NA: Timeline (Terrorist Activities) -2019

Police commandos arrested two persons allegedly involved with the Jaffna-based Aava group, at Kokuvil in Karaikattu in Jaffna in Northern Province on January 1, reports The Island. The suspects were later handed over to Jaffna Police. Aava members are accused of carrying out a series of attacks in the Jaffna peninsula over the past two years. Read less...

Army recovered four hand grenades, a pistol, ammunition and several hand phones at Pudur in Puliyankulam in the Vavuniya District of Northern Province on January 2, reports The Island. Read less...

As long as Sri Lanka remains divided on lines of race, religion, caste, language, regions, poor and rich, the country will be devoid of the ‘balance’ to forge ahead, said Sivaraja Rashasingham, PLOTE’s (People’s Liberation Organization of Tamil Eelam) coordinator based in Norway, reports The Island on January 5."The ‘imbalance’ could open the door to outside forces to take control. It is left to us to decide whether to allow such forces to triumph or to take ‘control’ ourselves without being slaves to external elements, who will have their way, if they succeed", he said in an interview during a visit to Colombo, last week.PLOTE, a one-time militant group, later worked with the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) to crush the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). After entering the political firmament, PLOTE contested parliamentary polls. The group’s leader, DharmalingamSiddarthan, is a Member of Parliament (MP). Read less...

Qatar Red Crescent Society (QRCS) completed a project to establish a residential village for 800 Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in Sri Lanka, reports Colombo Page on January 6.At a total cost of $486,619 (nearly QR 1.8 million), donated by a Qatari benevolent person who requested anonymity, the new village is located in Riditenna in Valaichchenai in the Eastern Province of Sri Lanka. Read less...

The Colombo Crimes Division (CCD) arrested Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) Colombo Municipal Councilor, KulathissaDeeganage in connection over the unruly behaviour at the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC) premises in Dematagoda in Colombo in Western Province, on January 6, reports Daily News. He was remanded till January 11 by Colombo Chief Magistrate Lanka Jayarathne CCD officials informed court that a tense situation had prevailed as a result of the Councillors unruly behaviour. The phones had contained footage of Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) training, according to the Security Forces (SFs).Further investigations are being carried out by the Puliyankulam Police, Vavuniya Police and Military intelligence units. Read less...

A Sri Lankan court on January 10 sentenced two cadres of the defeated terrorist group Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) for bombing of a military aircraft over 18 years ago, reports Colombo Page.North Central Provincial High Court Judge Mahesh Weeramanon January 10 sentenced the two ‘LTTE Missile Brigade’ cadres, RajathuraiJaganaliasKulawan(41) and NallanSivalingamaliasSinnathilakan (43), both residents of Irasathurai in Jaffna, who pled guilty to launching a missile attack on a Sri Lanka Air Force aircraft in 2000 killing 37 people, to 185 years rigorous imprisonment. The court heard that the suspects fired a missile at the Antonov-32 aircraft flying from Palaly to Ratmalana over Anuradhapura (North Central Province) on or near 30thof March 2000 and downed the plane killing 37 people onboard.At the time of the missile attack, members of the Air Force, the Navy and the Police and the Russian pilot were among the 37 people killed.The Judge ordered five years of rigorous imprisonment for each count, a total of 185 years for each suspect to be served in five years.The two LTTE suspects arrested in 2012 in Kilinochchi had revealed that the rebels had fired missiles towards the aircraft from Wilpattu jungles. The Police had recovered parts of the missiles used in the attack. Read less...

According to the latest edition of The Economist Intelligence Unit's Democracy Index, which provides a snapshot of the state of democracy worldwide, Sri Lanka fell back in democracy in 2018 more than any other country in the region, reports Colombo Page on January 10.According to the 11th edition of the Democracy Index, Sri Lanka saw a marked decrease in its score from 6.48 in 2017 to 6.19, driven by a worsening in the functioning of government and in civil liberties.The report said although Sri Lanka and seven other countries include the word ‘democratic’, in their full titles not one of these countries is actually fully democratic.Sri Lanka has been classified as a "Flawed democracy"."The country was plunged into a constitutional crisis in late October when the president, Maithripala Sirisena, announced the dismissal of the Prime Minister, Ranil Wickremesinghe, replacing him with an ally, Mahinda Rajapaksa (who served as president in 2005-15). This overreach of the president's powers has dampened public confidence in government," the report said. Elsewhere in South Asian region India ranked 41 with a score of 7.23, Bangladesh ranked 88, Bhutan 94, Nepal 97, Pakistan 112 and Afghanistan 143 in the bottom five.Norway, ranked first as a full democracy, Iceland, Sweden, New Zealand and Denmark ranked in the top five in that order. Read less...

Opposition Leader Mahinda Rajapaksa said on January 10 that Sri Lanka has today become a center of drug smuggling, mainly due to politicians harbouring drug smugglers, reports Daily Mirror. Rajapaksa said it was time for the parents to take action to safeguard their children from drugs without waiting for the government to do so.“A strong system based on religious places of worship should be made to eradicate the drug menace. The police and other security forces should take legal action against drug smugglers without giving into political influences," he said. Read less...

Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Parliamentarian M.A Sumanthiran told Parliament on January 10 that he is ready to admit that the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) committed war crimes, reports Colombo Gazette. He said that all international reports very clearly say that both the military and the LTTE committed war crimes.Sumanthiran said that he will come under fire from his community for saying the LTTE committed war crimes.However, he said he is prepared to admit that the LTTE did commit war crimes during the war.“All parties committed (war crimes),” he added Read less...

Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe on January 11 emphasized that no room will be left for any proposal to divide the country and the foremost place would be given to Buddhism in the new Constitution, reports Colombo Page.Presenting report of experts on drafting a new Constitution on January 11, the Prime Minister stressed that the proposed new Constitution will not have any negative implications on the priority granted to Buddhism and the unitary state of the country.Rejecting allegations by the Opposition, Prime Minister said the divisions within a country were not a concern and politically destitute people are trying to make such claims as today they have no other topic to talk about.He added that it is unlikely that there is anyone who wants to change the 9th Article regarding Buddhism was included in the 1972 Constitution by the committee led by Former Prime Minister Dudley Senanayake The Prime Minister on January 11 presented the report prepared by the Panel of Experts for the Steering Committee, which is based on the Interim report, six sub-committee reports and representations made by political parties on drafting a new Constitution to the Constitutional Assembly. Read less...

Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena on January 13 said that some groups are attempting to postpone the provincial elections that need to be held soon by creating various stories about a presidential election, reports Colombo Page.Pointing out that by now, activities of six provincial councils have been stalled, the President said it is not favorable for the democracy and also against the objectives of the 13th Amendment to the Constitution."Therefore, those who are talking about a presidential election should be ready for a provincial council election before the presidential election," the President said adding that he had already discussed the matter with the Elections Commission Chairman.Speaking further, the President said that it was necessary to hold elections in the provinces and give people the right to vote. Read less...

Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe on January 13 said that he will conduct discussions with the Maha Sangha on improving Buddhism within the country, reports Colombo Page. He said that steps will be taken with the participation of Education, Buddha Sasana and Cultural Affairs ministries to promote cooperation and harmony among all religions in the country. Read less...

Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe on January 14 requested all parties to not to spread misinformation on the new constitution raising false alarms to mislead the masses and create panic in the country, reports Colombo Page. The Prime Minister said currently, there is an attempt to spread racism by propagating false information on the new constitution and certain politicians meet with the chief prelates and spread false rumors that the government will bring in a new constitution that will divide the country and take away the foremost place given to Buddhism. He urged the relevant parties not to ‘set fire to the country’ by sowing communalism and making the new constitution a ‘bogeyman’. Read less...

The Government launched a project on January 15 to construct some 10,000 houses in the North for the benefit of war affected people. Read less...

A Sri Lankan court on January 16 sentenced two members of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), who pleaded guilty to their role in the attack on the Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) camp in Anuradhapura in Anuradhapura District in North Central Province in 2007, to 10 years rigorous imprisonment, reports Colombo Page. North Central Provincial High court judge Mahesh Weeraman sentenced the two former LTTE cadres Aravindan and Thabo Ruben to 10 years rigorous imprisonment with eligibility for parole after five years. The two LTTE cadres have admitted that they provided the information for the attack on October 22, 2007 on the SLAF camp which destroyed a number of aircraft and killed more than 30 people including 21 rebels. The two suspects, Aravindan and Thabo Ruben had been charged on three counts of providing information to LTTE rebels to carry out the raid on the Air Force base. Aravindan pleaded guilty to the first and second charges while Thabo Ruben admitted guilty to the first and third charges. Each suspect was sentenced to 10 years in prison, five years for each charge. Read less...

German authorities on January 16 arrested a suspected cadre of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), identified as Navanithan G. alleged to have been involved in the 2005 assassination of Sri Lanka’s then Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar, reports Colombo Gazette. Federal prosecutors said that Police him in southwestern Germany and searched his home on January 16. The man, whose surname wasn’t released because of Germany privacy laws, is accused of membership in a foreign terrorist organisation, murder and attempted murder. Prosecutors said the suspect was part of the group’s secret Police, participating in the killing of Kadirgamar in August 2005 and the attempted killing of Eelam People’s Democratic Party leader Douglas Devananda. It wasn’t immediately clear how long the suspect had been in Germany. Read less...

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe agreed to introduce a mechanism to ensure a ‘formal say’ for the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) in the execution of development activities in predominantly Tamil areas in the North and the East, Jaffna District TNA MP (Member of Parliament) Dharmalingam Sithathdan said on January 16, reports Daily Mirror. Dharmalingam Sithathdan said the TNA parliamentary group met with the premier last week to discuss the matter. He said the Prime Minister agreed to work out a mechanism for it to be involved in development activities in the North and the East. “We informed Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe that we wanted a formal say in the process. Afterwards, we discussed as to how a mechanism could be worked out. The premier agreed with us,” he said. Read less...

Skeletal remains of 300 people and human bones have been unearthed as of January 16 from the mass grave found in Mannar in Mannar District of Northern Province after the grave area has been expanded for a second time since the excavations began on May 28, 2018, Senior Judicial Medical Officer Shaminda Rajapaksa said, reports Colombo Page. The excavations at the mass grave resumed on January 16 after temporarily suspending the activities on January 11. Until January 16 excavations have been carried out for 130 days and skeletal remains belonging to 300 individuals have been unearthed from the mass grave at the old Sathosa building site, the official said. Out of this total, skeletal remains of 294 individuals have been systematically removed and currently sealed and placed in a special chamber at the Mannar Magistrate's Court complex, Dr. Rajapaksa said. Remains of 23 bodies believed to be children's have been separated. Read less...

Sri Lankan Police recovered a haul of high explosives stashed near the Wilpattu national park in Wanathawilluwa in Puttalam District of North Western Province on January 17 following the arrest of four men from a newly formed radical Muslim group, reports Economy Next. Police said in a statement that "Following information received by the CID (Criminal Investigations Department), they found 100 kilos (220 pounds) of high explosives and 100 detonators." Official sources said the discovery was made during investigations into recent hate attacks against Buddha statues elsewhere in the country in an apparent attempt to spark tensions between majority Buddhists and minority Muslims. "The information we have at the moment is that a radicalised local group of Muslims are behind the explosives seized on Thursday [January 17]," an official said. "We are trying to see if they had any links with extremists abroad." There have been no attacks in Sri Lanka linked to foreign Islamist groups despite local media reports that a 37-year-old Sri Lankan had been killed in Syria in 2015 while fighting for Islamic State (IS) group. The latest discovery of explosives in the North Western Province of the island on January 17 is one of the biggest finds since the country ended its decades-long war against Tamil separatists in 2009. Read less...

The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) on January 17 informed the Mount Lavinia Magistrate Court that the same organized group of suspects had carried out both the murder of senior journalist and Sunday Leadereditor Lasantha Wickrematunge and the abduction and assault of The Nation's former deputy editor Keith Noyahr, reports Colombo Page.When the Lasantha Wickrematunge murder inquiry was taken up on January 17, the Officer-in-Charge (OIC) of the CID's Gang Robbery Unit-Inspector Nishantha Silva making submissions informed the Mount Lavinia Chief Magistrate Mohamed Mihailthat the CID found that the same group of suspects is involved in both crimes. Lasantha Wickrematunge, the founding editor of English weekly, Sunday Leader, was assassinated on January 8, 2009 by four assailants who stopped him on his way to his office on Attidiya-Mount Lavinia road, in a suburb of Sri Lankan capital Colombo.Keith Noyahr, a journalist with The Nation newspaper at the time, abducted by a group of men in a van on the night of the May 22, 2008. Read less...

Sri Lanka Army complying with the President's directive to release all military occupied lands to the rightful owners, released another plot of occupied lands in the Eastern Province, reports Colombo Page. The Army on January 18 symbolically released 39.75 acres of Army-used Lands in Pallekadu in the Eastern Province under the Kalmunai Divisional Secretariat of Ampara District. Read less...

Sri Lanka's Terrorism Investigation Division (TID) officers arrested a former Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) cadre, identified as Suthan from Karanthai Palai in Northern Province on January 19, reports Tamil Guardian. The 40-year-old man, who is understood to have undergone an amputation, was arrested along with two pistols, 150 bullets and locally made gun which were found at his address. The TID have taken him to Vavuniya for further inquiry. The arrest is part of a series of interrogations and detentions of former LTTE cadre across the North-East over recent months. Read less...

Sri Lanka's Tamil Eelam Liberation Organisation (TELO) said that it will reject any attempt to formulate a new Constitution, claiming that the proposals which have been announced so far fall short of an acceptable solution for the Tamils in terms of the devolution of power, reports The Week on January 22. The TELO, a constituent of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA), in a statement said that the party stood for a federal solution based on the concept of fully-fledged self-determination for the Tamils in the north and east, but the current proposals are aimed at preserving the unitary character of the island. Read less...

Sri Lankan human rights activists, lawmakers and relatives of slain and disappeared journalists held a vigil over their abductions, killings and disappearances and demanded the Government expedite investigations, reports Colombo Page on January 24. Freddie Gamage, an organizer of the vigil, said despite being in power for four years, the current government "has miserably failed to fulfil its promise to punish those responsible for attacks on journalists. Read less...

Dozens of members of Sri Lanka's Tamil minority on January 26 marched towards a sprawling Keppapulavu army camp in Mullaitivu District in Northern Province, determined to breach its perimeter and reclaim their homes, reports Colombo Page. Keppapulavu's residents fled their houses in 2008 during the bloody last phase of Sri Lanka's 26-year civil war, which was fought between the Government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). The military occupied over 500 acres of Tamil-owned residential land in Keppapulavu, subsuming the former residents' homes in expansive camps. When the war ended in 2009, Keppapulavu's former residents were moved to Manik Farm, a military-run displacement camp plagued by widespread human rights violations, according to a 2015 United Nations (UN) report. Manik Farm was closed in 2012, and the 560 former Keppapulavu residents remaining in the camp were resettled on small plots of undeveloped jungle in Sooripuram, a village that borders Keppapulavu. Read less...

The Sri Lankan Government intends to complete construction of 4,750 houses within six months for the benefit of the people in the North under its plan to build 10,000 houses in stages, an official said on January 26, reports Daily Mirror. This project has been launched by the Ministry of National Policies, Economic Affairs, Resettlement and Rehabilitation, Northern Province Development, Vocational Training, Skills Development and Youth Affairs. Ministry Secretary V. Sivagnanasothy said that the priority would be given to internally displaced persons (IDPs), families in welfare camps and refugee returnees. There would be a special focus on women-led families, the disabled, landmine-affected families, families of missing persons, low income groups, families living in huts with children and families with elderly persons. "The first phase of 4,750 houses is being constructed through the vote on account allocation following the decision of a high-powered steering committee. The housing programme will be implemented through the district and divisional administration and based on the number of IDPs, families in the welfare camps and refugee returnees. Under the first phase 1,500 houses will be for Jaffna, 670 houses for Kilinochchi, 630 houses for Mullaitivu, 450 houses for Vavuniya, 350 houses for Mannar, 625 houses for Batticaloa, 400 houses Trincomalee and 125 houses for Ampara,” he said. Read less...

Weekly Blitz on January 27 reports that authorities in Sri Lanka have confirmed that the massive explosives seizure at a remote compound in Wanathawilluwa was actually a training camp for the Islamic State (IS) that attempted to detonate multiple high explosive bombs targeting historic Buddhist monuments in the ancient city of Anuradhapura. This is the first actual terror threat from the Islamic State in Sri Lanka, as the CID hunts for over fifty more named suspects across the island connected to this IS chapter. Already an imam, or Mawlawi, from the remote IS training camp has been arrested; he has confessed in an interrogation that the weapons and high explosives belong to an Islamic State chapter in Sri Lanka. Read less...

The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) has not yet accepted the concept of a Unitary State, Pivithuru Hela Urumaya (PHU) leader Udaya Gammanpila said on January 28, reports Daily Mirror. “Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said recently that there was no draft Constitution and that the TNA had accepted the concept of a Unitary State. Unfortunately, the PM still attempts to deceive the nation. We pointed out that the phrase 'this Constitution' can be found in the first page of the document tabled by him in the Constitutional Assembly,” he said. He also said TNA MP M.A. Sumanthiran was the author of the draft and that he admitted that the document was a draft Constitution. “Having a TV debate with us, he further said they were not ready to accept the concept of a Unitary State. They accept ‘Aekiya Rajyaya’ after assigning their own definition. Hence, nobody can claim that the TNA has accepted the concept of a Unitary State. We must be thankful for MPs Sampanthan and Sumanthiran for accepting the fact that the draft Constitution is full of federal features,” he said. Read less...

Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena, on January 30, said that in addition to the programs that are being implemented to control and eradicate illicit drugs, new set of programs will also be launched within the next few months, reports Colombo Page. The new programs aim at the school students and public servants to further strengthen the fight against drug and a special program has been launched with the help of universities to save youth from illicit drugs, the President said. He also said the illicit drugs are part of a major coup of certain organized groups to destroy the country and fight against drugs will be carried out on a war footing, similar to the war to defeat Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) terrorism. Read less...

Around 83 Sri Lankan Tamil refugees from various camps in Tamil Nadu in India on January 31 voluntarily returned to Sri Lanka with the assistance of United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), authorities said, reports Colombo Page. A group of 83 Sri Lankan Tamils who had fled the country during the war and lived in refugee camps in Tamil Nadu has arrived in Sri Lanka on January 31. The Prime Minister’s Media Office in a statement said that the Government is committed to taking all necessary measures to build peace and reconciliation among every Sri Lankan, and accordingly, invited all citizens who fled the country during the wartime to return home. The Government would take necessary steps to resettle the returned refugees in their respective residential areas such as Vavuniya, Mannar, Matale, Mullaitivu, Trincomalee and Jaffna, the release further said. According to the statement, 11,020 Sri Lankan Tamil refugees, who had been sheltered in refugee camps in Tamil Nadu, have voluntarily returned to the country so far since 2009 and 3,815 more refugees have expressed their desire to return to Sri Lanka under the patronage of the UNHCR. The UN agency has provided the refugees with air fare and several allowances. The allowances given for the returning refugees include an allowance of LKR 10,000 per person over 18 years and LKR 7,500 for a person under the age of 18 for reintegration, Transport allowance of LKR 2,500 per person, personal allowance of LKR 5,000 per person and LKR 5,000 allowance for family on arrival. Read less...

The proposed Counter Terrorism Act (CTA) intended to repeal its draconian predecessor, needs substantial amendment to be brought in line with international law, Amnesty International said in a statement on January 31, reports Colombo Gazette.Sri Lanka promised to repeal the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) when it cosponsored United Nations Human Rights Council (UHRC) Resolution 30/1 in September 2015 and to replace it with anti-terrorism legislation which would be in accordance with contemporary international best practice.Despite their commitment, the Government of Sri Lanka has delayed doing so by more than three years. Amnesty International is concerned that the proposed legislation falls short in many sections from what the Government promised. The PTA was a temporary measure when it was enacted in 1979. Consecutive governments have chosen to retain it and the Act has in turn became a permanent feature of Sri Lanka’s criminal justice system.It allows for suspects to be held without charge for up to 18 months, special rules of evidence allowing for confessions to be admissible in court, and for the onus to be placed on a suspect to prove to a court that a statement was made under duress.Since the armed conflict with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) erupted in 1983, tens of thousands of Tamils suspected of links to the LTTE have been arrested and detained under the PTA. The Act was also used as a tool to quell dissent against Government. Read less...