The Sri Lankan Central Bank has cut a key lending rate by 50 points to 8%, the fourth consecutive cut since December 2012. The move is thought to be designed to encourage growth, after inflation fell to its lowest level in nearly two years. The bank said it expected the economy to grow 7.2% in 2013, up from 6.4% in 2012. "Economic growth is expected to accelerate further during the new year, while inflation is projected to remain in mid-single digits," the bank said in a statement.
Following the Sri Lankan President's New Year invite to the Chief Minister of the Northern Province and the TNA MP M. A. Sumanthiran for afternoon tea today, the TNA, in a statement published a few hours later, that "immediate action" would be taken to ensure urgent issues are addressed. The statement read: "It was decided at the meeting to take immediate action on several overdue urgent issues to enable the Northern Provincial Council to commence functioning smoothly to address the needs of the war affected people of the North and especially of its war widows, the displaced, the dispossessed, the war orphans, the long term PTA detainees, women headed households and other vulnerable sections of the Northern society."
The President of the Tamil National People's Front (TNPF) categorically rejected a possible TRC as a solution to the ethnic conflict on the island of Sri Lanka. Outlining the role of a Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) in South Africa and the Apartheid, Gajendrakumar Ponnambalam highlighted the " absence of a political solution " and the " sheer gravity of the crime of genocide " in the Tamil context, and said there was " absolutely no room for a TRC " and only an international investigation is acceptable.
NPC member Ananthy Sasitharan has written off the Sri Lankan government's plans to investigate disappearances as a farce. Speaking at the Jaffna Press Club on Thursday, Sasitharan said that the investigation commission was appointed to deceive the international community and to parade in Geneva at the UN Human Rights Council. Sasitharan called for the direct intervention of the international community to ensure the safety of witnesses and relatives.
Updated 0445 GMT The Canadian Tamil MP, Rathika Sitsabaiesan, who recently arrived in the North-East, is under house arrest, reported TamilNet . According to the news site, around 8-10 officers from Sri Lanka's Terrorism Investigation Department arrived at the hotel that Ms Sitasabaiesan was staying in Jaffna, on Tuesday night. Colombo Gazette also cited "Jaffna media reports" as stating no one was allowed to meet the Canadian MP at her hotel. Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Lynne Yelich also tweeted that she was "concerned" about the reports and the Canadian High Comissioner in Colombo...
In its new year message, the Global Tamil Forum (GTF), called on all members of the international community "to back the demand for an independent, international inquiry" and "to support the initiation of a comprehensive political settlement." Adding that a 'Truth and Reconciliation Commission' was suggested with a "clear intent to hoodwink the international community," the GTF asserted that "President Rajapaksa’s regime should be given no further allowances at the 25th Session of the UNHRC in March 2014 to subvert, deliberately prolong or undermine the accountability and reconciliation processes".
Krishantha Pushpakumara, the United National Party (UNP) Southern Provincial Councillor, announced that he was to leave the party to join Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s ruling Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP), with reports that more are set to join him. Pushpakumara told reporters that at the forthcoming Southern Provincial Council election, he would now be contesting as an SLFP candidate, complaining of “unfair treatment” by his current party.
A senior Buddhist monk has been released on bail after his arrest for sexually abusing children. Kalyanathissa runs a children’s home in Vavuniya, in the Northern Province, which has now been closed due to a court order. Parents and relatives of the victims have expressed concern that his release on bail could give him the opportunity to get rid of incriminating evidence, the Uthayan reported.
Supporting the Bishop of Mannar’s call for an international investigation into the mass grave found at Mannar, TNA MPs Suresh Premachandran, Sivasakthy Ananthan, Pon Selvarajah, and P. Ariyenthiran called for international experts to investigate the grave. Expressing “suspicion” with regards to the frequent suspension in the excavation of the grave, the MPs asserted that the mass grave indicates “proof of genocide” and that a domestic investigation team could not be trusted and would only repeat the views of the government.
56 Tamil organisations from across the world have rejected a domestic Sri Lankan inquiry into human rights abuses and called for an international investigation into genocide, in a joint New Year message. The signatories to the statement, which span across 10 different countries, jointly noted there was an overwhelming mandate for an international investigation expressed in the recent Northern Provincial Council elections, and fully committed themselves to working towards an independent investigation into the crime of genocide. The statement, signed by many youth organisations and political parties, is released as talk of a South African style ‘Truth and Reconciliation Commission’ have emerged from the island. Notably, organisations from South Africa, Malaysia, Australia, UK, India, Canada, USA, Mauritius, New Zealand, Sweden all jointly signed the statement.