• EU parliament's 'Friends of Sri Lanka' in visit to help remove fishing ban

    Mar 07

    The ban on Sri Lankan fishing imports into the EU could be removed in a few months, according to MEP Jan Zahradil, Vice-Chair of the EU Committee on International Trade (INTA), who is currently in Colombo.

    Mr Zahradil said his visit was aimed at removing "irritants" in trade, and the EU parliamentary group ‘Friends of Sri Lanka’, of which he is a member, wanted to assess how to help Sri Lanka on removing the ban fishery exports and resuming the GSP plus export scheme which the island lost owing to human rights issues.

    "Once monthly progress reports are sent to the European Commission we could try to put this on the agenda as a special point and can help solve this issue as soon as possible, perhaps in a horizon of months and not let it last for too long," he said during a meeting Rishad Bathiudeen, Minister of Industry and Commerce of Sri Lanka.

  • China unhappy at Port City suspension order

    China expressed its displeasure at the Sri Lankan governments decision to suspend the Chinese funded $1.4bn 'Port City' project.

    Investor China Communications Construction Company Limited (CCCC) told media it had received official communication from the government requesting the suspension.

    Chinese Ambassador Yi Xianliang was quoted by Xinhua as saying at a recent emergency meeting with Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera that Sri Lanka should respect bilateral agreements and contracts and protect the interests of its investors.

    Xinhua said the Association for Sri Lanka-China Social and Cultural Cooperation, a civic group in Sri Lanka, has urged the government to withdraw the suspension order as the Chinese-funded Port City has created job opportunities and benefited the local economy.

  • Mothers continue hunger strike by Nallur temple demanding Sri Lankan govt returns missing children
    Photograph Tamil Guardian


    Mothers in Jaffna continued their hunger strike on Saturday     outside the iconic Nallur temple, demanding that the new Sri Lankan government returns their missing children.

    Carrying photographs of their children and placards asking where they were, the mothers began protesting on Friday. See more here.

  • Indian fishermen will get shot by navy, warns Sri Lankan PM

    Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe warned that Indian fishermen who venture into Sri Lankan waters will get shot by the Sri Lankan navy, in an interview with a Chennai-based TV channel.

    “This is our waters,” said Mr Wickremesinghe. “If someone tries to break into my house, I can shoot. If he gets killed… law allows me to do that."

    Justifying the frequent reports of attacks by the Sri Lankan security forces on Indian fishermen, the Sri Lankan prime minister added "they (the Sri Lankan Navy) have to shoot because they were poaching on Sri Lankan waters."

    "On the fishermen issue, As far as I'm concerned, I have very very strong lines. This is our waters," continued Mr Wickremesinghe.

    “Why are you coming into our waters? Why are you fishing in our waters? Stay on the Indian side…There will be no issue…No one will shoot anyone else,” he said. “You stay on the Indian side, Let our fishermen stay on the Sri Lankan side… Otherwise don’t make accusations of human rights violation by the Navy. You came in there.”

  • Reconciliation only possible if truth is accepted, Wigneswaran tells Norwegian ambassador
    The chief minister of the northern province, C V Wigneswaran told the Grete Løchen, Norway's ambassador to Sri Lanka, during her visit to Jaffna this week.

    "Reconciliation is only possible between communities, only if the truth about what took place is accepted," Mr Wigneswaran told Ms Løchen when she asked if the resolution adopted by the Northern Provincial Council calling for an international investigation into the genocide of Tamils by the Sri Lankan state would affect favourable conditions heralded by the new government.

    Speaking to media after the meeting on Friday, Mr Wigneswaran said the Norwegian ambassador had assured him that the deferral of the publishing of the findings of the UN inquiry into mass atrocities of the Tamil people was only till September.

  • India must help ensure meaningful devolution to merged North-East says TNA
    The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) told India's external affairs minister, Sushma Swaraj, that the country must ensure a solution to the ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka through the meaningful devolution of power to a merged North-East.

    The TNA also urged India to exert pressure on Sri Lanka to release Tamil political prisoners and to address the issue of disappearances.

    Ms Swaraj, who arrived in Colombo on Friday for a two day visit in order to prepare for the Indian prime minister's visit next month, met with the TNA leader, R Sampanthan, and MPs, Mavai Senathirajah, Suresh Premachandran, M A Sumanthiran and Selvam Adaikkalanathan, reported BBC Tamil.

  • Modi to visit Jaffna and inspect Indian housing scheme
    The Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit Jaffna and Talaimannar next week after arriving in Colombo on March 13 for a two day visit of the island.

    Whilst in Jaffna, Mr Modi is to inspect the Indian funded housing scheme, handing over houses to locals. He is also expected to flag off the first train restarting the Talaimannar - Medawachchiya service which was reconstructed with Indian credit assistance.

    "During the visit, the Indian Premier is expected to discuss defence and security cooperation and push for further energy agreements, including the approval of a 500MW thermal power plant to be built in Trincomalee," Sri Lanka's ministry of foreign affairs said on Friday.

  • Forum Asia calls for international scrutiny on Sri Lanka until tangible results achieved
    The Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (Forum Asia), calling for sustained “international scrutiny” until tangible results were achieved on the ground, urged Sri Lanka to “fully demilitarise” the North-East of the island, release political prisoners and allow the OHCHR investigation into Sri Lanka (OISL) team full access into the island.
  • South African spy cables reveal Sri Lanka exaggerated LTTE threat

    The Sri Lankan government consistently claimed the LTTE was active in South Africa after the end of the island’s armed conflict in 2009, despite findings by the South African intelligence agency which denied this, reports Al Jazeera.

    In a set of secret intelligence cables obtained by Al Jazeera’s investigative unit, the State Security Agency of South Africa said “ongoing allegations have been made since 1998 by amongst others, Sri Lankan government officials and some Sri Lankan academics that Tamil organizations in South Africa are providing the LTTE and some of their supporters with weapons, as well as providing members of the LTTE and Tamil organizations in South Africa with para-military training”.

    “Available information does not confirm these allegations,” continued the cable.

  • Newly appointed military officials oversaw massacres of Tamils

    Sri Lanka’s newly appointed military officials all held senior positions during the final phase of the island’s armed conflict where tens of thousands of Tamils were massacred and alleged crimes against humanity were committed, reports Journalists for Democracy in Sri Lanka.

    “Recent appointments to top military posts have heightened doubts on the effectiveness of the proposed 'internal mechanism' to investigate war crimes,” said JDS, detailing several of the newly appointed senior military officials.

    The new commander of Sri Lanka’s army, Lieutenant General Crishanthe de Silva, was “in charge of dispatching civilians fleeing the north at the conclusion of the war,” during his time in Kilinochchi as Forward Maintenance Area Commander.

    Major General Kamal Gunaratne, the new Master General Ordnance of Army Headquarters was also reportedly “considered the most senior among military commanders in the attack on Mullaithivu” and is accused of overseeing the execution of Balachandra, the son of LTTE leader Velluppillai Prabhakaran and newsreader Isaipriya.

  • Mothers launch hunger strike by Nallur temple demanding Sri Lankan govt returns missing children
    Photograph @Uthayarasashali


    Tamil mothers protested outside the iconic Nallur temple on Friday, demanding that the new Sri Lankan government returns their missing children.
  • Sri Lankan president assures Buddhist clergy he is guided by them when governing
    President Sirisena opens Asu Maha Srawaka Pasvisi Buddharaja Maha Viharaya at Rathganga Viharaya, Ratnapura


    Sri Lanka's new president, Maithripala Sirisena, assured the Buddhist clergy, known as the Maha Sangha, that he "always seeks the advice and guidance of the Maha Sangha when governing the country."

  • Families of disappeared protest in Kilinochchi
    All photographs: Tamilwin

    Families of the disappeared launched a hunger strike in Kilinochchi on Friday, demanding that the new Sri Lankan government returns their missing loved ones to them.

    The hunger strike took place as mothers in Jaffna launched a similar hunger strike by Nallur temple.

  • Indians should be able to have uninhibited investment access in Sri Lanka says Central Bank
    Sri Lankans and Indians should be able to travel to each other’s countries and do business with no hindrance, said Sri Lanka’s Central Bank governor on Thursday.

    Speaking to The Hindu, Arjuna Mahendran, expressed optimism about establishing a Free Trade Agreement with India, stating,

    “I think a Free Trade Agreement with India is definitely very desirable for Sri Lanka, not only with India but also with China and the United States.”
  • IMF rejects fresh bailout for Sri Lanka

    The International Monetary Fund has rejected a US$4 billion bailout for Sri Lanka and instead urged the country to restrict its intervention in foreign exchange markets.

    Sri Lanka's finance minister Ravi Karunanayake travelled to Washington last month, where he sought “international goodwill” for the bailout, hoping to secure more than US$4 billion to finance the “restructuring” of debt.

    However the proposal has been rejected by the IMF.

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