Tag: politics

March 2, 2010 (AFP) – Sri Lankan police are to question dozens of military intelligence officers in connection with the internationally condemned assassination of a senior editor, a spokesman said Tuesday. Investigations into the January 2009 slaying of Lasantha Wickrematunga, chief editor of the anti-establishment Sunday Leader, had led them to military personnel, said police […]

March 2, 2010 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s president has used his executive powers to extend a state of emergency that gives sweeping authority to police and troops ahead of next month’s parliamentary polls, an official said Tuesday. The president on Monday night signed a proclamation extending the tough laws by a further month, an official […]

March 01, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s NDB Bank said its chief executive Eran Wickremaratne is on the so-called ‘national list’ of the main opposition United National Front for elections in April. The bank said in a stock exchange filing that more disclosures would be made in the future. The ‘national list’ gives a chance […]

March 1, 2010 (AFP) – Hundreds of Sri Lankan ruling party activists demonstrated outside the British High Commission in Colombo on Monday, denouncing what they called London’s support for Tamil separatists abroad. The protestors handed in a petition protesting against British Foreign Secretary David Miliband’s attendance last week at a meeting of expatriate Tamils whom […]

February 25, 2010 (AFP) – In the afterglow of his thumping re-election last month, Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse promised to build a strong and unified country that would consign its 37-year civil war to the past. Instead, his government launched a sweeping crackdown that has seen the man he defeated at the polls, former […]

Feb 26, 2010 (LBO) – Top Sri Lanka economist Harsha de Silva has been nominated as a candidate from the main opposition United National Party for parliamentary polls to be held in April. De Silva has been a firm critic of deficit spending, high inflation and weak macro-economic management and had managed to generate a […]

Feb 24, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Civil Rights Movement (CRM) said recent attacks on peaceful anti-government protestors by government supporters indicated an ‘alarming slide’ towards curbs on democracy. The CRM said previous attempt to violently suppress peaceful protest had given rise to violent rebellions. The Tamil Tiger separatist insurgency began in the late 1970s […]

February 23, 2010 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s Supreme Court refused Tuesday to order the release of detained opposition leader and former army chief Sarath Fonseka as it deliberates a petition challenging his arrest by the military. As the battlefield architect of the victory over the Tamil Tiger rebels last May, Fonseka had been hailed as […]

NEW DELHI, February 20, 2010 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s president says arrested ex-army chief and defeated presidential candidate Sarath Fonseka is getting “five-star” treatment in custody, it was reported Saturday. Fonseka, whose detention came two weeks after being beaten in presidential elections in late January by President Mahinda Rajapakse, is being held by the military […]

February 19, 2010 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s top Buddhist monks called off a special gathering this week because of government pressure, a spokesman said Friday, while the opposition said bomb threats had been involved. The monks had been sharply criticised in the state-run media for dabbling in politics after they sent a letter to President […]

February 16, 2010 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s former army chief and defeated presidential candidate Sarath Fonseka on Tuesday petitioned the Supreme Court challenging incumbent Mahinda Rajapakse’s re-election, his lawyer said. Fonseka, who lost a January 26 vote, alleged that he was robbed of victory because of rigging, electoral malpractice and undue influence on the 14 […]

February 15, 2010 (AFP) – Lawyers in Sri Lanka accused the government Monday of illegally suppressing protests at the arrest of former army chief Sarath Fonseka. On Sunday, the heads of Sri Lanka’s influential Buddhist clergy backed opposition demands for the immediate release of Fonseka, a decorated war hero who helped crush Tamil Tiger rebels […]