Sri Lanka's Cabinet on Tuesday approved leasing Hambantota port to China Merchant Port Holdings, following months of delays. The approval was announced by the ports and shipping minister, Mahinda Samarasinghe, the Daily Mirror reported. However, it now needs to be approved by parliament. "The cabinet approved the deal and now it needs parliament approval. We will send it for approval this week," the cabinet spokesman Dayasiri Jayasekera told Reuters . The deal, which was initiated by the previous Rajapaksa regime, faced several hurdles under the Sirisena government as locals in the South and...
The main suspect in the suspected assassination of the Jaffna High Court judge Ilancheliyan was arrested by Sri Lankan police on Tuesday morning. The suspect, identified as 39 year old Selvarasa Jayandan reportedly surrendered to Jaffna police station. Whilst the judge escaped unharmed, his police escort was injured during the incident and later died from his wounds.
The Sri Lankan government has renewed the employment of the man who ran the island’s “most notorious torture site” in a move that shows “utter disdain for victims of torture and the UN system,” said the International Truth and Justice Project. Sisira Mendis, the former Deputy Inspector General (DIG) in charge of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) and Terrorism Investigation Division (TID) in Sri Lanka, has had his term as the Director of Sri Lanka’s Centre for National Intelligence extended until June 2018. “Sri Lanka is constantly rewarding and protecting alleged perpetrators – with...
Batticaloa lawyers protested and joined their colleagues across the North-East in boycotting court proceedings on Monday.
The Sri Lankan Army's Mannar-based 542 Brigade held a blood donation event at the Murunkan Hospital on Sunday. Hospital sources said that the donation was not requested by the hospital itself but that the event was initiated and organised by the brigade's commander.
Black July remembrance events took place on Sunday organised by the Tamil National People's Front. Members and supporters of the party, as well as survivors of the pogrom and family members of victims participated in events in Batticaloa and in Jaffna.
A Tamil youth has died on Monday and another seriously injured in Batticaloa after running from Special Task Forces firing shots in the air. Brothers, 17-year-old Sathakaran Mathushan and 18-year-old Sathakaran Kishanthan were reportedly loading sand into a tractor on the banks of the Munthankumaraveli River when approached by Special Task Force troops, who immediately started firing shots in the air to scare and disperse the youngsters. The brothers dived in the river in an attempt to escape the troops but were overcome by the strong currents. Although the boys were pulled out and taken to...
Sri Lanka's Minister of Ports and Shipping, Mahinda Samarasinghe announced this month that the government would be commencing on a three year plan to develop Trincomalee harbour. The harbour's current four terminals would be developed for commercial ventures, the minister added. The development plan involves identifying 10,000 hectares of land which would be gazetted, Colombo Page reported.
Sri Lanka's foreign ministry met with defence officials on Monday to discuss the security forces exchange of 'expertise and experience' with other countries, Colombo Page reported. According to the paper, a discussion also took place on "how security forces can contribute in the effort to strengthen the living conditions of the people in the North and the East" and "how to correct misimpression about the security forces of Sri Lanka, if any, among the global community." "How to protect human rights to strengthen the operation to win over the international community under the guidance of...
A Tamil widow has filed a complaint with the Northern Irish police's ombudsman over the Royal Ulster Constabulary's links to the Sri Lankan police force which was responsible for the massacre of 10 of her relatives in 1986, the Irish Times reported. Officers from Sri Lanka visited Belfast in 1983 in the wake of some of the worst killings of the Troubles to meet with the RUC's elite commando unit and "see at first hand the role of the police and army in counter-terrorist operations", British government files revealed. The Sri Lanka's notorious Special Task Force, which has been linked to a...