Economic Development Minister Basil Rajapaksa has told the Daily Mirror of Sri Lanka’s relief that the US was able to find a resolution to the stand-off between Democrats and Republicans, which brought the country close to defaulting on its debt. Basil said he was concerned as the US would not be able to pay for Sri Lanka’s investments in US treasury bonds if it defaulted. “Therefore, the resolution of this problem in the US is a sigh of relief for us. We observed developments in the US closely during the last few days,” he said.
As the controversy around the forthcoming Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting grows, reports have emerged that the Indian Prime minister Manmohan Singh may boycott the summit. "The Prime Minister and other senior leaders in the party have been discussing the issue for the last month. We got indications that the PM is not likely to attend the meeting," a Union minister from Tamil Nadu told the Times of India . A spokesperson for the External Affairs Ministry refused to confirm Singh’s attendance, only saying that an Indian delegation would attend the summit.
Six men, including a close associate of President Mahinda Rajapkse have been charged with the murder of Khurram Shaikh, who was shot and stabbed in Tangalle, southern Sri Lanka, in 2011. The suspects have been freed on bail until the next court date, yet to be determined. Progress on the case has been slow, but increasing international pressure and the forthcoming Commonwealth summit in the country, have pushed the government to act on the case. Rochdale MP Simon Danzcuk cautiously welcomed the news. “This has been a long and hard campaign and let’s hope this is now the beginning of the end...
The United Kingdom’s House of Lords debated the future of the Commonwealth on Thursday, with many peers expressing their concern over Sri Lanka’s human rights record. Conservative Lord Naseby, chair of the All Party Sri Lanka Group responded to criticism with a glowing account of the flourishing democracy and human rights in Sri Lanka. Baroness Warsi, the Senior Minister of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs responded to the debate with the message that the British delegation would be taking a clear message for Sri Lanka to CHOGM. See the Hansard text for full transcript of the debate on the Commonwealth. Comments on Sri Lanka reproduced below: Lord Luce, Crossbench: “Sri Lanka’s human rights record in recent times has been disappointing. Our Government have made it clear that we expect to see at CHOGM concrete progress on human rights, judicial independence, free and fair regional elections and proper access and freedom of movement for civil society and the media. The Prime Minister has decided to participate in this conference, while Canada’s Prime Minister will not attend and is reviewing Canada’s funding programme for the Commonwealth...The reputation of the Commonwealth is at stake.”
The Chavakachcheri Pradeshiya Sabha, on Monday, passed a resolution that called for the reconstruction of LTTE cemeteries in the Northern Provincial area. The Chavakachcheri PS, which is run by the Illankai Arasu Kadchi (ITAK), passed its resolution at a monthly meeting. Consequentially, the member who moved the resolution, Sri Ranjan, was arrested by the Sri Lankan Terrorism Investigation Department (TID) today. Other sources in Jaffna have said that other local government bodies in the Northern Provincial council were likely to adopt similar resolutions.
Cultural Affairs Minister T.B Ekanayake said this week that the Veddha people in Sri Lanka should not play cricket as it was detrimental to their culture. According to the minister, cricket could change their lifestyles as they had to wear shirts and trousers. Commenting on what he alleged to be the dilution of Veddha culture, the minister also outlined that he was not surprised that the Veddha leader Vannila Athotho, after travelling in cab, was asking for a new pick-up truck.
An influential group of MPs has criticised the British government for its approach with Sri Lanka and its stance during the allocation of the 2013 Commonwealth heads of Government Meeting. The House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee slammed the UK’s “timid” and “inconsistent” approach on Sri Lanka in a report , and said the government could and should have taken a more principled stand. “On the information available to us, the policy followed by the FCO during discussions at the 2009 Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting in Port of Spain on venues for future Commonwealth Heads of...
Read full report here .
In a statement released this week, Human Rights Watch has called upon the Commonwealth not to award Sri Lanka with chairmanship of the organisation, stating it would be the 'height of hypocrisy'. Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch, stated , “It’s bad enough that the Commonwealth has allowed a government accused of massive rights abuses and war crimes to host its summit,” “But to effectively put the Commonwealth in the hands of an unrepentant government that doesn’t meet the Commonwealth’s official values on democracy or human rights would be the height of hypocrisy.” Stating the...
Britain’s High Commissioner to Sri Lanka John Rankin said on Wednesday that Prime Miinster David Cameron will use his visit to Sri lanka next month to pressure the government to make “concrete progress” on human rights issues and accountability for war crimes. "The British government will come with a clear message that Sri Lanka needs to make concrete progress on human rights, reconciliation and a political settlement," Rankin told the Foreign Correspondents' Association in Colombo. "The end of the physical conflict was of course only the beginning," he said, adding that the next tasks are "...