Sri Lanka

Image: MP S. Shritharan. Illankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi (ITAK) lawmaker S. Shritharan yesterday raised a privilege issue with Speaker Karu Jayasuriya highlighting the recent raiding of his house in Kilinochchi by Police and the Terrorist Investigations Unit (TID) with the assistance of the Army in search of explosives. According to the lawmaker, he and his […]

(Press Statement/21.08.19.)   Senior Japanese Diplomat and United Nations administrator His Excellency Yasushi Akashi met with the Leader of the Tamil National Alliance Hon R Sampanthan member of Parliament, Yesterday (20.08.2019) at his residence in Colombo.   Mr. Sampanthan expressed upon the Special ambassador that though the armed conflict has come to an end, the solution […]

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 […]

The Delegation of the European Union (EU) issues the following statement in agreement with the Embassies of Germany, Italy, Netherlands, the UK High Commission, the Embassies of Norway and Switzerland.  We fully share the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet’s serious concerns about the appointment of Lieutenant-General Shavendra Silva as Commander of the […]

Lieutenant-General Silva commanded Sri Lanka’s 58th Division during the final stages of the military campaign against the LTTE rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in 2009, commonly known as the Tamil Tigers, and UN investigationshave implicated the division in alleged serious violations of international humanitarian and human rights law. The UN High Commissioner for Human […]

Major General Shavendra Silva was appointed as the 23rd Commander of the Sri Lanka Army today (19).He received his letter of appointment from President Maithripala Sirisena this morning.Major General Silva joined the Sri Lanka Army as a Cadet Officer in 1984 and held the position of Chief of Staff of Sri Lanka Army prior to […]

Image: JVP led National People’s Power launched its campaign with a huge rally at Galle Face Green. With the nomination of Gotabaya Rajapaksa as its presidential candidate, the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) has officially launched its presidential election campaign. Former President Mahinda Rajapaksa who has remained a nominal member of the SLFP and the UPFA […]

Image:  Tamil refugees under Rajapaksa rule, 2009. By Pranavesh Sivakumar. Days after the announcement of Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s presidential candidacy, a quick voice-of-the-people survey conducted on the streets of Colombo by the Sunday Observer exposed how much minority voters fear a return of a Rajapaksa ruler. They echoed concerns of ‘violence against Tamils’, the white van […]

The return of an authoritarian oligarchy in Sri Lanka could be stopped by a united stand of democratic forces. Sri Lanka is again at the crossroads with presidential elections due before December 9, 2019. The political drive since the newly formed Rajapaksa-led Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP), which swept the local government polls in February […]

A Madarasa in Kathankudy, SLB photo. Islam is a religion of peace: the word, a verbal noun meaning submission (to God), is etymologically related to the word salaam, meaning peace. So, how is it that a religion of peace practiced by traditional Sri Lankan Muslims for thousands of years in harmony and co-existence with Buddhists, Hindus […]

Another story about ragging in universities had made headlines last week. 19 senior students of Ruhuna University were remanded after being arrested over an incident where a new student from Gampaha had been inhumanly tortured during ragging. They had been arrested after the victim student, seemingly a courageous boy had published the nightmare he had […]

By Meera Srinivasan . Ranil, Sajith Premadasa and Karu Jayasuriya are in the fray. Days after former Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa named his brother Gotabaya Rajapaksa as opposition presidential candidate, the battle over candidacy within the United National Party (UNP) has intensified, with no indication of a decision yet. While UNP legislators point to […]

Media Release /2019-08-12 . The Free Media Movement (FMM), which has been working towards media access to Parliamentary Committee proceedings, greatly appreciates the opening of the Committee on Public Enterprises (COPE) proceedings to the media which is a timely initiative and a historically important step. The Free Media Movement from the very inception has been […]

The European Union Delegation Comprising of Mr Riccardo Chelleri, (Policy Officer Democracy and Electoral Observation) and Ms. Anne Vaugier Chatterjee (Deputy Head, Political, Trade,and Communications Section) and others met with the Leader of the Tamil National Alliance Mr. R Sampanthan today in Colombo. Briefing the Delegation Mr. Sampanthan highlighted that the people in this country […]

To The Most Rev Archbishop Justin Welby, I must begin by saying that I am not a Christian. But the feelings contained in this plea are being shared by many people who have lived their adult lives believing that service to people is our foremost duty. I beg you to read this in full. We hope […]

In Sri Lanka, injustice takes manifestly queer twists and turns. A State signs an international convention on the solemn understanding that it will conform to those obligations. It passes a Constitution or enacts a law consequent to a pact entered into with citizens promising that narrow interests of one specific power bloc or agitators will […]

Attorney General Dappula de Livera PC has requested the Chief Justice to nominate a three member Trial-at-Bar to hear the case involving the abduction and murder of journalist Prageeth Ekneligoda. The Co-ordinating Officer to the Attorney General, State Counsel Ms. Nishara Jayaratne told news media that the Attorney General has already prepared indictments to be […]

(August 09th, 2019/Media Release) Freedom Media Movement vehemently condemns the threat to journalist K. Prasanna by Palani Digambaram, Minister of Minister of Hill Country New Villages, Infrastructure and Community Development, in connection to an article titled ‘Does the Indian Housing Scheme provide fund the Minister’s food?’ written by journalist K. Prasanna using Right to Information […]

07th August 2019 M. S. P. Ekneligoda No. 136/2, Suhada Mawatha, Hiripitiya, Pannipitiya. Mr. Dappula De Livera, PC Hon. Attorney General, Attorney General’s Department, Colombo 12. Request with regard to Prageeth Ekneligoda Case  Honourable Sir, Facts and evidence of the case mentioned above bearing case number B7417/10, which is being heard in the Homagama Magistrate’s Court, were filed by Homagama […]

(UCAN ) Catholics in Sri Lanka have protested after a stone was allegedly thrown at a statue of St. Sebastian at a church where more than 100 people died in the Easter Sunday terrorist attacks. Police and soldiers were deployed to Katuwapitiya on Aug. 6 when about 100 protesters gathered outside St. Sebastian’s Church to demand […]

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 […]

By Rehab Mahamoor/August 07, 2019. Sri Lanka is no stranger to arbitrary laws that are prone to misuse. For the past 40 years, it has had the draconian Prevention of Terrorism Act on the statute books, which has been used to target minorities and is one of the main drivers of human rights violations – including the suppression […]

Image: File photo, not related to this news story. Victim beaten brutally; sustains injuries to spine, stomach. Methodist Bishop says Christians will remain calm in the face of persecution. Expresses deep concerns about eroding freedom to practice faith in SL.   The Head of the Methodist Church in Sri Lanka has accused three Buddhist monks […]

06th August, 2019. Civil Society Statement in support of Reforming the Muslim Marriage and Divorce Act We, the undersigned civil society organisations and individuals urge the Government of Sri Lanka to take immediate steps to reform the Muslim Marriage and Divorce Act (MMDA). The failure to reform the MMDA has been a long-standing issue that successive […]

After visiting Shakthika Sathkumara in prison, I sat down to write about this writer who should never have spent a single day behind bars, let alone four months, for a short story he wrote. Then I reconsidered. Self-censorship — that is the real enemy of freedom of expression and that is what governments and other […]

(4 August, 2019) The National Police Commission (NPC) decision to prevent the transfer of two senior cops in Kurunegala over their involvement in framing a Muslim doctor in a pseudo illegal sterilisation scare has raised serious questions about its alleged role in the communally charged controversy. The NPC stopped the transfers despite therecommendation for Kurunegala […]

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 […]

In the last few weeks there has been hype about reforming the Muslim Marriage and Divorce Act (MMDA). Irrespective of three decades of struggle to reform this archaic Act by Muslim women, Muslim Members of Parliament (MPs) have only now come forward to iron out differences in the two sets of recommendations given by Justice […]

Image: Candles are burned at the memorial for slain humanitarian workers from Action Contre La Faim in Batticaloa, Sri Lanka, August 11, 2006.  © 2006 Reuters. (New York/HRW) – Sri Lankan authorities have failed to bring to justice those responsible for the execution-style killing of 17 aid workers 13 years ago, Human Right Watch said today. On August 4, […]