Sri Lanka’s Human Rights Commission said that “justice must be done” in response to the abduction and threatening of a Swiss embassy employee in Colombo last week.

In a letter written to Sri Lanka’s police chief, the Human Rights Commission said it was “deeply concerned” over reports of the abduction and said that holding those responsible to account was “absolutely essential” to strengthen public confidence in law enforcement.

Sri Lanka's President, Gotabaya Rajapaksa, issued a gazette stating that he is proroguing Parliament with effect from midnight of December 2 until January 3 2020.

The head of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) warned that if the Sri Lankan government continued to avoid its international commitments, it may soon be termed a “failed state”.

Speaking to the Daily Mirror with regards to a UN Human Rights Council resolution on accountability for violations of international law, TNA leader R Sampanthan said, "If Sri Lanka keeps avoiding its international commitments, it will soon lose its legitimacy and be termed a failed state”. 

A former Sri Lankan army soldier and lawyer has commenced a protest outside the Swiss embassy in Colombo, demanding the victim of an abduction last week be interviewed by Sri Lankan authorities.

The Sri Lankan military’s Major (Rtd.) Attorney-at-Law Ajith Prasanna began his protest this morning, with a placard that states:

“The Ambassador of Swisterland, do not tarnish the good name of my motherland. Let the lady to give a statement to the Sri Lanka police”. (sic)

Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (MDMK) leader Vaiko has slammed the Indian governments announcement that it will provide over $450 in credit for development and security despite concerns over the newly appointed Sri Lankan president’s human rights record.

Thirty-five years ago, while many slept and some were already in the fields, the Sri Lankan army declared a sudden curfew in the town of Cheddikulam and surrounding villages on the border of Vavuniya district.

As news of the curfew seeped through the town through radio and word of mouth, residents scrambled to their homes or the closest house of someone they knew so as not to be caught outside.

Makhdoom Shah Mahmood Qureshi, Pakistan’s Foreign Minister, has arrived in Sri Lanka for a two-day state visit after the election of Gotabaya Rajapksa.

The massacre of 12 civilians by the Sri Lankan air force was commemorated in Oddusuddan, Mullaitivu on November 27.

The twelve were killed in an air raid on Oddusuddan on November 27, 1990. 

The Sri Lankan government has dismissed information given by Swiss authorities regarding the abduction and threatening of an embassy employee in Colombo last week, and instead called for the victim to be questioned by the Sri Lankan security forces.

Sri Lanka’s newly appointed defence secretary Kamal Gunaratne, who stands accused of overseeing war crimes, met with Switzerland’s ambassador to Sri Lanka and claimed that the information they were given by Swiss authorities “did not in any way correspond with the actual movements of the alleged victim”.

A statement from Sri Lanka’s Ministry of Foreign Relations went on to say,

A senior police officer in Sri Lanka’s Criminal Investigation Department (CID) who had been investigating high profile cases, has been transferred reports Colombo Gazette, as fears of a purge under Sri Lanka’s new president Gotabaya Rajapaksa continue.

Though his transfer is awaiting approval, it comes in the face of B S Tissera’s high profile work, which has seen him investigate the murder of journalist Lasantha Wickrematunga and the assault on journalist Keith Noyahr and Upali Tennakoon. Noyahr who survived described his treatment to that of the white van abductions rumoured to be ordered by the former defence secretary and present-day President, Gotabaya Rajapaksa.