The winner of Sri Lanka’s presidential election on November 16, 2019 will face enormous challenges to deliver justice for past crimes and prevent future abuses, Human Rights Watch said. Since Sri Lanka’s civil war ended in 2009, there has been progress on the right to free expression, but no accountability for war crimes and other abuses committed by both sides, said the New York-based HR group. …
The former Chief Minister of Sri Lanka’s Tamil-majority Northern Province C.V.Wigneswaran has said that his organization the Tamil Makkal Koottani (TMK) will take a neutral stand at the upcoming Presidential election and will not ask people who to vote for. In a statement issued in Jaffna on Tuesday he said that both the main candidates viz. Minister Sajith Premadasa and former Defense Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa have not …
A parliamentary panel in Sri Lanka has accused President Maithripala Sirisena of “actively undermining” government and security systems, leading to serious lapses ahead of the Easter terror attacks. In a report tabled in the House on Wednesday, the panel noted that the President “failed in numerous occasions to give leadership and also actively undermined government and systems, including having ad hoc NSC [National Security Council] meetings”, …
US Assistant Secretary for South and Central Asia Alice G. Wells told the House Foreign Affairs, Subcommittee on Asia, the Pacific and Nonproliferation on 22 October 2019 that the Trump administration will push the new Sri Lankan Government on the human rights issue. She said that the progress on constitutional reform, replacing the Prevention of Terrorism Act, establishing a truth and reconciliation commission, and creating a …
India is keeping a close watch on the upcoming presidential elections in Sri Lanka, where pro-China Gotabaya Rajapaksa is pitted against housing minister and deputy leader of the ruling United National Party Sajith Premadasa. The outcome of the election next month will have a bearing on India’s presence in the southern Indian Ocean region. For the first time in Sri Lanka’s political history, no sitting president, …
Should Tamils boycott Sri Lanka’s elections in November for the executive presidency? Should Tamils boycott Sri Lanka’s elections in November for the executive presidency? This question is weighed by Tamils as the leading candidates for the forthcoming polls are unwilling to meet the demands and aspirations of Tamil voters. However, a boycott alone would be ineffective for Tamils to achieve their political goals of power-sharing, accountability …
“Half the blood in our bodies is sucked by these leeches. Can’t someone find some medicine to keep them away?” At first it is hard to locate the voice that is emerging from the bushes. A few feet off the road margin, at a slightly higher elevation is a worker, with her head alone visible over the lush green leaves. “They get all over us even …
What’s new? Easter Sunday’s bombings produced Sri Lanka’s deadliest single day of terrorist violence and its first experience of Muslim-on-Christian mass violence. Although the attackers were fringe actors, politicians and Sinhalese nationalists have used the bombings to justify actions that have harassed and humiliated the broader Muslim community. Why does it matter? Harsh and unfair treatment of law-abiding Muslim citizens risks alienating large portions of the community and …
The United Nations suspended Sri Lankan Army deployments in the world body’s peacekeeping operations after the Indian Ocean island nation appointed a war veteran who has been accused of serious human rights violations, an official said on Wednesday. Sri Lanka’s president in August appointed war veteran Shavendra Silva as its army chief, drawing sharp criticism from the United States and the United Nations over the appointment …
The Sri Lankan Presidential election, to be held on November 16, is likely to be a referendum on the continuation or abolition of the Executive Presidential system if the ruling United National Party (UNP) chooses Karu Jayasuriya as its candidate. Jayasuriya, who is the current Speaker of parliament, has unequivocally stated that he will abolish the Executive Presidency after his election and return the country to …
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