Category: News

A petition has been filed by the SLPP member before the Supreme Court challenging the government’s bill seeking to revoke privileges granted to former Presidents.

The petition was submitted by Renuka Perera, Administrative Secretary of the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP), with the Attorney General named as the respondent.

The petitioner stated that the government had presented this bill to Parliament on the 7th to revoke the legal rights granted to former Presidents.

The petition highlighted that clauses 1 to 4 of the proposed bill violated the principle of the separation of powers guaranteed by the Constitution.

Furthermore, the petition alleged that one or more clauses in the bill infringed upon the sovereignty of the country and the people’s sovereignty as guaranteed by the Constitution.

Overall, the petitioner contended that the clauses of the proposed bill violated the fundamental principles enshrined in the entire Constitution.

He further alleged that through this bill, fundamental human rights guaranteed under Articles 1, 3, 4, and 12(1) of the Constitution were directly violated.

Accordingly, the petitioner requested the Supreme Court to issue a ruling stating that for the questionable clauses of the bill to be approved, they had to be passed by a special two-thirds majority in Parliament and be subject to a referendum.

The Presidents’ Entitlements (Repeal) Bill, aimed at repealing the Presidents’ Entitlements Act, was presented to Parliament by Minister of Justice Harshana Nanayakkara on 7 August. The bill was gazetted on 31 July and seeks to abolish special privileges extended to former Presidents and their widows.

Earlier in July, the Cabinet of Ministers approved the proposal to gazette and present the draft bill to amend the Presidents’ Entitlements Act (No. 4 of 1986).

Three Sri Lankan army soldiers have been arrested in connection with the murder of 32-year-old Tamil civilian Edirmanasingham Kapilraj, whose body was discovered in the Muththaiyankaddu tank in Mullaitivu on Saturday.

The arrests were made following allegations by local residents that Kapilraj was beaten to death by soldiers after he and four others were summoned to the 13th Battalion of the Sri Lanka National Guard in Muththaiyankaddu on August 7 to collect scrap metal.

Upon arrival, the group was allegedly assaulted by around 20 soldiers inside the camp.

While three of the men fled by jumping into a nearby tank and another escaped with the help of bystanders, Kapilraj went missing. His body was found the following morning.

Relatives of the deceased allege that Kapilraj was murdered by the military and that his body was dumped in the tank.

Mullaitivu District Judge Dharmalingham Pratheepan has ordered a post-mortem examination.

Local journalists allege the army had been using village youth to illicitly sell military scrap and channel the proceeds towards drug smuggling into the camp.

Villagers claim this shadow operation was run by several soldiers from the 13th Battalion, and that Kapilraj may have been killed after being drawn into this illegal network.

Police teams, including officers in charge of Mankulam, Oddusuddan, and Puthukkudiyiruppu stations, are conducting an ongoing investigation.

Tensions escalated during a visit by police to the military camp, where local residents staged a heated protest demanding swift justice.

The mobile phone numbers of several implicated soldiers, allegedly used to summon villagers to the camp, were handed over to the police by local residents.

This led to the arrest of four more soldiers, two of whom have since been remanded along with the earlier suspect.

The three soldiers have been remanded until August 19.

The United Kingdom and Canada have informed the government that a new resolution on Sri Lanka will be presented at the 60th
session of the UN Human Rights Council next month, but the Government expects softened wording on it as compared to
previous resolutions.

This has been conveyed verbally to the Government.

However, with the US, which co-sponsored previous resolutions on Sri Lanka, having left the UNHRC, the composition of the new core group on Sri Lanka is likely to change, a senior government source said. Malawi, Montenegro and North Macedonia, which were part of the previous core group along with the UK, US and Canada, may not be party to the resolution this year, the source said.

UN Human Rights High Commissioner Volker Türk, who visited Sri Lanka in June, will present his report on the “Situation of human rights in Sri Lanka” at the 60th session. According to the draft programme, the report will be
presented on September 8, the day the session opens.

High Commissioner Türk visited the Chemmani mass grave site. This is likely to figure prominently in his report on Sri Lanka.

Foreign Minister Vijitha Herath will represent Sri Lanka at the sessions in Geneva and make a presentation on behalf of the Government.

Mr. Herath told the Sunday Times that since the new government took office last September, there had been a softening of the stance in the resolutions/submissions on Sri Lanka before the UNHRC. “The government has taken several measures to ensure that the domestic process to address accountability is strengthened and free of political interference,” he said.

The minister added that the setting up of an Independent Prosecutor’s Office, as pledged in the NPP election manifesto, would further enhance international confidence in the local mechanism.

“We are committed to setting up the Independent Prosecutor’s Office. The legal process in this regard will be addressed in the coming months,” he said.

With regard to growing calls for an international inquiry into the Chemmani mass grave site, Mr. Herath said the matter came under the judiciary, and there was no government interference in the matter.

“There have been other such sites, such as in Mannar and Matale, and the Government has allowed the due process to take place with exhumations and holding inquiries. We are transparent in these matters,” he said.

Six more human skeletons were uncovered on Wednesday(06-08-2025) at the Chemmani mass grave site in Jaffna, including the remains of infants, as the total number of bodies found continues to climb.

The total number of skeletal assemblages identified now stands at 147, with 140 fully exhumed.

The infant remains were exhumed with extreme care due to their fragile condition. Items discovered alongside other skeletons included a pair of sandals and a bracelet, which have been placed under court custody. Forensic teams also retrieved coins, glass bangles, and other personal belongings from the graves.

The bodies of several children have now been found at site.

In a procedural update, the Jaffna Magistrate’s Court confirmed that excavation will pause temporarily, with forensic teams resuming work on 21 August. The break was granted to allow personnel to rest after weeks of intensive effort.

The Chemmani case, reopened more than two decades after initial revelations, has reignited calls for international justice. The mass graves came to global attention in 1998, following testimony from Lance Corporal Somaratne Rajapaksa – convicted in the rape and murder of Tamil schoolgirl Krishanthi Kumaraswamy – who revealed the existence of mass burials near a military checkpoint in Chemmani. He claimed up to 400 Tamil civilians had been killed and buried during the Sri Lankan military’s occupation of Jaffna in the 1990s.

A hearing at the Jaffna Magistrate’s Court is scheduled for 14 August, where a report on Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) scans and soil testing is expected to be submitted. GPR scans, recently completed by the University of Sri Jayewardenepura’s Faculty of Technology, have identified additional areas of interest within the Siththupaththi Hindu Cemetery.

This week also saw over 200 people, including relatives of the disappeared, gather to view artefacts recovered from the site. The exhibit, held under tight security and court restrictions, featured 54 items, including a child’s toy, a baby’s bottle, school bags, and sandals.

As excavation efforts uncover more chilling evidence, pressure continues to mount on both the Sri Lankan government and the international community to pursue meaningful accountability. Tamil political parties, civil society groups, and rights organisations have repeatedly demanded an independent, internationally monitored investigation into Chemmani and other suspected mass graves across the North-East.

A meeting with leaders and representatives of 17 political parties was held at the Narahenpita home of former minister Prof. G. L. Peiris on 07 August, reports said.

The main topics of discussion were the performance of the NPP government, economy and the overall political situation.

Among those present were Rauff Hakeem, Milinda Moragoda, Jeevan Thondaman, Kabir Hashim, Mano Ganesan, Ramesh Pathirana and Shehan Semasinghe.