Category: Politics

Oct 11, 2007 (LBO) –Members of a Sri Lankan political party, Ceylon Workers Congress (CWC), whose support was considered important to keep the ruling coalition in power, rejoined the cabinet Thursday. CWC leader Arumugam Thondaman was sworn back in to his previous portfolio as Minister of Youth Empowerment and Socioeconomic Development by President Mahinda Rajapakse […]

Oct 10, 2007 (AFP) – Sri Lanka plans to hike overall defence spending by 20 percent to a record 1.48 billion dollars amid a rise in fighting with Tamil Tiger rebels, according to a bill tabled in parliament on Wednesday.More than 5,500 people have been killed since December 2005, after a 2002 Norwegian brokered truce […]

COLOMBO, Oct 10, 2007 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s government is planning to introduce a blanket ban on its nationals’ involvement in officially authorised arms dealing, a state-run newspaper said Wednesday.The new restrictions appear to be part of an effort by Colombo to centralise its own burgeoning weapons purchases, which in the past have been conducted […]

Oct 09, 2007 (LBO) – The recent recall of India’s top spy in the Sri Lankan capital Colombo has prompted calls for greater oversight and transparency in Indian intelligence agencies, a media report said. Absence of such oversight, and an apparent unconcern that responsibility may be fixed for failures, had led to instances like the […]

Oct 09, 2007 (LBO) – A Sri Lankan media watchdog body Tuesday said it was “shocked and dismayed” by government attempts to prevent critical reporting of the war and the military. The Free Media Movement (FMM) said in a statement it condemned a remark by a government official heading the military’s information outfit calling the […]

Oct 8, 2007 (AFP) – The head of a prominent Sri Lankan human rights group on Monday accused the island’s government of seeking to “stage-manage” a visit by a top United Nations official.Minority Tamil legislator Mano Ganeshan said Colombo was tightly controlling the five-day visit of United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Louise Arbour, […]

COLOMBO, Oct 8, 2007 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s military has forced three people making a documentary about the decades-long Tamil separatist conflict to leave the embattled northern Jaffna peninsula, a media rights group said Monday.The team from Quick Silver Media was forced to leave last week despite having prior permission from defence authorities in the […]

Oct 7, 2007 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s navy attacked a suspected Tamil Tiger ship in international waters, virtually destroying the sea transport capability of the guerrillas, military officials said Sunday.More than 5,400 people have been killed in a new wave of fighting since December 2005 when a Norwegian-brokered truce began to unravel. Naval vessels engaged […]

Oct 6, 2007 (AFP) – Three men were shot dead in execution-style killings in Sri Lanka, police said Saturday, amid heightened international attention on the island’s deteriorating human rights record.Two blindfolded men whose hands had been tied behind their backs were found shot through the head in the northwestern Chilaw area while another body was […]

COLOMBO, Oct 6, 2007 (AFP) – Government forces and Tamil Tiger guerrillas swapped on Saturday the bodies of combatants killed in recent fighting in northern Sri Lanka, doctors said.Government troops sent four bodies of Tamil Tiger rebels to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) through the International Red Cross, a doctor at the Vavuniya […]

Oct 05, 2007 (LBO) – The Sri Lankan government announced Thursday it will soon introduce regulations to protect and compensate victims and witnesses of crimes with the aim of improving the efficacy of the criminal justice system. Policy guidelines have already been prepared by the Attorney General that will help formulate a legal framework to […]

Oct 4, 2007 (AFP) – Sri Lanka said Thursday it would not allow the United Nation’s human rights envoy to visit rebel-held areas in the island’s north.The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Louise Arbour, is due in Sri Lanka next week to assess the island’s deteriorating rights record, while the UN’s top torture investigator, […]