The chief executive officer of V FM radio channel, Ruwan Sugathadasa, has been attacked by three unidentified men.  The gang had arrived in a jeep, bearing no: WP/GA 1893, stormed his home at Gangarama Road at Boralesgamuwa around 7.00 pm today (Sept. 02) and carried out the attack. Mr. Sugathadasa has been admitted to hospital in […]

Government Notifications/CF. 1/64.THE PUBLIC SECURITY ORDINANCE (CHAPTER 40)OrderBY virtue of the powers vested in me by Section 12 of the Public Security Ordinance (Chapter 40), I, Mahinda Rajapaksa,do by this order call out all the members of the Armed Forces specified in the First Schedule hereto, for the maintenance of public order in the areas […]

Pabodha Hettige The government should immediately repeal the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) and grant a general amnesty to all the political prisoners and the detained ex LTTE cadres, the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) says. “If necessary action is not taken to repeal the PTA it will be a hindrance to the national reconciliation process,” TNA […]

Ajantha Kumara Agalakada The Ministry of Finance had estimated that next year’s defense budget would be approximately Rs 223 billion, up from Rs.210 billion in 2011, sources said. Accordingly, Rs 217 billion would be set aside as recurrent expenditure. According to these estimates, next years capital expenditure would be approximately Rs 6000 million. It is […]

Melani Manel PereraThe appeal launched for the World Day of the disappeared. The women are asking the government to investigate a case without looking at ethnicity or religion. With 12 thousand missing persons, Sri Lanka is the second country with the highest number of disappearances in the world.  “Help us to find our children, without […]

Repressive wartime measures lingerMAHINDA RAJAPAKSA, Sri Lanka’s president, did not tell his ministers why he required them to attend parliament on August 25th. But an Indian newspaper put them out of their misery, breaking the news online that he was going to announce a lifting of Sri Lanka’s state of emergency. and yet, when he […]

New Delhi: In a worrying development, a Chinese spy ship disguised as a fishing trawler was tracked in the Indian Ocean recently, a report claimed on Wednesday. The ship was detected near the coast of Little Anadaman. It is believed that the ship had spent more than 20 days in the sensitive location before Indian radars […]

 Deepal JayasekeraMore than two years after the defeat of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), the Sri Lankan government has finally lifted the state of emergency imposed during the war. President Mahinda Rajapakse announced the move last Thursday in a bid to deflect mounting international pressure over his government’s war crimes and abuses. The […]

RAJAPALAYAM: The Sri Lankan government has not provided even basic amenities to the Tamils in that country, MP of the Sri Lankan Tamil National Council Seenithamby Yogeswaran said here on Wednesday. The Lankan MP told reporters that the traditional places of worship of 28 lakh Tamils in the country were being destroyed and their culture was […]

The Sri Lankan government lifted strict wartime emergency laws Tuesday night, but introduced new regulations under the Prevention of Terrorism Act allowing it to continue holding suspects detained during the state of emergency.Justice Minister Rauf Hakeem said Wednesday that about 1,200 people detained under the emergency laws will likely be freed soon. But hours later, […]

Over two years after Sri Lanka’s war against the LTTE, the Mahinda Rajapakse government has for the first time indirectly admitted that some of its army personnel may have indulged in human rights violations in the final phase of the war.They add that these army personnel may therefore be indicted in coming months. According to […]