• Sri Lanka has the ‘correct foreign policy’ claims president

    Jan 17

    Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena claimed that his government is enacting “the correct foreign policy” which has led to them being accepted by the international community.

    Speaking at a ceremony in Polonnaruwa Mr Sirisena also announced that he had been invited on an official visit to Germany, stating it was the first time a Sri Lankan leader had been invited to the country in 43 years.

  • New act supports different Buddhist sect claims opposition MP

    Pivithuru Hela Urumaya (PHU) General Secretary MP Udaya Gammanpila claimed that a plans to introduce a new act proposed by the Sri Lankan government seeks to promote a different sect of Buddhism than that practised in Sri Lanka.

    The popular opposition MP said that the proposed new act “will only be applicable for the Theravada Buddhist monks”.

    “Thus, it looks like, this act attempts promote Mahayana Buddhism here,” said Gammanpila.

    Mahayana Buddhism, the form of the religion mainly practised across the Far East, has faced repression in Sri Lanka, with temples being attacked by Sinhala Buddhist monks and calls for its banning by government ministers.

    Controversy over the proposed act comes after Buddhist group BBS voiced its opposition and the JVP party threatened street protests if it were to pass.

    Sri Lanka President Maithripala Sirisena though stated that the bill would not be passed without approval from the Maha Sanga.

  • Sri Lanka soldiers buried massacred Tamils in Colombo mass graves says witness
    A labourer in Colombo revealed a horrifying eyewitness testimony of Sinhala soldiers burying the bodies of 35 Tamil prisoners that were killed during the 1983 anti-Tamil program that saw 1000’s of Tamils massacred in Sri Lanka.

    Aneez Thuwan, a labourer working for the Colombo Municipal Council said he witnessed Sri Lankan military soldiers dig two 10x10x10 graves and dump 35 blood soaked bodies into the graves.  The next day a further 18 bodies were brought and dumped into a similar grave at the back of the cemetery., reports Ceylon Today.

    One of those massacred in the prison was a prominent Tamil militant, who made the following statement before being sentenced to death and life in prison.
     
    After hearing his sentence in court, Kuttimani said,
  • China and India Navy vessels dock in Colombo for joint training with Sri Lanka
    Chinese and Indian war ships arrived in Colombo this week announced Sri Lanka’s Navy.

    The Indian ships arrived for a joint training exercise, to enhance the knowledge of both navies and foster a working relationship between the two forces reports Colombo Page.
  • New constitution drafted within 6th Amendment says Ranil
    The Sri Lankan prime minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said on Saturday the new constitution will be drafted within the Sixth Amendment to the constitution which prohibits the establishment of a separate state.

    "The country could not be divided and that no one had the slightest intention of diluting the unitary nature of the country through the new constitution", Mr Wickrememsinghe was quoted by the Daily Mirror as saying.

    "Some say the foremost place given to Buddhism and the unitary nature of the country are being diluted through the new constitution. No one wants to divide the country."

    "Most of us including me are Buddhists, I am Sinhalese and I need to unite the whole country," he added.

  • Sri Lankan military holds Thai Pongal prayers in Kilinochchi temple


    The Sri Lankan military held Thai Pongal festivities in the Thirumurukkandi Hindu temple in Kilinochchi on Friday as local residents had gathered to pray.

    Dressed in civilian clothes, troops from the 57th Division and the commander in Kilinochchi, Major General K A D A Karunasekara conducted the ceremony, giving food to local residents and residents at an elderly home.

  • Sri Lanka confirms China funded Colombo port project
    The Sri Lankan government given approval for the Chinese funded funded Colombo Port City Project, reports ColomboPage.

    Sri Lanka’s ambassador to China Karunasena Kodituwakku on Friday confirmed that the delayed Colombo Port City Project, had been approved.
  • ‘Significant and credible progress’ needed on UN resolution by June says UK minister
    Sri Lanka must “demonstrate significant and credible progress” in implementing a UN Human Rights Council resolution on accountability by June, said UK Foreign Office Minister Hugo Swire.

    Speaking at a press conference in Colombo yesterday, Mr Swire said “the UNHRC will look at the progress made by Sri Lanka in its June session, and it will be important for Sri Lanka to demonstrate significant and credible progress by then.”

    The minister stated that he had discussed the issue with UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Prince Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein and they both were expecting clear progress on accountability mechanisms.

    “Prince Zed who I spoke to recently, is coming to Sri Lanka quite soon, and he is very certain that June is not just a cosmetic ticking the box exercise,” said Mr Swire. “It is to really measure that some of these long term measures are going to be properly addressed.”
  • The missing are considered dead says Sri Lankan prime minister
    Missing people from the Tamil North-East of the island are considered to be dead said Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe in a speech to an audience in Jaffna this week.

    Speaking at a Thai Pongal event in Jaffna, Mr Wickremesinghe stated both during and after the war many people had gone missing in the Tamil Northern and Eastern provinces.

    In attendance were Northern Province Chief Minister C V Wigneswaran and British Foreign Office Minister Hugo Swire.

    Mr Wickremesinghe’s comments come just weeks after over 1,620 complaints were lodged before Sri Lanka’s presidential commission into disappearances, which held a sitting in Jaffna.
  • Buddhist monk arrested for filming abuse of German tourist

    A Buddhist monk has been arrested in Sri Lanka for filming the abuse of a German tourist by two other Sri Lankan men, reports Hiru News.

    The monk, who is 17 years old, was arrested in Gandara as he filmed two other men abuse the German tourist on Thalalla beach, Matara.

  • Mullaitivu residents call for Navy to release land immediately
    Photograph Tamilwin

  • Remembering Colonel Kittu

    Today marks the 23rd anniversary since the death of Sathasivam Krishnakumar alias Colonel Kittu, and nine other LTTE cadres, who committed suicide after being surrounded by Indian navy warships in 1993.

  • Swire discusses transitional justice and reconciliation with Chandrika
    Photograph @HugoSwire

    The UK's Foreign Office minister for South Asia, Hugo Swire, met with the former Sri Lankan president Chandrika Kumaratunga on Friday, during his visit of the island.

    Mr Swire discussed transitional justice and the formation of a new Office for National Unity and Reconciliation.

  • Swire and Wigneswaran discuss land issues and political solution
    Photograph @UKinSriLanka

    The UK's Foreign Office minister for South Asia, Hugo Swire, the chief minister of the northern province, C V Wigneswaran on Friday, during his visit to Jaffna for the Tamil festival of Thai Pongal.

    Discussions included the ongoing occupation of Tamil land by the military as well as the issues around a long term political solution and other key concerns facing the Tamil people.

    Speaking at the 'National Thaipongal Festival' on Friday, Justice Wigneswaran had highlighted the military presence in the Tamil areas as a significant problem which laid the foundation for violence. See more here.

  • Buddhist monks will not answer to 'white man' legal system says BBS Gen-Sec

    The General Secretary of the Bodu Bala Sena Gnanasara Thera slammed Sri Lanka’s government for attempting to bring in an act that “puts conditions” on the Buddhist clergy.

    Reiterating that Buddhist clergies would not be controlled by parliament, and that any rules on monks should only be proposed by the Buddhist Sangha, Gnanasara Thera said,

    “We are facing these problems because of not taking the right decision at the right time, a point which has not been understood by political leaders. We will not let the Act to be brought to the parliament. Ordinary people cannot put conditions on the clergy. If rules are to be implemented they should be proposed by the Chief Sangha Nayaka.”

    Adding that monks would not present themselves before any court or magistrate, Gnanasara said,

    “We respect the country’s law but we are not going to bow before the white man’s law unless it is relevant to our country."

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