• US to send yet another vessel to Sri Lankan navy, confirms senior official

    A senior US official confirmed that Washington will be looking to send yet another vessel to the Sri Lankan navy – its fourth so cutter so far – despite the military’s history of human rights abuses, as ties with Colombo grow even closer.  

  • Sri Lankan navy bars Eelam fishermen from fishing near Sampilthurai

    The Sri Lankan navy has barred fisherfolk from fishing along the Mathagal Sampilthurai area in Jaffna, warning them that they are banned from fishing close to the coast where a military-run Buddhist vihara is situated. 

  • Release Tamil land occupied by Sri Lankan Air Force, says Rajapaksa ally

    Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) lawmaker and Rajapaksa ally Angajan Ramanathan called on the Sri Lankan military to release all lands occupied by the Air Force in the North-East, as the occupation of the Tamil homeland continues.

  • Torturer formally appointed Sri Lanka’s police chief, despite Constitutional Council decision

    Sri Lanka’s president has formally appointed Deshabandu Tennakoon as the incumbent Inspector General of Police in Sri Lanka, an official who the Supreme Court found had personally participated in torture and whose appointment had not been approved by the state's Constitutional Council. 

  • Sri Lanka must not be 'coerced to take sovereign decisions' says foreign minister

    Sri Lanka's foreign minister said his government must follow a policy that ensures they are “not forced or coerced into a camp to make sovereign decisions,” as he spoke in Colombo last week.

    “Countries like Sri Lanka if we learn from our history cannot take sides," claimed Ali Sabry. "Sri Lanka must be open to working with anyone. Non-alignment means not becoming a bystander... Non-alignment means you are not forced or coerced into a camp to make sovereign decisions. But you make decisions. And you take your own choices.”

  • Countless commissions but still no answers on Sri Lanka’s disappearances of Tamils

    Marking 7 years of continuous protests by Tamil families of the disappeared, a statement from a coalition of organisations recalled how countless Sri Lankan government commissions have been appointed but none have brought answers or served justice, with many still to publish their findings.

  • ‘Majoritarianism led communities to take up arms’ admits Sri Lankan minister in India

    Sri Lanka’s state minister for foreign affairs admitted that “majoritarianism in Sri Lanka led to discrimination of certain communities which led them to take up arms,” and called for power sharing – even as his government continues to refuse to do so.

  • Katchatheevu festival draws thousands, amidst Sri Lankan militarisation and Indian boycott

    Despite a boycott by Indian fisherfolk, the annual St. Antony’s church festival at Katchatheevu saw a significant turnout, with over 4,000 devotees attending the two-day event, including a heavy Sri Lankan military presence

  • Former accused in Rajiv Gandhi assassination case can finally return home

    The Foreigners Regional Registration Officer (FRRO) of the Union Ministry of External Affairs has issued an emergency travel document for Santhan, one of the accused in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case, to return to Sri Lanka immediately. 

  • Bodies in Mullaitivu mass grave buried 'in a hurry' from 1994 to 1996

    Mullaitivu Judicial Medical Officer Dr Kanagasbapathy Vasudeva confirmed that the bodies of 40 individuals whose remains were excavated from the Kokkuthoduvai mass grave were buried "in a hurry" without any religious rites, sometime between 1994 and 1996.

  • India and Sri Lanka’s incompatible interests

    Recent months have seen India rapidly expand its footprint in Sri Lanka. Under the presidency of Ranil Wickremesinghe, a series of deals have reportedly been agreed, binding the two economically closer than they have been in decades. From New Delhi, things may look comfortable across the Palk Strait. But it would be hasty to think so. If it is a long-term relationship with a stable partner that India is seeking, it will not be found in Colombo where authoritarianism is growing and Sinhala Buddhist nationalism continues to underpin the Sri Lankan state ethos. Instead, it is in liberating the Tamil North-East where India’s efforts should be focused.

  • Sri Lanka looks to build new prison in Batticaloa

    Minister of Justice, Prison Affairs and Constitutional Reform, Wijayadasa Rajapakse toured the Mantheevu islet, a part of Batticaloa this week to use the area to establish a new prison or a rehabilitation centre, purportedly to overcome Sri Lanka’s issue of overcrowding in prisons. 

  • Sri Lankan police prevent Tamils from attending monthly festival at Trinco temple

    Sri Lankan police prohibited Tamils from attending a monthly festival at a Hindu temple in Trincomalee. Police claimed that worship at the Kandasamimalai Murugan temple in Thennimaravadi was banned as the temple is located in an area that is clained to be a Buddhist archaeological site.

  • Army threatens three Tamil journalists reporting in Jaffna

    Three Tamil journalists, Prabhakaran Dilaksan, Sundarampillai Rajeskaran, and Chinnaiya Yogeswaran, were threatened by the Sri Lankan army as they attempted to cover the gathering of civilians visiting a temple within the 'High-Security Zone' in Palali Vasavilan, Jaffna. 

  • Sri Lanka looks to deepen ties with Iran as warships dock in Colombo

    As part of high-profile diplomatic visit by Iran’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, to Sri Lanka, two Iranian warships IRINS Bushehr and Tonb also docked at Colombo Port.

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