted the Freedom of Information (FOI) request raised questions over Britain’s demeanour with the Sri Lankan government after May 2009. Speaking to The Guardian Phil Miller said, “We are being kept in the dark about what went on at this Belfast meeting. Did Britain raise any concerns about Sri Lanka’s massacre of Tamils before it let the PSNI continue its role as ‘critical friends’ with Colombo?” Yasmine Ahmed, from Rights Watch UK, said "The British public has a right to know the nature and extent of UK government cooperation with and support to the Sri Lankan government during a period of brutal violence and severe human rights abuses against the Tamil population."
Chief Prelates urged the Bodu Bala Sena (BBS) to resolve its differences with government ministers through dialogue during a meeting in Kandy on Friday. The BBS recently had strong arguments with Ministers Rishad Bathiudeen and Rajitha Senaratne after one of the ministers called for all extremist and racial organisations to be banned. The Prelates asked the BBS to patch things up with government ministers after raising concerns regarding verbal disputes between the two, reports Colombo Gazette .
The Sri Lankan President accused United Nations organisations of ‘deliberate’ violations of fundamental principles of justice and rule of law, reports the Colombo Page . Addressing the opening ceremony of the Third South Asia Judicial Roundtable on Environmental Justice, on Friday, Rajapaksa said, “There must be consistency and evenness in the application of international and national laws, This means that there cannot be, and must never be, double standards in the application and interpretation of laws by courts and international organizations.”
Lawyers representing families of disappeared Tamils have filed an application in court, requesting further excavation of a mass grave that was unearthed in Mannar in December last year, reports BBC Tamil. The remains of at least 80 people were excavated from the mass grave in Thirukketheeswaram, with many of the wounds discovered on the bodies believed to have been caused by gunshots . Both the Bishop of Mannar and the Tamil National Alliance called for an international investigation into the mass grave site. The Sri Lankan courts approved the request for further excavations, and also ordered an affidavit from the Mannar regional chair person, who stated that there were no records of a cemetery in the area, to be produced before them. See more from BBC Tamil here .
Salaries for Sri Lanka’s Army, Navy and Air Force cost Rs 73.17 billion (US$ 560 million) in the year 2013 alone, stated a government minister on Friday. Responding to a question raised in the Sri Lankan parliament, Chief Government Whip, Water Supply and Drainage Minister Dinesh Gunawardena, defended the record amount being paid out, saying that the security forces were needed for the “protection of the country”. ColomboPage also quoted the minister as saying, "Even during the times of war we allocated funds like that and it was the reason for the victory of war. We strengthen the tri forces...
Defending Sri Lanka's opposition to the UN inquiry into mass atrocities, the country's minister of external affairs, GL Peiris, reiterated that Sri Lanka "will not kneel down before any powerful nation and compromise the national interests", reported the DailyMirror.lk . "During the last stage of the war, the foreign ministers of Britain and France arrived in Sri Lanka and asked the government to stop the military operations forthwith. However, we did not do it. By the time of their visit, the president was in Embiliptiya. The president, in fact, asked them to come to Embilipitiya to see him...
A twenty-one year old Tamil man has been reported missing by his father, after he failed to return home from Kilinochchi, the Uthayan reported. Thavarasa Tharshikan, a building mason from the Iyattaalai region of Varani, left home last Monday to travel to Kilinochchi for work. His father has reported the disappearance at Kodikamam police station.