Sri Lanka's former commander of the security forces in Vanni, retired Major General Kamal Gunaratne said those supporting the new constitution were "traitors" and "must be killed", Colombo Telegraph reports. He made these marks at a meeting chaired by the former secretary of defence, Gotabhaya Rajapaksa. "The government was trying to bring in the new Constitution on the requirement of the Western forces and Tamil Diaspora to please Tamil separatists," he reportedly added. See more here .
Jaffna University students have been boycotting classes since last Friday in solidarity with the hunger-striking Tamil political prisoners in Anuradhapura.
The health of three hunger-striking Tamil political prisoners has further deteriorated. The three detainees of Anuradhapura prison have been hunger-striking for over 28 days, in opposition to the transfer of their cases from Vavuniya High Court to Anuradhapura. All three were forcibly admitted to hospital by prison officials where they were placed on saline drips. However the three still refuse food.
The UN Special Rapporteur on the promotion of truth, justice, reparation and guarantees of non-recurrence, Pablo de Greiff highlighted the insufficient progress made by Sri Lanka as he concluded his trip to the island, and said that delays in the implementation of transitional justice measures "raise questions in many quarters about the determination of the government to undertake a comprehensive transitional justice programme." In a statement published on Monday, Mr Greiff also said that the "slow progress on pre-conditions for transitional justice erodes trust in the Government’s capacity...
The construction of the Central Expressway has come to a halt in Kadawatha due to an ongoing delay in a US $1.1 billion loan from China's Exim Bank, the Sunday Times reported. “If we don’t receive the loan by February or March next year, we will have to look for other options,” the Road Development Authority (RDA) chairman Nihal Suriyaarachchi told the Sunday Times. confirming there was a delay in the loan, Sri Lanka's Highways Minister Lakshman Kiriella told the paper, "We have taken up the matter with the Chinese Ambassador in Colombo and hope to expedite the loan through diplomatic...
The student unions of the University of Jaffna and of the Eastern University have demanded the release of Tamil political prisoners who have been detained for years without charge or trial under the Prevention of Terrorism Act. In a joint statement, the two unions expressed solidarity with the hunger-striking political prisoners at Anuradhapura prison and put forward several demands with a view to tackling the political prisoners issue. Under demands requiring immediate action, the students called for the transferral of the hunger-strikers' cases from Anuradhapura court to either Vavuniya or...
The former Secretary of Defence, Gotabhaya Rajapaksa said individuals pushing the new constitution were trying to fulfill the aims of "terrorists", Adaderana reported on Sunday. "The same politicians, who stated that terrorism could not be defeated by military means during the war, are now attempting to divide the country," Mr Rajapaksa told a gathering in Colombo. "Certain individuals are attempting to fulfill the ambitions of the terrorists through the proposed new constitution," he added.
Sri Lanka's finance minister, Mangala Samaraweera told the IMF annual meeting in Washington, that the government had plans to widen its Free Trade Agreements (FTA) with India and Pakistan, as well as signing new agreements with Singapore and China. “Measures are being taken to boost market access through deepening and widening the current Free Trade Agreements (FTA) with India; invigorating the FTA with Pakistan; signing new economic partnership agreements with China and Singapore. This will result in preferential access to markets with over 3 billion people, which is expected to boost...
UPDATED: 16:51 BST A Tamil man has died after being shot in Ariyalai, creating a tense situation in the area with Sri Lankan army and Special Task Force troops deployed. 24-year-old Don Bosco Rikman, a fisherman from the Uthayapuram village of Ariyalai East was shot earlier this afternoon by unknown persons. A friend of Mr Rikman who was travelling with him by motorbike at the time of the shooting said that he was shot from behind by two persons on a motorbike. Mr Rikman died from excessive blood loss shortly after 9pm local time at Jaffna Teaching Hospital. Details surrounding the shooting remain unclear. Police at the scene told locals and observers that the bullet had been removed by unknown persons.
Staff and students at the University of Jaffna paid tribute on Friday to the two students killed a year ago by Sri Lankan police.