• Sri Lankan president expands cabinet

    Mar 22
    Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena has exercised his executive powers by appointing 26 new members to the cabinet.

    Mr Sirisena appointed 11 new cabinet members and 15 deputy ministers the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) at a swearing in ceremony on Sunday.

    "This is a national government, and this is a (SLFP) party decision. We want to do all the reforms and then go to the elections," government spokesman Rajitha Senaratne told Reuters.

    Mr Sirisena was appointed chairman of the SLFP after he defeated former party leader Mahinda Rajapaksa in presidential elections in January.

    See a list of the newly appointed members below.
  • Tamils protest across North-East rejecting domestic probe into atrocities, call for international action
    Protests in Jaffna             Photograph:Tamil Guardian

    Demonstrations took place across the North-East on Monday, rejecting a newly proposed domestic probe into mass atrocities that occurred at the end of the armed conflict between the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and Sri Lankan government in 2009, and calling on the Sri Lankan government to give the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) investigation into Sri Lanka’s (OISL) team unfettered access to the North-East.

    Protesters also rejected the current domestic presidential commission into the disappeared and called for an international process that would ensure that the whereabouts of the disappeared were known.
  • Sri Lankan president grants release of 425 acres of army-occupied land in Jaffna
     

    Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena allowed the release of 425 acres of land in Jaffna to its original Tamil owners after years of occupation by the Sri Lankan military.

    At a ceremony in Jaffna, Mr Sirisena was flanked by Prime Minister Ranil Wickremasinghe and former President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga on stage, where he handed back the deeds of land formerly demarcated as a High Security Zone.

    A total of 1,000 acres was pledged to be released by government officials. No time frame has yet been set for their release.

    Speaking at the ceremony, Northern Province Chief Minister C V Wigneswaran said that whilst “we are no doubt glad a start has been made to give back our people’s lands... their expectations had been far in excess to that seen on the ground today”.

    “Unless Grama Sevaka Divisions 244 and 252 are released in full as promised earlier, what has been gingerly granted today would hardly be of any use to the few families now selected to enter their erstwhile denied lands,” added the Chief Minister.
  • USCIRF 'hopes and trusts' Sri Lanka will address issues of religious freedom
    The United States Commission on International and Religious Freedom (USCIRF) said it hopes Sri Lanka will address issues of religious freedom on the island and hold perpetrators of crimes committed against religious groups accountable.

    In a statement released to mark the end of a three day visit to the island by Commissioner Eric P. Schwartz and USCIRF Senior Policy Analyst Sahar Chaudhry, USCIRF said it was “very pleased to hear that reports of abuses perpetrated against minority religious communities have diminished over the last few months.”

    “We encourage the government to hold perpetrators of such crimes accountable,” said the statement. “We believe accountability will encourage a critical sense of security and well-being among affected communities.”
  • Buddhist groups slam government move to allow Sri Lankan anthem in Tamil

    Several Buddhist groups in Sri Lanka have attacked the government for allowing the Sri Lankan national anthem to be sung in Tamil, Ceylon Today reported.

    The groups accused the government of "acceding to Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam sentiments".

    The Ravana Balaya said it is organising a "massive protest" against the government's decision.

    The group said the anthem cannot be sung in two languages as stated in the constitution, accusing President Maithripala Sirisena of pandering to Tamils, especially the TNA and "pro-tiger" groups who had voted for him.

    "This is why beside mature politicians like the TNA Leader R Sambanthan, there are crooks like Democratic People's Front leader Mano Ganesan placed in the National Executive Council," Ravana Balaya's leader Iththekande Saddhatissa said.

    The Bodu Bala Sena's general secretary, Gnanasara said the ruling coalition had violated the constitution twice.

  • UK cross-party MPs urges UNHRC to ensure justice for Tamils


    The UK's All Party Parliamentary Group for Tamils (APPGT) urged member states of the UN Human Rights Council to ensure justice for the mass atrocities committed against the Tamil people in Sri Lanka.

  • Sri Lanka must deliver tangible improvements to Tamils says Pasumai Thaayagam
    The Tamil Nadu based NGO, Pasumai Thaayagam, urged the UN Human Rights Council to ensure that the 6 months granted to the new Sri Lankan government lead to tangible improvements to the Tamil people.

    "Six years since the end of the armed conflict, Sri Lankan troops, who are almost entirely ethnically Sinhalese, continue to be deployed across the Tamil areas in the North-East," the NGO's representative Vinthan Asokanathan told the Council on Friday, during an Item 5 general debate on minority issues.

    Acknowledging the new government's ambitious 100 day plan to reform the state, Pasumai Thaayagam said it     "while these reforms provide welcome reprieve to the Sinhala Buddhist people - who are the larger in population, and who have also had their freedoms curtailed by the previous government - the proposed reforms fail to address the concerns of the Tamil people who have faced discrimination and oppression by successive Sinhala majority governments."

  • Sri Lankan navy arrests 54 Tamil Nadu fishermen
    Fifty-four Tamil Nadu fishermen were arrested by the Sri Lankan navy on Sunday on charges of poaching and ten trawlers seized, reports The Hindu.

    The Tamil Nadu chief minister, O Panneerselvam urged the men to be released ahead of schedules talks between the two countries on the issue of fishing in the Palk Straits.

    “I wish to state that only when all the apprehended fishermen in Sri Lankan custody and their boats are released would the talks be meaningful and conducted in a conducive atmosphere,” Mr Panneerselvam wrote in a letter to the Indian prime minister, Narendra Modi.

  • Sarath Fonseka promoted to highest rank

    Photos: defence.lk

    The former army commander Sarath Fonseka was promoted to Field Marshal, the highest rank of the Sri Lankan military at a ceremony earlier today, the first Sri Lankan to be given the rank.

    Mr Fonseka, who is thought to be responsible for tens of thousands of Tamil deaths during his time at the helm of the army, was promoted under the patronage of President Maithripala Sirisena, who presented him with the field marshal baton at the ceremony.

  • India and US assisting Sri Lanka in Mahinda fraud probe - report

    Both India and the US are assisting Sri Lanka with a probe, tracing $2bn allegedly hidden in overseas accounts by former president Mahinda Rajapaksa, according to the Economic Times.

  • Land appropriation delayed due to protests in North-East
    The appropriation of 20 acres of Land for military use in the North-East was delayed after land owners protested in front of the regional secretariat office in Pudhukudiyiruppu. 

    Land owners, local villagers, TNA MPs Sivsakthi Nanthan and Vino Nogatharathalingam, and NPC member K Sivamohan participated in protests outside the secretariat office.
  • JHCOBA UK denies official meeting with Sri Lanka's president
    The Jaffna Hindu College Old Boys Association (UK) (JHCOBA) denied a recent announcement that said orgisation had met with the new Sri Lankan president Maithripala Sirisena, during his visit to the UK.
  • Modi Jaffna visit interferes with Sri Lanka's internal affairs, says Chinese think-tank
    The Indian Premier Narendra Modi’s visit to the Tamil dominated Jaffna area, was an interference into Sri Lanka’s internal affairs, said a Chinese government backed think tank, on Friday.

    A researcher at the Shanghai Institutes for International Studies, Liu Zongyi, said,

    “Modi included in his Sri Lanka trip the city of Jaffna in the Tamil majority Northern Province, which in fact shows India’s interference in the country’s internal affairs.”

    Mr Zongyi added that India and Sri Lanka would not be able to develop rapport because of differences over issues relating to Tamils and fishing rights, noting that “India is determined to gain a dominant position in the region by enhancing military and security cooperation with them.”
  • Sri Lankan national anthem in Tamil causes backlash
    Sri Lankan parliamentarians have protested against reports that the Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena has allowed the country's national anthem to be sung in Tamil.

    “We are totally against this measure,” said Sri Lanka Freedom Party parliamentarian Sarath Weerasekara. “It is illegal and the betrayal of our race.”

    The former Sri Lankan navy commander who is a now a member of parliament went on to say, "this is nothing but a betrayal... A decision to please just a 2 million (Tamil) population." Mr Weerasekara further added that a referendum must be held before any decision can be made to allow the Tamil version of the anthem to be sung. "It is clear in our Constitution that the national anthem must be sung only in the state language," he said.

    SLFP spokesperson Dilan Perera said the Mr Weerasekara's views were not representative of the party, stating it was his “personal view”. 
  • ‘If I visit US, I will have to sit in the electric chair’ says Gotabhaya
    Sri Lanka’s former defence secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa said that if he was to move to the USA, he would be prosecuted and sentenced to death by electric chair, whilst being interviewed on a talk show on Sri Lankan television.    

    “I cannot lead a luxury life in America,” said Mr Rajapaksa. “There, I will have to sit in the electric chair for conducting the war”.

    Colombo Mirror reported the former defence secretary as saying that “LTTE terrorists are waiting” for him to visit the USA or other countries where they may be able to file a lawsuit against him

    “It’s an open secret,” continued Mr Rajapaksa. “I have served in the Army for 20 years during the very difficult period…Because of my dedication and commitment I was able to finish the war which others couldn’t… Many people will acknowledge it.”
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