Image: Sri Lankan young monks fighting the police (Tamilweek) By Laksiri Fernando. There is no need to exaggerate or be too alarmed, but there appears to be a state behind the State. Whether it is a shadow state or a parallel one is subject to argument. It has reappeared after a long slumber, and given […]

By Manekshaw. It was a few weeks ago Leader of the Opposition and Tamil National Alliance R. Sampanthan addressing participants at an event at the Sarvodaya centre in Colombo emphasized the need of a new Constitution and pointed out that all citizens should support the new Constitution in the best interests to strengthen peace and […]

  Read the petition filed by former inmate Sudesh Silva:PR pettion Welikada killings The Inspector General of Police (IGP), Pujith Jayasundara has ordered the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) to conduct a further investigation into the 2012 Welikada Prison riot. The order was given following the recommendations of the three-member committee appointed by Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe. […]

Image: Shall we finish Sirisena? is that what Ranil asking?  Cabinet meeting bombshell exposes widening crack in National Unity Government; SLFP and UNP at crossroads amid reports of PC polls this year Sirisena wants to bring the Rajapaksas to book; but questions about how far he could go; Police say some important arrests are on the cards […]

UNP or UNP-led Governments of the past and of the present, though able to deliver, both from a political and economic sense, relative to their peers in their various manifestations in coalitions formed under the auspices of their historical arch rival the SLFP, nonetheless have a penchant for blunderbussing. This history of blunderbussing is, in […]

“In one of his statements, Director General of the Government Information Department, Dr Ranga Kalansooriya had implied that FMM has been involving to the drafting of the above Act since its beginning, which is a half-truth.” says the Free Media Movement issuing a statement. Meanwhile the largest membership based journalists organisation, Sri Lanka The Working […]

Image: Mr. Ben Emmerson (UN) GENEVA (6 July 2017) – The United Nations Special Rapporteur on human rights and counter-terrorism Ben Emmerson will undertake an official visit to Sri Lanka from 10 to 14 July to gather first-hand information on initiatives in the area of counter-terrorism and assess how they affect the promotion and protection of human […]

Under pressure from the media to explain his attempts to establish government sponsored media regulation in Sri Lanka, Director General of Government Information Dr. Ranga Kalansooriya has spoken half truths and lies to cover up his plan. This is what he says in the government news portal News.lk: ”Only the discussion paper prepared by the […]

 Image: UN Special Rapporteur on human rights and counter-terrorism Ben Emmerson ( UN photo) ECONOMYNEXT – The United Nations Special Rapporteur on human rights and counter-terrorism Ben Emmerson will make an official visit to Sri Lanka next week to check on how the island complies with international human rights law. Emmerson’s visit from 10 to […]

Image: Kushan Shalika Herath at school (Sunday Times photo) (AHRC) The Asian Human Rights Commission has received information regarding Mr. Kushan Shalika Herath (30) a teacher at Kuliyapitiya Central College. He teaches Science for Technology for Advanced Level students at Kuliyapitiya Central College. On the side, he has published some of his poems on Social Media. […]

Sri Lanka’s president Maithripala Sirisena, pictured after being sworn in at the Independence Square in Colombo, on Jan 9, 2015. — AFP COLOMBO: Sri Lanka vowed Wednesday to grant greater autonomy to its Tamil minority in a new constitution after an influential Buddhist monk said the clergy opposed the plan. President Maithripala Sirisena has said […]

Bharatha Mallawarachi / AP (COLOMBO, Sri Lanka) — Sri Lanka is suffering its worst-ever dengue outbreak, with the mosquito-borne virus killing 225 people and infecting more than 76,000 this year. Alarmed by the magnitude of the crisis, the government deployed 400 soldiers and police officers on Tuesday to clear away rotting garbage, stagnant water pools […]

Image: Owners of the land waking towards their land after 27 years. (SLArmy) Responding positively to the concerns of the public, Members of Parliament (MPs) and local politicians in the Jaffna District, the Security Force Headquarters – Jaffna (SFHQ-J) on Monday (3) released one more land patch of 54 acres along the coastal belt in […]

The Supreme Court has ordered the State to pay a sum of two million rupees as compensation to the parents of two youths who were allegedly subjected to torture and killed while they were in Police custody in 2008. The Supreme Court further ordered the former OIC of Batticaloa Police station to to pay compensation […]

Correction by RTI Commission of Sri Lanka of Wrong Reference to the Commission in Sunday Leader article ‘Sri Lanka: Departments Under Law And Order Ministry Ignore Request Under RTI’ This is in reference to news item 16 on the list of news items in Sri Lanka Brief – https://srilankabrief.org/2017/06/sri-lanka-departments-under-law-and-order-ministry-ignore-request-under-rti/. The RTI Commission is kindly drawing your attention to the […]

Image: Minister Ganesan too organised a NGO to help victims of  Rajapaksa era white van disappearances.  Speaking to media Minister Mano Ganesan who is in charge of the  NGO secretariat of Sri Lanka,  on the subject of regulating the NGOs says that  ” Minister Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe must be having his own reasons. But I don’t […]

Bishop Duleep de Chickera. The initial shock at the response of a high ranking minister to comments made by a citizen on a recent talk show, soon shifted to the realisation of its seriousness. During the show Lakshan Dias, an attorney at law, presented some data on violence against some Christians and their places of […]

The United States had “a detailed coordinated plan” with the Indian and Sri Lanka Governments for its Navy to rescue trapped displaced persons in Puthukudiyiruppu during the final stages of the separatist war, according to Ambassador Robert Blake, then Washington’s envoy in Colombo. However, the Sri Lankan Government killed the idea for fear that Erik […]

However much they may genuflect to the concept of free speech, Sri Lanka’s politicians are quite unable to shake off a constitutional dislike of that theory in abrasive practice. Remarkably clever traits of politicians ‘Yahapalanaya’ Ministers appear not to be different to their predecessors in office in that sense, excepting of course the Mahinda Rajapaksa […]

Human Rights Defender and Attorney at Law Lakshan Dias has replied to a e mail sent by Secretary to the Bar Association of Sri Lanka requesting him to clarify number of issues mentioned in his e mail. Reading through Lakshan’s reply it is clear that e mail semt bu the Secretary to the Bar Association of Sri […]

Speaking to  Colombo based Daily Mirror former chairperson of the police commission Professor Siri Hettige says that ” We have run out of viable political options in the country. People say they will go out and start a social revolution. But we know there is a long way for that kind of transformation to take place.” […]

By Manekshaw. Illankai Tamil Arasu Katchchi (ITAK) leader and Tamil National Alliance Parliamentarian Mavai S. Senathirajah became the first high profile Internally Displaced Person (IDP) to return last week to his house in Mavittapuram, in the Jaffna peninsula, after a lapse of 27 years. The ITAK, being the foremost Tamil political party founded by late […]