Sri Lanka's High Commissioner to Canada, Ahmed A Jawad rejected allegations that the Sri Lankan military has committed war crimes and crimes against humanity against Tamils. His comments were in response to an article written by the Canadian MP, Gary Anandasangaree entitled 'Sri Lanka's military aren't ready to be peacekeepers', which highlighted the lack of justice for crimes committed by the military against Tamils, as well as against civilians in Haiti whilst the military was deployed as UN peacekeepers. This week the Associated Press published an extensive feature detailing reports of...
Tamils in the East have been clearing destroyed LTTE cemeteries in preparation for Maaveerar Naal.
Sri Lankan military forces attended a lecture on 'compassion' which took place at the Palaly army camp on Thursday.
Sri Lanka's joint opposition criticised the government's 2018 budget which was detailed on Friday, stating that it "panders" to International Monetary Fund. The MP Bandula Gunawardene said the "budget was sure to fail as in it the government was trying to increase foreign investments by relaxing laws for foreigners and imposing excessive taxes on the people." "[The] budget panders to the IMF's whims and fancies", the Daily Mirror quoted the Joint Opposition as saying. “This is a more liberal budget which would not offer any benefits to the people,” Mr Gunawardene said. “According to the...
The TNA MP Raviraj was remembered in Jaffna on Friday, on the 11th anniversary of his assassination.
Freedom From Torture called on the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights to launch an immediate investigation of evidence of ongoing torture in Sri Lanka on Thursday. In a letter to the United Nations High Commissioner Zeid Al Hussein the London based rights organisation said, “Our evidence is consistent with the recent press reports and suggests that torture remains deeply ingrained in the military, police and intelligence sectors in peacetime Sri Lanka and that those at risk include Tamils with real of perceived association with the Liberation Tamil Tigers of Tamil...
The Sri Lankan minister of finance, Mangala Samaraweera told parliament as he detailed the government's 2018 budget yesterday, that it would include a number of measures to ensure "reconciliation and national unity". The 2018 budget speech includes a number of pledges including that the Office of Missing Persons would be fully operationally from 2018 with Rs 1400 million allocated towards this. "If Sri Lanka is to achieve its goal of becoming an advanced economy, it is essential that we build our future plans on a strong foundation of democracy and reconciliation. We must ensure that the...
The Asia desk of the Committee to Protect Journalists Asia on Friday expressed concern over the blockage of the news website, Lanka-e-News, by the Sri Lankan authorities this week. "CPJ is concerned about reports that news site Lanka E News has been blocked in #SriLanka because of its critical reporting. This is a press freedom violation and access to the website should be restored immediately," CPJ Asia tweeted . The move came just a day after the website published a story detailed allegations of corruption by the president's office.
The Washington-based advocacy group PEARL has criticised premature international praise and engagement of Sri Lanka, in a statement condemning the current government’s torture of Tamils revealed in a report by the Associated Press. “Despite evidence of ongoing torture and continued impunity for atrocity crimes, Western nations are pursuing friendlier relations with the Sri Lankan state,” the organisation said. PEARL, which has frequently questioned US engagement policy with Sri Lanka, particularly military-to-military, further pointed out, “just this week the second Sri Lanka-U.S. Partnership...
The Sri Lankan president Maithripala Sirisena on Thursday once again reassured troops that he would not allow them to be tried before a war crimes tribunal, Colombo Gazette reported. “As long as I remain the head of the country, I assure you that none of you would be allowed to testify before any war tribunals. Instead, such errant Army personnel, if any, can be produced before Courts and tried according to the existing law of the country," Mr Sirisena said. His comments come a day after the Associated Press published an extensive report of ongoing allegations of rape and torture committed by...