Sri Lanka's former chief justice, Sarath N Silva on Thursday filed a petition at the Supreme Court questioning the legality of the Provincial council elections bill. The bill was recently passed in parliament with a two thirds majority. The bill has been criticised by a number of local election monitors who said that there was insufficient consultation prior to the passage of the bill. See more here.
Mullaitivu residents have demanded the removal of an army camp that surround schools in the district, citing concerns about the negative effects of militarisation on the area's young people.
Supporters of the general secretary of the Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (MDMK), Vaiko lay seige to the Sri Lankan High Commission in Chennai on Wednesday, protesting against their leader being threatened by former Sri Lankan military personnel in Geneva. Burning the Sri Lankan flag, MDMK supporters condemned New Delhi's silence over the alleged incident. Vaiko said he was on Monday accosted by a Sri Lankan woman and former army personnel after concluding his address to the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva. “After I completed my speech, a woman approached me and questioned my right...
Photograph: Daily Mirror Sinhala Buddhist protestors gathered outside the UN office in Colombo on Wednesday, demanding the expulsion of Rohingya refugees from the island.
Sri Lankan Finance Minister Mangala Samaraweera released a statement condemning an attack on Rohingya refugees in Colombo by Sinhala Buddhist monks, stating that the attackers were “a group of thugs in robes”. His statement comes as Rajitha Senaratne, a Sri Lankan cabinet spokesman, branded the attackers “animals”, adding “this is not what the Buddha taught”. In a statement released on the Sri Lankan Ministry of Foreign Affairs website, Mr Samaraweera also said he condemned the attack “as a Buddhist”. He went on to reiterate how the Sri Lankan navy had rescued Rohingya asylum seekers in...
Tamil schoolchildren from Vavuniya were taken on a tour of Palali airport by the Sri Lankan military last week.
The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (GFATM) financed a project carried out by the Sri Lankan military to build health facilities in the Tamil North-East this month.
Sri Lanka has entered talks with two Chinese companies over proposals to invest US $3 billion to build a new refinery at the Chinese controlled Hambantota port, reports Reuters. Sri Lanka’s director at the Board of Investment, Mangala Yapa said the companies had put forward a joint venture proposal for a refinery that could produce up to 5 million tonnes of refined oil per year. Sri Lanka currently has one state run oil refinery, which was originally configured to run on Iranian crude oil until US sanctions led it to stop imports from Iran.
The UN Refugee Agency expressed alarm and concern at an attack against 31 Rohingya refugees in Sri Lanka by a Sinhala monk led mob. "The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is alarmed and concerned by yesterday's incident at a refugee shelter housing mostly women and children on the outskirts of Colombo," the UNHCR said in a statement on Wednesday. "UNHCR is equally concerned for the safety and security of our partner's staff present during the incident who were providing humanitarian assistance to the refugees." According to AFP, the mob "broke down gates and entered the...
The Terrorism Investigation Department has summoned a Mannar civil society leader for questioning in Colombo. V. S. Sivakaran, who heads the Federation of Community Organisations in Mannar was served the summons in relation to a letter he had sent to the Sri Lankan president criticising the president’s plans to attend the opening of an illegally constructed vihara in the environs of Thiruketheeswaram Kovil. In the letter Mr Sivakaran had warned that if the President chose to ignore local concerns and attend the opening, Mannar locals would protest his visit. While the opening of the vihara is...