Sri Lanka has taken on a dangerous coronavirus containment strategy. Faced with a public health crisis, the state has driven through authoritarian measures and deployed a military accused of systemic rights abuses. The response so far has been deeply troubling. Thousands have been forcibly sent to military-run quarantine centres, whilst an arbitrary curfew has seen thousands more arrested and livelihoods threatened – particularly in the war-torn North-East. The free hand given to the armed forces has already seen gross abuses of power. This is not how a pandemic should be handled.

<p>The UNP has issued a statement specifying that they do not intend to attend a meeting called by Sri Lankan Prime Minister, Mahinda Rajapaksa.</p> <p>Rajapaksa had called the meeting and invited 225 former members of the 2015 parliament. This meeting was intended as an alternative to reconvening Sri Lankan Parliament. Whilst the UNP originally stated that they would attend the meeting; they specify that in learning that “all former MPs and other active political leaders, from previous parliaments” were invited changed their position.&nbsp;</p>

The Economist Magazine has ranked Sri Lanka amongst its most vulnerable states that have been worst affected economically by the coronavirus pandemic, as Colombo faces massive debt repayments this year.

In its ranking of 66 states, using four ranking factors, Sri Lanka was ranked 61^st place. It only placed higher than Angola, Lebanon, Bahrain, Zambia and Venezuela.

With many schools in Mullaitivu, considered to be among the most deprived districts on the island, celebrating the success of their students in national exams, one student in Thunukkai paid tribute to her widowed mother for her top results.

Manoja Jeganathan, a student at the Katchilamadu Panadaravannian Maha Vidyalayam, achieved 8 As in her O Level examinations.

Gotabaya Rajapaksa, Sri Lanka’s President is “exploiting the novel coronavirus pandemic to undermine the few checks and balances remaining against authoritarianism and sharpening tensions” writes J S Tissainayagam for the International Policy Digest.

“The Sri Lanka president’s rhetoric and actions to contain the pandemic will destabilise Sri Lanka and make him a poster boy in the expanding list of populist-led governments that Western democracies view as a threat.”

Amidst the losses caused by the coronavirus crisis, the passing of much loved miruthangam teacher and artiste Kandiah Anandanadesan on April 16 has shocked and saddened the Tamil community in London.

Born in 1961 in Thellipalai, Jaffna, Anandanadesan attended Union College and Mahajana college, and trained in miruthangam under Guru K P Sinnarajah. His father was a teacher at Union College, and his mother one of the first women to teach at Mahajana.

(Photo Credit: Solvency Ii Wire)

Following the Fitch Rating’s annual review of the Sri Lankan Insurance Corporation Limited’s (SLIC), Fitch has downgraded Sri Lanka’s Long-Term Foreign- and Local-Currency Issuer Default Ratings from “B” to “B-” indicating the potential risks to investors.

According to Fitch, this rating took into consideration the government’s response to the coronavirus and the impact said virus was having. They attribute this decline to Sri Lanka’s worsening sovereign credit profile.

Sri Lankan president Gotabaya Rajapaksa has refused a request from opposition leaders to reconvene parliament in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, accusing them of having “a narrow political agenda”.

In response to a letter signed by seven opposition parties, Rajapaksa remained steadfast in his refusal to recall parliament

Colombo faces loan repayments of US$2.9 billion this year alone as debts continue to grow and the economy struggles in the aftermath of the coronavirus pandemic, reports The Hindu this week.

Sri Lanka’s current foreign debt repayments debt alone amount to 42.6% of the country’s GDP in 2019, The Hindu said, with approximately $960 million owed to India and $5 billion to China in 2018.

“With a $1 billion-international sovereign bond maturing in October, the alarm bells are already ringing in Sri Lanka,” it added.

China’s ambassador to Sri Lanka pledged that his government and Chinese companies would look to help “rebuild” the island’s economy, as Sri Lanka’s president assured China that his regime had the spread of the coronavirus outbreak under control.

Acting Ambassador and Chargé d’affaires of the Chinese Embassy in Colombo Hu Wei met with Gotabaya Rajapaksa in Colombo this week, where the Sri Lankan president claimed the spread of the virus was “under control in general”.