US State Dept. urged to bring Sri Lanka under Special Watch List

The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) has, in its this year’s (2025) annual report,

recommended that the US State Department lists Sri Lanka on a ‘Special Watch List’ based on religious freedom-related conditions recorded last year (in 2024), which include allegedly engaging in or tolerating severe violations of religious freedom (pursuant to the International Religious Freedom Act).

The report, issued last week, further recommended to the US Congress to raise ongoing religious freedom issues through the Congressional Caucus on Ethnic and Religious Freedom in Sri Lanka, foreign affairs committee hearings, resolutions, letters, and congressional delegations to Sri Lanka. Another recommendation was to prioritise meetings with the Department of Archaeology and the Ministry of Buddhasasana, Religious, and Cultural Affairs during congressional delegations, and specifically raise concerns over their expropriation of shared or disputed religious sites.

“Incorporate religious freedom concerns into the US-Sri Lanka Partnership Dialogue, including the need to repeal or significantly reform the Prevention of Terrorism (Temporary Provisions) Act as amended to require a higher threshold of evidence for charges, a definition of ‘terrorism’ that complies with international standards, and safeguards against abuses of religious freedom,” it was further recommended to the US Government.

“In Sri Lanka, Hindu and Buddhist nationalist groups targeted Muslims throughout the year with threats, intimidation, and coercion,” the report claimed.

Among the other countries that were recommended to be included in a Special Watch List along with Sri Lanka were Egypt, Indonesia, Iraq, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Malaysia, Syria, Turkey, and Uzbekistan.

(Sumudu Chamara – The Morning)

Batalanda debate: JVP’s role likely to be discussed

The ruling National People’s Power (NPP) Government’s main constituent party, the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna’s (JVP) involvement in the killings during the 1988-1989 insurrection is likely to be discussed during the Parliamentary debate on the Report of the Commission of Inquiry (CoI) into the Establishment and Maintenance of Places of Unlawful Detention and Torture Chambers at the Batalanda Housing Scheme.

The CoI report has considered the alleged youth killings at the Batalanda housing scheme by the Government of that period.

The CoI Report is set to be taken up for Parliamentary debate from 10 April. In light of this, several parties, particularly government critics, including Opposition political parties, are questioning whether the Government will also take steps to serve justice to those killed by JVP members during the same period.

When questioned by The Daily Morning as to whether the NPP would also push for a mechanism to serve justice for the killings attributed to the JVP, General Secretary of the NPP Parliamentarian Dr. Nihal Abeysinghe said: “We have not discussed this yet. The matter will be debated in the Parliament on 10 April, and during the debate, what we are going to do will come up.”

The 1988–1989 insurrection in Sri Lanka was a violent uprising led by the JVP against the then Government. It was alleged to be driven by growing dissatisfaction with economic hardships, political instability, and the Indo-Lanka Accord, which allowed Indian Peacekeeping Forces into the country. It was reported that the JVP launched armed attacks, assassinations, and strikes to destabilise the Government, while the State also responded with countermeasures, including the alleged operation of unofficial torture chambers in the Batalanda housing scheme. It is believed that an unofficial detention and torture centre operated there, targeting suspected members of the JVP during the Government’s crackdown on the insurgency.

The CoI report on it, which was prepared during the tenure of former President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga, was recently tabled in the Parliament by the NPP Government, and is to be taken up for a two-day debate from 10 April.

Japanese Naval Vessels Visit Colombo Port for Goodwill

The Japan Maritime Self-Defence Force (JMSDF) Bungo and Erajima arrived at the port of Colombo on a goodwill visit today.

The visiting ships were welcomed by the Sri Lanka Navy in compliance with naval traditions.

The 141m long JMSDF Bungo is an Uraga-Class Minesweeper Tender commanded by Commander Tanaka Koji and the ship is manned by a crew of 125.

Meanwhile, JMSDF Etajima, a 65-metre-long Minesweeper, is under the command of Commander Oda Takayuki and operates with a crew of 54 personnel.

During the stay in the island, crew members of the ships will explore some tourist attractions within the city of Colombo. The ships are scheduled to set sail from Colombo on 04 April.

Posted in Uncategorized

CA suspends election activities in nomination disputed LG institutions

The Court of Appeal today directed the relevant Returning Officers to suspend the election activities until tomorrow (02), in relation to Local Government institutions where political parties and independent groups have filed petitions challenging the rejection of nomination papers.

This order applies only to Local Government institutions where the rejection of nominations has been challenged in court.

After considering several petitions, the Court of Appeal bench, comprising Justice (Acting President) M.T. Mohammed Laffar and Justice K.P. Fernando, issued this order and it will be effective until tomorrow (02).

Several political parties and independent groups had filed writ applications before the Court of Appeal, challenging the rejection of their nominations to several Local Hovernment institutions.

Jaffna International Airport expands routes with IndiGo’s direct Tiruchirappalli flights

Airport and Aviation Services (Sri Lanka) Ltd., announced that the Jaffna International Airport (JIA) yesterday welcomed the inaugural direct IndiGo flight from Tiruchirappalli to Jaffna.

The new international service, which will operate six days a week, has taken a major step forward in enhancing direct regional air connectivity, significantly improving travel options between India and Sri Lanka’s Northern Province.

Under the new schedule, IndiGo flights will depart Tiruchirappalli at 13:25, reaching Jaffna by 14:25. The return flight from Jaffna will take off at 15:10, arriving back in Tiruchirappalli by 16:05.

The move is expected to boost tourism, trade, and business in the region, catering to both leisure and corporate travellers.

By enhancing direct access to Jaffna, the route strengthens the airport’s role as a key regional hub, while also deepening economic and cultural ties between India and Sri Lanka.

Posted in Uncategorized

Sri Lanka set to lose $ 1Bn FDI with Adani moving out

Sri Lanka is set to lose US $ 1 billion in FDI since Adani wind power project in Mannar is now uncertain with both the project company and the Sri Lankan government remaining firm on tariff rates, Daily Mirror learns.

India-based Adani Group was selected to implement the 484 MW Wind and transmission projects by the previous government. The then Cabinet gave approval to enter into five memoranda of understanding (MoU). Adani quoted US $ 0.826 as its tariff per Kilowatt hour.

Ahead of the implementation of the project, the current government which took office sought to review it and said that the unit price quoted by Adani was too high. It led Adani Green Energy, the local company of Indian billionaire Gautam Adani’s Adani Group’ to announce its withdrawal from the project. Later, upon request by the Sri Lankan government, the company said it remains open to cooperation with Sri Lanka but is not prepared to alter the originally quoted tariff rates.

In the meantime, the Sri Lankan government has firmed up its position that it is not prepared to give the go –ahead for the project at that rate. President Anura Kumara Dissanayake, at an election, said that his government would not proceed with the project with this tariff rate no matter what.

A top government source said that the project is unlikely to take off under the current circumstances because of disagreement on tariff rates.

If the project is not implemented, Sri Lanka will lose an FDI (Foreign Direct Investment) of US $ 1 billion. It will also affect Sri Lanka’s target to achieve 70 per cent renewable energy generation by 2030 and net zero by 2050. It will also deprive Sri Lanka of transformative FDI.

However, during the upcoming visit of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Sri Lanka and India will sign a MoU to undertake a feasibility study on the proposed interconnection of two power grids.

“We will sign the MoU to carry out the feasibility study to be completed in nine months. Based on that study, we will decide how to proceed with the execution of the project. We need a proper business plan,” a source said.

The Indian Prime Minister will arrive in Sri Lanka on April 4 on a state visit. He will witness the signing of half a dozen of MoUs covering areas such as defence, energy and digitisation.

Posted in Uncategorized

Easter Sunday attacks: Gnanasara to reveal info only if summoned

In the wake of calls from religious and civil society organisations representatives for him to disclose any information he claims to have regarding the masterminds behind the 2019 Easter Sunday terror attacks, Bodu Bala Sena (BBS) General Secretary, Galagodaaththe Gnanasara Thera said that he would reveal such information only if summoned by the relevant authorities.

Representatives of several religious and civil society organisations recently called on him to disclose the information that he claims to have about masterminds behind the terror attacks.

When queried by The Daily Morning as to whether he would disclose the relevant information, Gnanasara Thera said that he would share it only with the relevant authorities, as doing otherwise could create unnecessary problems. “I have information, and I will divulge it only to the relevant authorities. There is no need to discuss this with civil society organisations, as they don’t know these matters in detail. If the relevant authorities summon me, I will provide them with the information that I have.”

Gnanasara Thera, who had been serving a nine-month lenient prison sentence for making defamatory remarks about Islam and was granted bail by the Colombo High Court, recently claimed that he knows the mastermind behind the Easter Sunday terror attacks, and added that he would inform President and Defence Minister Anura Kumara Dissanayake, as well as other relevant officials. He claimed that he knew the mastermind’s identity, background, whereabouts, and how he (mastermind) trained National Thowheed Jama’ath leader Mohamed Cassim Mohamed Zahran, ultimately guiding him towards carrying out the suicide attack.

When The Daily Morning inquired as to whether the Police or the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) would record a statement from Gnanasara Thera, the Minister of Public Security Ananda Wijepala, on an earlier occasion, dismissed the need for serious attention to such statements. “There is no point in discussing the nonsense uttered by various individuals. A proper investigation into the Easter Sunday terror attacks is already being conducted by the CID. If necessary, they will record a statement from him (Gnanasara Thera),” Minister Wijepala added.

Posted in Uncategorized

Why the dragging of the NPP’s feet over repeal of the PTA?

A significant ruling by the Sri Lankan Supreme Court on 18th March 2025 (Madurapperuma v Kelum Sangeeth, Sub-Inspector of Police and Others,) has cast a pale of doubt over a range of detention orders issued by former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa under Section 9 (1) of Sri Lanka’s highly critiqued Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA).

Careless use of the ‘gonibilla’ PTA

This interpretation of relevant constitutional provisions by the Court, taken beyond the legal parameters of this case, points (once again) to the need to replace the PTA by a sensibly drafted and narrowly framed counter-terror law that does not permit routine and haphazard use of its provisions by the executive. Here, the Court was concerned with the legality of a particular detention order (DO) signed by former President Rajapaksa on 6th February 2020 against a Bandaragama resident.

She had been arrested, along with her brother on 30th January 2020 on allegations of being in possession of heroin. The initial arrest by the police, quite correctly, was under Section 82 (3) of the Poison, Opium and Dangerous Drugs Ordinance. It was thereafter, that the adventurous path of law enforcement catapulted the detention process into jeopardy by the detainee being ‘threatened with the PTA’ unless she admitted the involvement of another individual in the offence in question.

True to form, the police then proceeded to obtain a DO under Section 9(1) of the PTA on the spurious grounds that she is ‘suspected of having committed several offences under the PTA.’ I will return to the legality of that DO and the important reasoning of the Court later. At this point however, it begs repetition that this case well reflects the ludicrously ‘catch all’ interpretation that Sri Lanka’s law enforcement routinely gives to a counter-terrorism law that should be strictly confined to its meaning and purpose. That is so, from the North to the South of the land

Radical surgery needed, not bandages

Amendments brought to the PTA (by way of Amendment Act, No 12 of 2022) merely constitute ineffectual Rule of Law bandages plastered over the suppurating wound of an atrociously bad law. The Amending Act provided certain safeguards during the process of detention, for magisterial visits to places of detention, for detentions under Section 9 to be communicated to the Human Rights Commission etc. The magistrate must ensure that no suspect is abused.

The Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhumane or Degrading Treatment or Punishment Act, No 22 of 1994 must be strictly complied with. The visits must ensure personal monitoring of the suspect’s wellbeing and record any complaints. It will be interesting to ascertain as to whether these provisions are observed in practice. That is apart from the extraordinary fortitude that a detainee must possess to complain of torture while inside a detention system’ that treats these allegations harshly.

Many of these apparent safeguards are good on paper but do not stem brutal practices of abuse. For that to change, the PTA itself needs to be tossed out of the legal system as the National Peoples’ Power (NPP) Government promised as a pivotal point in its campaign manifesto. In its place, the nation needs a counter terror law that conforms to constitutional safeguards as contained in well -known cursus curiae by the apex court. Alas, there seems to be political foot dragging on that promise.

Legality of the DO struck down

The instant case of ‘Madurapperuma’ is an excellent example in point. The second DO issued on 6th February 2020 was in a much larger group of DOs signed by former President Rajapaksa during a crucial period following the start of his term as the 8th President of Sri Lanka (17th November 2019). At that time, it was the 19th Amendment to the Constitution that was prevalent. By virtue of the transitional provisions in Articles 50 and 51 of that Amendment, the (then) President was authorised to be in charge of the subject of Defence for a finite period.

That period ran from the date that the Amendment came into effect (ie; certified on 15th May 2015) ‘until the next general election.’ At the time of the 19th Amendment, former President Maithripala Sirisena was the 7th President of Sri Lanka. Taking these provisions into account, Justice S. Thurairaja (writing for the Court), noted that the applicability of Article 51 is limited, ‘…very clearly to the President holding office on the date of the commencement of the Act.’

As such, ‘only the 7th President, Maithripala Sirisena could assign to himself – as he did assign to himself – the subject of Defence by virtue of this Section.’ Subject to that exception, Articles 43 and 44 stipulated that, ‘only a Member of Parliament could be appointed a Minister under the Constitution.’ That was the case until the 20th Amendment to the Constitution (certified on 29th Oct 2020) amended Section 44 (3) to provide that the President shall be the Minister in charge of the subject of Defence.

Article 4(b) of the Constitution cannot be casually applied

As the Court observes, ‘the term of the 8th President, Gotabaya Rajapaksa did not begin till 7th November 2019…that is well after the period contemplated in Section 50 of the 19th Amendment.’ In other words, the actions of the former President in purporting to gather to himself the powers of the Minister of Defence during the intervening period, were cast in issue. That included the DOs signed by him during that period, before the 20th Amendment became the law of the land on 29th October 2020.

The Bench was unimpressed with the argument of lawyers appearing for the respondents that the President (ie’ Gotabaya Rajapaksa) had ‘residual power to assume any power under any legislation’ within the purview of the Ministry of Defence. That was an argument relying, inter alia, on Article 4 (b) of the Constitution which states that, the executive power of the people, including the defence of Sri Lanka, shall be exercised by the President of the Republic, elected by the People.’

But finding this position to be ‘unconvincing’ (quite cogently so), the Bench pointed out that, if the ‘general reference’ to the ‘defence of Sri Lanka’ cannot be reasonably read to mean ‘any and all functions of the Minister of Defence.’ Rather, that references the President’s role as the Head of State and Commander in Chief of the Armed Services.

Mechanical signing of DOs must cease

‘If such loose references to ‘defence’ can grant residual power to arbitrarily assume power and authority given by law to the Minister of Defence, what stops the President from assuming any governmental power as the Head of State, the Head of the Executive and of the Government?’ it was asked. The contention by the respondent police officers was found not only to be ‘unsupported by reason but also democratically precarious.’ The impugned DO was ruled to be ultra vires the Constitution and devoid of any legal validity.

The period of detention that followed was consequently visited by that same flaw resulting in a violation of Article 13 (1) and (2) (arbitrary arrest and detention/custody) as well as Article 12 (1) (equality before the law). Quite apart from the legal question in issue, the ‘Madurapperuma’ DO is just one of thousands of other DOs mechanically signed with general citations of ‘terrorism offences. It is these casual ‘PTA” practices of law enforcement that must be stopped in their tracks.

This does not contribute to the maintenance of general law and order but exercises a counter-productive impact on national security. That is a lesson that the Sri Lanka State has yet to learn.

Posted in Uncategorized

Ballot Paper Printing and Distribution Schedule for Postal Voting Announced for LG Elections

Government Printer Pradeep Pushpakumara says that the printing of postal voting ballot papers for the upcoming local government elections is expected to be completed by the 5th of April.

A total of 700,000 ballot papers are being printed for postal voting.

The National Election Commission has confirmed that these ballot papers will be delivered to post offices across the island, by the 7th of April.

Chairman of the National Election Commission R.M.A.L. Ratnayake said that the distribution process will take place at all district secretariats.

Postal voting is set to be take place on the 22nd, 23rd, 24th, 28th, and 29th of April.

The Government Printer also assured that the printing of all official ballot papers will be completed by the 28th of April.

The distribution of these official ballot papers for the local government elections will begin on 16th of April and continue through to 29th of April.

UNP welcomes Indian PM Modi’s visit to Sri Lanka

Former President Ranil Wickremesinghe’s United National Party (UNP) on Sunday welcomed Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s scheduled visit to Sri Lanka this week.

Modi will begin a two-day visit to Sri Lanka on April 4.

“This visit represents a cherished milestone in the timeless relationship between our two great nations,” a party statement said.

The UNP said the visit presents an opportunity to strengthen the “India-Sri Lanka Economic Partnership Vision” adopted in July 2023.

The UNP recalls that India’s provision of USD 4 billion in assistance during Sri Lanka’s economic crisis was “a testament to the depth of our friendship”.

The development of the eastern port district of Trincomalee jointly with India holds the potential to establish a dynamic centre for trade, energy and maritime activity and enforces regional connectivity.

The UNP attaches importance to the proposed power grid interconnection to deliver affordable and reliable energy, the statement said.

Foreign Minister Vijitha Herath said the memorandum of understanding on the power grid integration between Sri Lanka’s northeastern Mannar and India’s southern region through an undersea cable would be one of the bilateral agreements to be entered during the visit.

“This partnership is ultimately dedicated to the well-being of our people,” the UNP said.

“In hosting Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the UNP calls upon all stakeholders to reaffirm their dedication to this bilateral vision.”

This will be Modi’s fourth visit to Sri Lanka since assuming office in 2015.

He last visited Sri Lanka in June 2019.

UNP leader Ranil Wickremesinghe was Sri Lanka’s prime minister during his visits in the past.

Source: PTI