Leader of the United National Party, Ranil Wickremesinghe, criticised Sri Lanka’s militarised response to the COVID-19 pandemic noting that it is being led by the head of Sri Lanka’s army, Shavendra Silva.

Fitch Ratings has warned that ending the suspension on Sri Lankan bank investments in international sovereign bonds (ISBS) could lead to increased bank exposure to sovereign and foreign-currency funding and liquidity risks.

The dire state of Sri Lanka’s banks is highlighted in Fitch’s statement which notes that an estimated third of bank assets were exposed to the central government at the end of 2020 and face threats “foreign-currency risks, including through their US dollar-denominated ISB investments”.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rightgs and the US ambassador for Sri Lanka have condemned the pardoning of convicted murderer, former MP, and close Rajapaksa ally, Duminda Silva.

In 2016, Sri Lanka’s courts found Silva guilty, along with four others, of the unlawful execution of fellow politician Bharatha Lakshman Premachandra and three of his supporters during local elections in Colombo in 2011.

The Sri Lankan government granted presidential pardons to 94 political prisoners convicted under the draconian Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA), including 16 alleged "former members of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE)”. The pardon was issued earlier today to supposedly coincide with the Buddhist festival of Poson Poya.

A Buddhist worship service was held at the Mannar Mathota Raja Maha Viharaya on Tuesday to "exterminate COVID-19" in Sri Lanka.

The state-owned Ceylon Mineral Sands Corporation, working under the Sri Lankan Ministry of Resources and Enterprise, seized 44 acres of land owned by Tamils in Mullaitivu, for the construction of an ilmenite mine in East Kokkilai.

Police Posts in Chidambarapuram and Nelukkulam areas of Vavuniya District, have been upgraded to the rank of ‘Police Stations’ and were inaugurated earlier today. 

The inauguration of new police stations indicates the growing securitisation of the Tamil homeland by the Sri Lankan government. 

TNA parliamentarian, Shanakiyan Rasamanickam, criticised the Sri Lankan government for arresting over 100 Tamil youngsters in the past year for allegedly “posting propaganda on social media” and demanded their immediate release.  

Protests have erupted in Batticaloa this evening after a Sri Lankan Ministerial Security Division (MSD) officer attached to ruling government parliamentarian Sathasivam Viyalendiran shot dead a Tamil man earlier today.

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet raised concerns over the targeting of Muslims and harassment of Tamils by the Sri Lankan government, as she opened the 47th session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva earlier today.

Targeted harassment