militarisation

The Cabinet of Ministers has approved drafting of a new Bill titled ‘National Intelligence Act’ to regulate and empower all intelligence services, says the Cabinet Spokesperson Minister Dr.Bandula Gunawardene.This was announced during the media briefing held today (15) at the Government Information Department Auditoprium to announce Cabinet decisions. National intelligence services of the country make […]

“If we lift the hideous rags of History, we find this: hierarchy versus equality and order versus liberty.” – Éric Vuillard (The Order Of The Day) The indications are clear, as are the implications. Gotabaya Rajapaksa, elected on a Sinhala-Buddhist supremacist platform intends to rule as a Sinhala-Buddhist supremacist president. For the first time in […]

President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has issued a Gazette Extraordinary calling upon the armed forces to maintain public order across the country with effect from today (22). The President issued the gazette notification yesterday (21) by virtue of the powers vested in him by Section 12 of the Public Security Ordinance (Chapter 40). Accordingly, the Army, Navy […]

President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has appointed International Relations expert Admiral Prof. Jayanath Colombage to the post of Additional Secretary to the President for Foreign Relations. Admiral Colombage served the Sri Lanka Navy for a period of 36 years and retired as the Commander of the Navy on 1 July 2014. Admiral Colombage is the 18th Commander […]

Image: Sri Lanka’s recently elected president Gotabaya Rajapaksa (AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena) Newly-elected Sri Lankan president, Gotabhaya Rajapakse, has made several significant appointments of former military officers since the November 16 poll to bolster his already extensive powers and give greater control to the armed forces. One of the most important was his selection of retired […]

A Sri Lankan brigadier who motioned death threats to Tamil protestors in London last year has been found guilty by a British court of violating the Public Order Act, after a protracted legal battle. Westminster Magistrate’s Court upheld a previous ruling that Sri Lanka’s Brigadier Priyanka Fernando “is  not  protected  by  diplomatic  immunity”, despite pleas […]

5th November, 2019. Statement Condemning Threats, Harassment and Reprisals against Human Rights Lawyer and Jaffna University Senior Lecturer, Kumaravadivel Guruparanly. We, the undersigned individuals strong condemn the recent threats, harassment and unfair treatment against human rights defender, Kumaravadivel Guruparan, by the Sri Lankan military and University Authorities. Guruparan, is a prominent human rights lawyer and […]

Image: The Sword of Damocles. With the presidential election campaign now well underway, it appears that the contest is between the two main candidates, Sajith Premadasa and Gotabaya Rajapaksa. In the absence of scientific polling in Sri Lanka, no credible voter sentiment analysis is available. Therefore we are all compelled to rely on speculation. Outside the […]

Professor Chandragupta Thenuwara who was among two petitioners who challenged Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s citizenship status is facing numerous threats By Arjuna Ranawana. Gotabaya Rajapaksa walks out of the Special High Court in Hulftsdorp surrounded by bodyguards/RepublicNext Professor Chandragupta Thenuwara is facing death threats from various persons backing the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna Presidential Candidate Gotabaya Rajapaksa, […]

Image: The illegal cremation of a Buddhinst monk, despite a court order not to cremate him on the temple land. In a hard hitting letter to president Sirisena, TNA leader R. Sampanthan  says that “failure to independently investigate what happened at Neeraviady Pillayar Temple in Chemmalai, Mullaitivu will only confirm and further encourage this growing trend of […]

The state-run Sri Lanka Rupavahini Corporation (SLRC) was brought under the purview of the Ministry of Defence yesterday evening (9). A gazette notification signed by President Maithripala Sirisena, who also holds the Defence portfolio, was issued a short while ago announcing the takeover. Veteran media personality Kalum Palitha Maheeratne was appointed SLRC Chairman on 6 […]

Introduction On the late evening of 20 February 2009, two diminutive aircrafts swiftly approached Sri Lanka’s capital with the intention of launching an attack against the military’s defense base in Colombo. The Zlin Z-143 airplanes were flown by ferocious Air Tigers; the air-wing of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), fueled with determination to […]

Image: General Shavendra Silva is seen at the Ampara Air Force camp in eastern Sri Lanka August 24, 2009.  © 2009 Reuters/Stringer/Files. Meenakshi Ganguly, South Asia Director, HRW. Sri Lanka’s President Maithripala Sirisena has appointed a general whose forces have been credibly accused of war crimes as the commander of the national army. The move would seem to confirm the […]

Image: Sri Lankan chief editor of the privately-owned Rivira weekly Upali Tennakoon (L) is rushed to the Colombo national hospital after he was attacked in 2009 (AFP Photo/Ishara S. KODIKARA) (AFP) Sri Lanka on Wednesday charged two army spies for a decade-old serious assault of a newspaper editor in the wake of the shock assassination of […]

Image: Political prisoner Thevathasan Kanagasabai . Early this week, Tamil political prisoner Thevathasan Kanagasabai (62) alias Nadan incarcerated in the high-security Welikada Prison agreed to suspend his fast unto death protest following the intervention of Minister Mano Ganesan. Kanagasabai was into the ninth day of a hunger strike demanding that he be granted bail to […]

By Ana Pararajasingham. In view of its strategic location in the Indian Ocean, Sri Lanka is of interest to both Washington and Beijing as they seek to increase their presence in the Indian Ocean. Washington’s latest attempt to improve its position in Sri Lanka involves renegotiating the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) originally signed in mid-1995 when […]

The Bar Association of Sri Lanka (BASL) said yesterday President Maithripala Sirisena should not have exercised his executive powers arbitrarily when pardoning Galagodaaththe Gnanasara Thera, who was jailed after being found guilty of contempt of court charges. It said it was an act based on irrelevant consideration. In a statement, the BASL said it was […]

The reinstatement of an army intelligence official implicated in attacks on journalists has given rise to serious concerns for the safety of media personnel and witnesses who testified against the officer and his platoon. Army Intelligence Major Prabath Bulathwatte has been back in the spotlight after Army Commander Mahesh Senanayake stunned civil society in a […]

Image: Relatives of people who went missing during Sri Lanka’s civil war taking part in a candle light vigil. File   | Photo Credit: Getty images. Meera Srinivasan. Some of the lands of survivors are yet to be released, relatives are still missing and reconciliation is afar. Given a choice between living in a camp for displaced […]

“A Monk lives in the area known as “Arisimalai” area within the Pulmoddai Grama Sevaka Division, and within the Kuchchaveli Divisional Secretary’s – Division in the Trincomalee District. He has in recent times been claiming that various lands within the Kuchchaveli Divisional Secretary’s Division belong to various Viharas and should be surveyed and brought under his […]

President promulgates PTA (Proscription of Extremist Organisations) Regulations. Will apply to three groups proscribed under Emergency Regulations. Regulations prohibit all links to groups including funding & espousing their cause. Maximum of 20 years imprisonment for violators of new regulations. By Chandani Kirinde. Along with the proscription of three organisations linked to the Easter Sunday bomb […]

MoD received final warning on Saturday night, directed IGP to act. SIS usually briefs President first: MoD officials. IGP, Hemasiri testify before board of inquiry on security lapses. President Sirisena has denied knowledge of the intelligence reports. Questions are being raised about how much President Maithripala Sirisena knew about warnings provided by foreign intelligence agencies […]

Image: Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena speaks to the media April 1. (Photo by EPA/M.A.Pushpa Kumara/MaxPPP) Kingsley Karunaratne, Colombo. Sri Lanka still has many mountains to climb before it can close this painful chapter in its modern history regarding a slew of as-yet unresolved cases of enforced disappearances and other human rights abuses that occurred during […]

Image: Sudanese celebrate after officials said the military had forced longtime autocratic President Omar al-Bashir to step down after 30 years in power in Khartoum, Sudan, Thursday, April 11, 2019. © 2019 AP Images. (Nairobi) – The end of Omar al-Bashir’s 30-year rule provides a momentous opportunity for Sudan to put respect for human rights […]

Image: Sri Lanka’s Secretary of Defense Gotabaya Rajapaksa listens during a news conference in Colombo January 24, 2013. The Sri Lankan military should be given more training opportunities by the United States, Rajapaksa said on Thursday according to local media. REUTERS/Dinuka Liyanawatte . Shihar Aneez. COLOMBO (Reuters) – Sri Lanka’s former defense secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who […]

Is President Maithripala Sirisena’s anti-narcotic campaign an opportunistic farce to lure voters to his bid for a second term in the office- or a genuine mission guided by a political will unseen in his predecessors? Public opinion seems to be mixed, not unsurprisingly in the partisan politics in the country and also due to the […]

(Maneshka Borham/ Sunday Observer) The Criminal Investigations Department (CID) this week further strengthen its case against Sri Lanka’s top military chief, Admiral Ravindra Wijegunaratne after he was linked to the now famous case of 11 missing youth believed to have been abducted by a ‘Navy abduction for ransom gang’between 2008 – 2009. Arrested by the […]

On March 15, Muslims, grouping in their dozens, protested in front of the Sri Lanka Navy Camp in Silavathurai- home to the highest number of Muslims in Northern Province-demanding the Navy to move out of their residential area. Their mission behind this long-standing protest is to reclaim the 36 acre land; the home for many […]

Photo:Rear Admiral A. Guruge, The now famous CID investigation into the abduction and murder of 11 youth by a Navy extortion gang, helped sleuths to break open a secondary racket involving a separate group of naval personnel, including high ranking officers, to abduct businessmen for ransom In June 2010 the gang robbery unit of the […]

The press in Sri Lanka, especially the Sinhala press has been avidly following the progress of the proposed alliance between the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) and the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) quite closely. The center piece of this attraction has been the choice of its presidential candidate, seemingly a choice between incumbent President […]