Category: Politics

Nov 14, 2007 (LBO) – A Sri Lankan lawmaker who heads a parliamentary committee overseeing state enterprises that has been probing corruption allegations, crossed over to opposition benches Wednesday. Wijedasa Rajapaksa, while requesting the speaker for a seat in the opposition benches, also said he would remain a member of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party […]

Nov 14, 2007 (LBO) – A Sri Lankan government lawmaker who crossed over to the opposition benches Wednesday is demanding the dismissal of cabinet ministers and bureaucrats against whom a parliamentary committee headed by him made allegations of corruption. Parliamentarian Wijeyadasa Rajapaksa said that he has set seven conditions for the government to meet in […]

Nov 12, 2007 (AFP) – Sri Lankan troops shot dead at least six women fighters of the Tamil Tigers during a clash in the north of the island, the defence ministry said Monday.Following an attack on a bunker line of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) along the de facto front line with guerrilla-held […]

Nov 11, 2007 (AFP) – Sri Lanka and Tamil Tiger rebels must forego violence and return to the negotiating table to resolve their decades-old conflict, India’s finance minister said Sunday during a visit to the island.The minister, P. Chidambaram, said while New Delhi backed Sri Lanka’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, military action would not bring […]

COLOMBO, Nov 10, 2007 (AFP) – At least 19 people were killed and 24 injured during fighting between Sri Lankan troops and Tamil Tiger rebels in the island’s north, the defence ministry said Saturday.Tens of thousands of people have died since the ethnic conflict began in 1972.Eighteen rebels were killed and 24 wounded in clashes […]

Nov 09, 2007 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Free Media Movement said newspapers are not obliged to carry party statements after opposition leader Ranil Wickremesinghe pulled up a journalist for not publishing a party statement. “The Free Media Movement learns that UNP leader Ranil Wickremesinghe has pulled-up Daily Mirror lobby correspondent for not publishing the UNP […]

COLOMBO, Nov 9, 2007 (AFP) – A pro-government faction of Tamil Tiger defectors has been hit by major political in-fighting following the arrest in London of its leader, known as Colonel Karuna, military officials said Friday.Vinayagamoorthi Muralitharan, alias Karuna, was detained by immigration authorities in London last week and since then his followers in Sri […]

Nov 08, 2008 (LBO) – The United States has given Sri Lanka’s navy more equipment to improve maritime security against the Tamil Tigers while urging a negotiated settlement to the ethnic conflict. US Ambassador Robert O. Blake, Jr. handed over the equipment to navy commander Vice Admiral Wasantha Karannagoda at a ceremony in eastern Trincomalee […]

Nov 4, 2007 (AFP) – The killing of a top Tamil Tiger rebel in a Sri Lankan government air raid is likely to strengthen hawks on both sides of the bitter ethnic divide and herald more violence on the troubled island, analysts say.The already dim hopes of salvaging a moribund peace process took another blow […]

Nov 4, 2007 (AFP) – Sri Lankan security forces on Sunday increased already tight security ahead of a funeral planned in rebel territory for a top Tamil Tiger leader killed in a air strike, officials said. Checks at all entry points into Colombo were intensified and snap road blocks set up within the city of […]

Nov 4, 2007 (AFP) – Sri Lankan security forces stepped up patrols and roadblocks Sunday, fearing reprisals after the death of a top Tamil Tiger leader in a government air strike. They boosted their presence in and around the capital Colombo as the Tigers’ overall leader vowed to step up the long and bloody battle […]

LONDON, Nov 2, 2007 (AFP) – Colonel Karuna, the leader of a breakaway faction of Sri Lanka’s Tamil Tigers rebel group, has been arrested in Britain and is being held in immigration detention, the interior ministry said Friday.A 2002 truce brokered by Norway began to unravel in December 2005, and since then more than 5,400 […]