A short while after Sri Lanka’s bloody civil war came to an end in May 2009, Tamil Nadu’s then chief minister M. Karunanidhi had made one of his usual visits to the DMK (Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam) headquarters. But instead of meeting with visitors as per routine, the DMK patriarch left the party office in a huff. On enquiring about the reason, M.K. Stalin was told that …
Several U.S. senators are pressing the Trump administration to detail what it is doing to deal with Beijing’s financing of international infrastructure projects that have left many countries indebted to China and potentially in need of bailouts. In a letter to Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, the senators asked officials how they will push the International Monetary Fund to address problems …
The Commonwealth Secretary General, Patricia Scotland who is currently on a four day official visit met the TNA leader R Sampanthan on 03 August 2018. Following the meeting the TNA issued a statement that even though the war has come to an end, we still don’t have complete peace and harmony among the people and wanted the Government to take a firm stand and lead the country …
Nine years after the end of Sri Lanka’s long drawn conflict between Government forces and the LTTE, the Northern Province is confronting a very different type of war. Communities struggling to rebuild homes and livelihoods nearly a decade after the guns fell silent are finding themselves mired in debt. The reason is a combination of factors. From extreme poverty to a severe drought and failure of …
MYTH 1: Chinese lending is commercial. FACT: Since 2012 most Chinese lending is concessionary. In the last five years Sri Lanka’s loans from China EXIM Bank, amounting to 3.1 billion dollars, were all concessionary – fixed at 2%.Sri Lanka also borrowed 400 million dollars from China Development Bank in 2014 at near commercial rates (roughly between 3-5% ). For context, Sri Lanka’s borrowings from international markets …
Over the past year, as India kept making a bid to acquire the Mattala airport in South Sri Lanka, which is universally derided as the “World’s Emptiest Airport” with little or no traffic, many have wondered why New Delhi wants to buy into a failed enterprise with little or no perceivable prospect of turning the corner. Some said it as a vain move to “match” and …
Sri Lanka’s progress towards reform has “virtually ground to a halt” and brutal torture is used with impunity, the UN concludes in a scathing report on the country’s human rights record. The report, which comes three years after the country appeared to have turned a corner in its history by electing a new coalition government, is published on Monday following a UN visit to Sri Lanka …
Dr. Satoru Nagao, a Japanese expert on maritime security who is currently a Visiting Fellow at the Hudson Institute in Washington DC, says that Sri Lanka should acquire the Lockheed P-3C maritime surveillance aircraft to meet a possible threat from Chinese submarines. Dr. Nagao told this correspondent in an email interview, that Sri Lanka should be wary of China’s presence in the Hambantota harbor. “Beijing’s assurance …
The UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office’s (FCO) 2017 Annual Human Rights and Democracy Report covering the period from January to December 2017 was released on 16 July 2018. The report reviews the global human rights picture with particular emphasis on the FCO’s 30 Human Rights Priority Countries. The report also focuses on how the UK is working to protect and promote human rights across the world. …
*Salient points of Hon. Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe’s speech at the Bandaranaike International Diplomatic Training Institute Salient Convocation on Friday 13 July 2018 at the BMICH. “Four Centuries of Western domination in the Indian Ocean has come to an end. Asian nations are re-emerging as Economic and military powers. This has brought a new focus on Asia and the long neglected Indian Ocean region. It also …
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