Category: Featured Headlines

Sri Lanka’s police are increasingly killing and abusing people under cover of the Covid-19 pandemic measures and an anti-drug campaign, Human Rights Watch (HRW) alleged today (06).

HRW notes that recent police abuses reported in the media include alleged extrajudicial killings, torture, and arbitrary detention. In this backdrop, it urges for the government to restore independent oversight of the police and meaningfully investigate and prosecute alleged police abuses.

Until there is progress on accountability and reform, the HRW has also stated that international partners, such as the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime and the United Kingdom’s Police Scotland, should suspend assistance programs.

“Sri Lanka’s police seem intent on building on their past record of serious abuses, instead of cleaning up their act,” said Meenakshi Ganguly, South Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “The UN, UK, and others working with Sri Lankan law enforcement should recognize that without the political will to reform on Sri Lanka’s part, their engagement risks appearing to endorse abusive agencies.”

HRW highlighted that since May 2021, the police have been implicated in several unlawful deaths, including some linked to disproportionate and abusive enforcement of Covid-19 quarantines.

The UN high commissioner for human rights, Michelle Bachelet, in her report to the UN Human Rights Council in January, wrote that she was “concerned by a recent series of deaths in police custody and in the context of police encounters with alleged criminal gangs” amid a “militarized approach to law and order and drug control.” She highlighted five possible extrajudicial killings involving the Sri Lankan police between June and October 2020.

Further, it was expressed that the current police abuses come in a context of “shrinking civil and political space” under the Rajapaksa administration. The Bar Association of Sri Lanka has condemned the police’s use of the Covid-19 pandemic to curtail freedom of expression, including detaining peaceful protesters at a quarantine facility in July.

HRW has also urged for UN agencies to ensure that any engagement with Sri Lankan security forces complies with the “human rights due diligence policy on United Nations support to non-United Nations security forces” and the UN common position on drug policy.

“The Rajapaksa government needs to demonstrate that alleged police abuses will be properly investigated and prosecuted, and the law should promote accountability, not weaken it,” Ganguly said. “Until that happens, international partners should be under no illusions about human rights in Sri Lanka, and they should withhold assistance to abusive law enforcement agencies.

According to Epidemiology Unit of the Health Ministry, 2,794 new COVID-19 cases were reported so far on Friday.

Among the cases confirmed today, 2,792 are from the New Year cluster and 02 are foreign arrivals currently in quarantine.

According to the Epidemiology Unit report at 11 pm Friday, a total of 324,223 COVID-19 cases have been reported and 31,095 infected patients are being treated at hospitals, while 288,307 patients have fully recovered and been discharged from hospitals.

Sri Lanka reported 98 deaths Friday raising the total to 4,919.

According to the Epidemiology Unit report, so far total of 10,777,259 people have received a first dose of COVID-19 vaccine and 2,679,076 have received the second dose.

The Government has decided not to enforce an islandwide lockdown anytime soon.

A crucial meeting took place today (Friday) chaired by President Gotabaya Rajapaksa to discuss the current developments related to the coronavirus in the country.

The meeting took importance as the number of people infected by the coronavirus saw a rapid increase and daily deaths reached record levels.

There have been persistent calls for a nationwide lockdown to contain the rapid spread of the virus and the matter was noted at the meeting today.

However, at the meeting it was decided not to enforce a nationwide lockdown.

The government has so far been keen not to enforce a lockdown as that could have further impact on the economy.

Hospitals have been flooded with Covid patients, especially after travel restrictions enforced around the island were relaxed early last month.

Some hospitals how now declared an emergency situation as they run out of beds and oxygen.

High Commissioner of India to Sri Lanka Gopal Baglay called on Foreign Minister Dinesh Gunawardena on Tuesday (August 03), says the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Minister Gunawardena has thanked the government and the people of India for extending assistance to Sri Lanka in combating the COVID-19 pandemic and appraised the opening of the country for economic activities.

The High Commissioner Baglay also appreciated Sri Lanka for lifting entry restrictions imposed on fully-vaccinated Indians as lifting of such restrictions would provide immense benefits for Sri Lanka’s tourism industry and the economy as a whole.

During the discussion, a joint commemoration of the 75th Anniversary of Independence of India and Sri Lanka was proposed in view of celebrating the centuries old cultural values shared between the two countries.

Commemorating this milestone which consists of cultural and religious events such as Buddhist pilgrims’ programmes and more importantly bringing down sacred Buddhist relics from India to Sri Lanka, would allow the bilateral relations to flourish further.

Minister Gunawardena has underscored the government’s priority in the field of renewable energy and he invited Indian private sector investments in the sustainable energy sector in Sri Lanka. Endorsing the government’s move, High Commissioner Baglay stated that Indian investors are keen to invest in the renewable energy sector, especially in solar energy.

A wide range of areas of mutual interest such as the joint commission on renewable energy, air connectivity, mutual trade and investment ventures, technical cooperation for digitalizing Sri Lankan movies and regional cooperation in the BIMSTEC were also discussed in length.

Sri Lanka has decided to revise certain restrictions due to the present COVID-19 situation in the country.

According to Army Commander General Shavendra Silva, if a Wedding Hall has a seating capacity of more than 500 seats, a maximum of 150 people are allowed to attend the wedding.

If Wedding Halls are with a seating capacity of less than 500, only a maximum of 100 people are allowed to attend the wedding, he said.

A maximum of 25 people are allowed to attend a funeral at a time, said the Army Commander.

Heads of State Institutions can decide on the number of people who are expected to report to work during this period, he added.

All state festivities are postponed until September 1st, the Army Commander went on to note.

Posts claiming that there is a bomb threat in two leading five-star hotels in Colombo and in places in Bambalapitiya, Wellawatta, Mirihana, Nugegoda, Mount Lavinia and Dehiwala are completely false and people have been urged not to panic, the Police told Daily Mirror a short while ago.

Army Commander General Shavendra Silva also confirmed that these reports were false and the panic had spread as a result of a post, which had circulated on social media, soon after the Easter attacks in 2019, being re-edited and circulated once again.

Police said an investigation had already been launched into the incident