Tag: politics

April 7, 2010 (AFP) – On the eve of Sri Lanka’s parliamentary elections, the main opposition accused the ruling party Wednesday of campaign abuses and said it did not expect polling to be free and fair. The opposition United National Party (UNP) said President Mahinda Rajapakse’s administration had used state-owned vehicles and buildings for campaigning […]

April 6, 2010 (AFP) – A doctor who drew world attention to civilian deaths during the Sri Lankan army’s defeat of Tamil Tiger rebels last year is to contest polls this week for a party that backs the man behind the offensive. Veerakathipillai Shanmugarajah, 40, was detained following the army’s final victory over the Tigers […]

April 5, 2010 (AFP) – Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse, accused by critics of stifling dissent and persecuting the opposition, looks set to consolidate his hold on power in parliamentary elections this week. Rajapakse called Thursday’s vote two months ahead of schedule after his thumping re-election in January and his Freedom Alliance party is in […]

April 4, 2010 (AFP) – Sri Lanka placed nearly 20,000 troops on alert to reinforce police as violence escalated ahead of parliamentary elections, a police spokesman said Sunday. Police said they had received 270 polls-related complaints and 200 people had been arrested. The private Centre for Monitoring Election Violence (CMEV) reported 325 minor incidents of […]

April 3, 2010 (AFP) – A Sri Lankan woman taken into custody last month for writing books about her conversion to Islam from Buddhism is being investigated for possible links to Islamic extremists, police said Saturday. Last weekend, police said the woman, identified as Malini Perera, was taken into custody under tough emergency laws over […]

April 3, 2010 (AFP) – A Sri Lankan woman taken into custody last month for writing books about her conversion to Islam for Buddhism is being investigated for possible links to Islamic extremists, police said Saturday. Last weekend, police said the woman, identified as Malini Perera, was taken into custody under tough emergency laws over […]

JAFFNA, April 1, 2010 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s President Mahinda Rajapakse reached out on Thursday to the country’s ethnic minority Tamils as he made his first visit to their cultural heartland since his re-election. Rajapakse, on a trip to battle-scarred Jaffna, the former stronghold of separatist Tamil rebels in the island’s north, promised to work […]

March 29, 2010 (AFP) – The wife of Sri Lanka’s detained ex-army chief Monday accused authorities of preventing her husband from receiving vital medical treatment and said he could die in custody. Sarath Fonseka’s health had deteriorated since he was held at the naval headquarters in Colombo after his arrest on February 8 and was […]

SYDNEY, March 28, 2010 (AFP) – Australia said Sunday it had transferred 89 asylum seekers from a remote processing island to the mainland for security reasons after they failed to secure refugee status. The men from Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, Iraq and Iran had been held on the Indian Ocean outpost of Christmas Island but were […]

March 23, 2010 (AFP) – Sri Lanka Tuesday said it had refused US rap star Akon entry to the island following protests that a music video he produced was offensive to Buddhists. He said Colombo decided to stop the Grammy Award-nominated star’s concert planned for April 24 despite hopes from the official Tourism Promotion Bureau […]

March 22, 2010 (AFP) – Dozens of unidentified men pelted stones at the headquarters of a private television station in Sri Lanka’s capital Monday, causing damage to the building, police said. The latest attack came as Sri Lankan and foreign media rights groups accused the government of President Mahinda Rajapakse of cracking down on dissent, […]

March 18, 2010 (AFP) – Sri Lankan media groups Thursday protested against the arrest of a reporter close to Sarath Fonseka, the detained ex-army chief who tried to unseat the president in recent elections. The groups issued a joint statement demanding the release of Ruwan Weerakoon, a reporter with the Nation newspaper, who was arrested […]