A six member delegation of the European Parliament Committee on International Trade (INTA) highlighted the need for Sri Lanka to make progress in implementing international human rights conventions relevant to GSP+ tarde concession, reports Colombo Gazette.

The delegation, who are on a 3 day visit to Sri Lanka, met with Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and key parliamentarians to follow up on the country’s commitments made in exchange for access to the European Union (EU) market. The delegation also met members of civil society. 

The Sri Lankan Army is demanding 880 million rupees to release 530 acres of occupied land in the North. The resettlement ministry has said it is requesting the funds from the finance ministry in order to secure the release of Tamil civilians’ land.

The Secretary to the Ministry for Resettlement, Ponniah Suresh, stated the amount at an event in Tellippalai on Thursday.

The resettlement ministry last year said it was paying the Sri Lankan Army around 148 million rupees to vacate Tamil-owned land in Keppapulavu, Mullaitivu, however those lands are yet to be returned to their owners.

Buddhist monks, military and police personnel gathered at the foundation laying ceremony of a new Buddhist Vihara in Muthur, Trincomalee.

The latest construction, forms a long list of Buddhist Vihara projects that Sri Lanka's army has been involved in across the traditionally Tamil regions of the North-East. The demographic make of Muthur consists largely of the Tamil and Muslim community. 

The Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) Chairman Prof. G. L. Peiris vowed to repeal the Office on Missing Persons, if his party were to come to power at the next general elections.

Speaking to reporters Prof Peiris said that the Inland Revenue Act (IRA), Office on Missing Persons Act (OMPA) and Active Liability Management Act (ALMA) would all be “scrapped immediately”, according to The Island.

The SLPP won control of 231 local councils out of a total of 340 in this year’s local council elections, sweeping across the south of the island.

The militarisation of the Jaffna peninsula looks set to continue, as the Sri Lankan army announced that it will be taking on a project to renovate 100 Hindu temples this week.

Sri Lanka’s Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe agreed to a list of 10 demands laid out by the Tamil National Alliance in return for support in defeating a No Confidence Motion, claimed parliamentarian Selvam Addaikalanathan.

The Island reported the TNA MP as stating there had been a “heated argument and tension” at a meeting between the TNA and Mr Wickremesinghe’s United National Party before the motion was debated in parliament on Wednesday.

Sri Lanka’s Attorney General department will appear in court on behalf of an army commander alleged to have been directly responsible for the disappearances of more than two dozen Tamil youths in 1996.

The petitioners in the habeas corpus case regarding the disappearances from Navatkuli objected to the Attorney General appearing for then Lieutenant General and now Major General Duminda Kepetiwolana, who is alleged to have been directly responsible for the disappearances as officer-in-charge of Navatkuli Army Camp.

The Jaffna High Court dismissed the objections and ruled that the AG department could appear for the respondent.

The Sri Lankan Prime Minister’s comments on the state of the Northern Province’s “fallen” education have been criticised in the North for failing to account for the root causes of poor educational standards across the province.

“If they really want to improve education in the North, the government should be implementing projects to see results in 2-5 years,” said C. V. K. Sivagnanam, the Chair of the Northern Provincial Council.

“Ranil [Wickremesinghe’s] claims that the North’s education will take 10 years to fix is just a delay tactic,” Mr Sivagnanam said, speaking to Tamil Guardian.

A no-confidnence motion against the Sri Lankan prime minister, Ranil Wickremesinghe was defeated today by a majority of 46 votes, allowing him to hold on to his position. 

The vote following a debate in parliament; 76 MPs voted in favour of the motion, 122 voted against and 26 abstained, Ada Derana reported. 

The former president Mahinda Rajapaksa voted in favour of the motion. 
 

The Ceylon Teachers Union this week condemned the government's decision to postpone celebrations of May Day due to pressure from Buddhist lobby groups, who argued that May 1st events should be held after the conclusion of Vesak.