• TNA has agreed to give Buddhism foremost place declares Ranil

    Photograph: ColomboPage

    Sri Lanka’s Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said the Tamil National Alliance has agree

  • India plans sub-sea power cable to Sri Lanka

    India is planning on building a sub-sea power cable to Sri Lanka, the country's Union Power Ministry told The Hindu on Sunday. 

  • UN Special Rapporteur on minority issues visits Sri Lanka

    The UN Special Rapporteur on minority issues, Rita Izsák-Ndiaye arrives in Sri Lanka today on a 10 day visit. 

    “Experience has shown that the recognition and promotion of minority rights are critical, if not requisite, in achieving long-lasting peace and reconciliation, particularly in countries such as Sri Lanka that were once divided by ethnic conflicts,” Ms Izsák-Ndiaye said ahead of her visit. 

  • New anti-terror act may be worse than PTA warns TNA

    The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) warned Sri Lanka's new anti-terror act which was intended to replace the widely criticised Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) "may even by worse than the PTA". 

    Describing the new act as "old wine in a new bottle", the TNA spokesperson, M A Sumanthiran warned it would likely include indefinite detention and the acceptance of confessions told to police officers at time of arrest. 

  • British Tamil Conservatives host annual reception at party conference

    The British Tamil Conservatives hosted their annual reception at the Conservative Party Conference in Birmingham on Tuesday. Held in the prestigious Castle Fine Art gallery, the BTC event has become a popular fixture in the conference calendar, and as customary was attended by several MPs and high-profile Conservatives who expressed their support for the Tamil community in their struggle for human rights.

  • Government will not go against Buddhist monks assures Sri Lankan president

    Sri Lanka’s president assured Sinhala Buddhist monks that his government would not pass any laws affecting the clergy, without agreement from them.

    Any decision regarding laws on the Buddha Sasana would be passed “only with the blessings of the Sangha led by the Mahanayake Theras,” The Island quoted Mr Sirisena as saying.

  • Sri Lankan military expands base in Mannar

    The Sri Lankan army declared open new buildings at the military headquarters in Mannar last month, according to an official army website.

  • Scottish, Sri Lankan police strengthen ties

    Scottish police strengthened ties with their Sri Lankan counterparts on training for the management of public peace. 

    In a conference held in Sri Lanka on Friday, Sri Lanka's Inspector of General of police, met with the Superintendent of Police, Mark Anderson. 

  • Northern Provincial Council requests security for Wigneswaran

    The Northern Provincial Council this week urged security to be provided to the chief minister CV Wigneswaran due to death threats by Sinhala nationalists. 

    Making the request in a letter to the Inspector General of Police, the chairman of the NPC CVK Sivagnanam said Mr Wigneswaran was receiving further threats from Sinhala groups in the South following the mass Tamil rally, Ezhuka Tamil last month. 
     

  • Sri Lankan TID's surveillance list of human rights activists emerges

    The Terrorism Investigation Division's surveillance list of human rights activists has emerged, the Sunday Leader reported on Sunday. 

    The details of activists on the list have not been released. 

    The TID is yet to comment on the leak. 

  • Retired Sri Lankan military personnel hired for ‘nation building’

    The Sri Lankan government announced that it would be hiring retired military personnel for “nation-building purposes,” in a media briefing on Friday.

    Speaking to reporters, Sri Lanka’s Minister of Defence and Secretary to the Ministry of Defence said the project was “initiated under a visionary concept of the President Maithripala Sirisena” and is to be officially inaugurated in the next week.

  • NPC calls for investigation of death threats against Wigneswaran

    The Northern Provincial Council passed a resolution this week, calling for an investigation into death threats issued against Chief Minister C V Wigneswaran by Sinhalese protestors.

  • Jaffna shooting: locals accuse Sri Lankan police

    Locals in Kokkuvil, Jaffna have accused the Sri Lankan police of shooting at a house on Wednesday, before raiding the premises and threatening those residing in the property. 

    The home owner, and father of the youth told reporters "two uniformed police officers came to my house at Pirambadi 2nd Street in Kokkuvil whilst I was not at home, but two of my children were at home." 

  • Ranil dismisses Wigneswaran's call for federalism

    Sri Lanka's prime minister, Ranil Wickremesinghe on Saturday dismissed the Northern Provincial Council chief minister's call for a federal solution.
     
    "Anyone is free to air their views but the Constitution making process is the work of parliament," he was quoted by the Daily Mirror as saying. 

  • Sinhale National Front lodges police complaint against Wigneswaran

    The Sinhale National Front lodged a complaint with Sri Lankan police against the Chief Minister of the Northern Province C V Wigneswaran, accusing him of inciting racial hatred.

    The organisation, accused of being behind a recent spate of racist attacks across the island, said the chief minister’s call for the removal of Sri Lankan military camps in the North-East would give rise to “terrorism”.

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