The head of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) Sri Lanka met with the Commander of Sri Lanka’s security forces in Jaffna last week. Sri Lanka’s military said Major General Mahesh Senanayaka “discussed military relations and the opportunities and challenges associated with the post-conflict environment” with Ms Claire Meytraud during the meeting, and “updated her with the present situation in Jaffna peninsula”. The commander went on to explain "the military endeavors on Reconciliation process (sic),” according to an official military website.
A former LTTE cadre was arrested in Kilinochchi by the Terrorism Investigation Department (TID) last week. Karalasingam Kulenthiran, from Thiruvaiyaru, Kilinochchi was reported missing by his family members on the 13th January. Relatives found out the following day that he had been arrested by the TID and was being held in Vavuniya. Mr Kulenthiran was working in an insurance company, having been through the Sri Lankan government's rehabilitation programme. His is the second reported arrest of a former cadre by the TID in 2017.
Sarath Fonseka, the former chief of the Sri Lankan army, has denied involvement in the murder of former Sunday Leader editor Lasantha Wickrematunge, after facing five hours of questioning on the subject on Friday. Mr Fonseka, who now was promoted to the rank of Field Marshal and appointed as Minister of Regional Development by the current Sri Lankan government, was questioned on the subject of operations carried out by the military on Friday by the Criminal Investigations Department (CID). “I was able to use that opportunity to clear my name,” said Mr Fonseka. “The former ruler was trying to...
The current and former Sri Lankan presidents, Sirisena and Rajapaksa, congratulated the newly inaugurated US president, Donald Trump. The former president, Mahinda Rajapaksa welcomed what he described as Trump's 'non-interventionist foreign policy'. Mr Sirisena expressed his hope for stronger Sri Lankan and US relations. "Looking forward to working with you to strengthen the US-Sri Lanka partnership," he said in a tweet.
Jaffna citizens have demanded an end to illegal settlements of Sinhalese people in the district. The illegal appropriation of lands to create Sinhala settlement villages and army camps must cease, concluded a meeting of the Jaffna co-ordinating committee on Thursday. The meeting’s attendants particularly condemned the building of houses in Navatkuli for 53 Sinhalese people. The committee warned that citizens would engage in disruptive action during presidential and government visits to Jaffna if Sinhala settlements and army landgrabs continued.
The International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) called on the Sri Lankan government to respond to the “clear demand for justice” laid out in the Consultation Task Force on Reconciliation Mechanisms (CTF) and fully implement its recommendations. “The CTF report highlights a widespread lack of trust among Sri Lankans across the country, regardless of region, ethnicity, religion or language, in the ability of the criminal justice system in its current form to address serious human rights abuses stemming from the conflict,” said Nikhil Narayan, the ICJ’s South Asia senior legal adviser. “If the Sri...
Parliamentarians from the United National Party dismissed claims there were conditions attached to Sri Lanka regaining GSP+ and asserted what they described as "Sri Lanka's 2500 year old Buddhist culture" was "non-negotiable for whatever reasons". "Legalising homosexuality or any other step which diluted Sri Lanka's rich culture would never happen," UNP MPs Harshana Rajakaruna and Wijepala Hettiarachchi were quoted by the Daily Mirror as saying at a media briefing on Friday. "The division of the country was also out of the question and that the government had not agreed to any condition that...
Sri Lanka’s security forces must stop harassing former LTTE cadres, the Northern Province Chief Minister has said. Chief Minister C. V. Wigneswaran held talks with the EU’s Deputy Head of Delegation over a variety of topics but highlighted the problems especially faced by former fighters. The chief minister said that the Sri Lankan army and police would use any security issue or crime in the North as an excuse to knock on the homes of former cadres for questioning and intimidation. Ex-cadres face a multitude of problems and have struggled to reintegrate into society due to lack of care and...
The Sri Lankan army has been intimidating Mullaitivu villagers ahead of a presidential visit. Soldiers threatened Keppapilavu villagers against holding protests over land-returns during President Sirisena’s visit. The villagers were told that if they protested and demanded their own lands back - instead of accepting the alternative lands or monetary compensation currently promised - they would be forced to remain in their displaced situations. Keppapilavu villagers, currently living in temporary settlements, were expecting their lands to be returned during the upcoming presidential visit on...
Sri Lanka’s military said that it will continue to occupy a military camp in Omanthai, contrary to earlier reports that the camp was to be dismantled and the land it occupied returned to its private landowners. Sri Lankan military spokesperson Roshan Seneviratne was quoted by the Daily Mirror as stating the checkpoint would not be completely removed and the army was only releasing lands to the west of the camp. “The army personnel there will be deployed at the army camp on the other side of the road,” he added. “It is not a sudden decision to vacate the land. The process of vacating the land...