Tag: politics

COLOMBO, July 22, 2014 (AFP) – Sri Lanka President Mahinda Rajapakse will skip the Commonwealth Games starting this week in Glasgow despite being chair of the bloc, his office said Tuesday, after activists threatened to protest at his attendance.Rajapakse’s military crushed rebels fighting for a separate homeland for ethnic minority Tamils in 2009 following a […]

COLOMBO, July 16, 2014 (AFP) – The head of Sri Lanka’s bar association said on Wednesday he feared he might be killed after he described President Mahinda Rajapakse’s government as becoming more autocratic.“We observe that the post-war Sri Lankan polity has been in an acute and deepening crisis,” he said. Another legal group, the Lawyers […]

COLOMBO, July 9, 2014 (AFP) – Sri Lanka has banned non-government organisations from holding press conferences under a new order from the defence ministry seen by AFP on Wednesday, raising new fears for freedom of speech.The order, sent widely to civil society groups earlier this month, said all NGOs should refrain from “unauthorised activities with […]

SYDNEY, July 9, 2014 (AFP) – A dozen mothers in an asylum-seeker camp have reportedly attempted suicide so their children can be settled in Australia, piling pressure on Prime Minister Tony Abbott who said Wednesday he would not be morally blackmailed. The Sydney Morning Herald said the women tried to kill themselves this week after […]

SYDNEY, July 7, 2014 (AFP) – A High Court on Monday barred Australia from handing back a boat carrying 153 asylum-seekers to Sri Lanka, a day after Canberra returned another vessel to Colombo following a week of secrecy.The Tamil Refugee Council has claimed at least 11 of those on board have been tortured by Sri […]

SYDNEY, July 7, 2014 (AFP) – Canberra confirmed Monday a boat load of Sri Lankan asylum-seekers who attempted to reach Australia have been handed back to Colombo, sparking sharp criticism after a week of secrecy.“Australia’s international obligations are reliant upon a credible processing system and we have deep concerns about how that could have been […]

COLOMBO, July 6, 2014 (AFP) – Australia’s immigration minister will visit Colombo this week for talks on illegal immigration following international concern at his country’s handling of Sri Lankan asylum-seekers, it was announced Sunday.The US and European Union member states have said rights abuses against the ethnic Tamil minority continued even after the war’s end […]

COLOMBO, July 2, 2014 (AFP) – Sri Lankan police called in a militant Buddhist monk for questioning Wednesday after he was accused of instigating deadly anti-Muslim riots that heightened religious tensions in the ethnically divided nation.Galagodaatte Gnanasara was summoned to the Criminal Investigations Department over a speech he made two weeks ago in the resort […]

COLOMBO, July 1, 2014 (AFP) – A magistrate has postponed Tuesday’s scheduled start of an operation to exhume a suspected mass war grave on Sri Lanka’s east coast after police said they needed more preparation time, an official said.Authorities had been due to begin excavating part of a beach in Kalavanchikudy district after a resident […]

SYDNEY, June 28, 2014 (AFP) – Refugee campaigners said Saturday that a boat carrying 153 asylum-seekers was in trouble off a remote Australian island, but the government said there were no significant incidents at sea to report.The 72-foot (22-metre) boat carrying mostly Tamil asylum-seekers, including women and children, left India two weeks ago and was […]

June 27, 2014 (LBO) – Sri Lanka has offered to train soldiers, teachers and provide scholarships for students and had talks on building coast guard boats for Maldives following a visit by President Mahinda Rajapaksa to the country.The president’s media office said Defence and National Security Minister of Maldives Mohamed Nazim had requested Sri Lanka […]

June 27, 2014 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Ceylon Chamber Chamber of Commerce said incumbent chairman Suresh Shah who was re-elected had called on private business to build peace and harmony.His call comes in the wake of rising nationalism in the country and recent mob attacks on minorities that left three people dead. “I call upon […]