NA: Timeline (Terrorist Activities) -2016

President Maithripala Sirisena in an interview has promised to provide land to settle as many as 100,000 war victims displaced by the threedecade long war within six months, reports Colombo Page on January 3. He said "It is an ambitious target, but I will see that all the internally displaced people are given land to build homes. This is an unacceptable situation. I want to end this problem once and for all. For many people the main issue was lack of land and that is something we will resolve in the next six months." Read less...

President Maithripala Sirisena in an interview on January 3 said that Government would not act in haste for setting up a special court on allegations of violations of human rights in the last stages of the civil war, reports Colombo Page. Answering questions on the status of implementation of a resolution adopted by the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in October on accountability, Mr. Sirisena, replied “What should be done first was to evaluate what had happened during the war. Only after ascertaining the situation would subsequent steps become necessary.  We have not been ordered to do anything. The government would do whatever is necessary. The implementation should be a collective exercise.” Read less...

Norway’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Borge Brende will visit Sri Lanka this week in a bid to reestablish political contact, his office said on January 5, almost 10 years after Oslo failed in a bid to mediate in the island’s civil war, reports Colombo Gazette. Borge Brende’s visit, which begins on janury 7, will be the first by a Norwegian minister to Sri Lanka since 2006, the foreign ministry said in a statement. “The aim of the visit to Colombo is to reestablish political contact with Sri Lanka,” Brende said, adding “The recent political developments in the country in the past year have made this possible.” In the early 2000s, Norway mediated between the Sri Lankan Government and the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), but a 2002 ceasefire didn’t last. Former President Mahinda Rajapaksa, who was in power from 2005 to 2015, had questioned Norway’s neutrality and quashed the guerrilla in 2009. Read less...

Ministry of Defense in the statement on January 6 said that the security forces and intelligence agencies were on full alert on the possibility of any groups having links with the Islamic State (IS) or emergence of IS in the country, reports Colombo Page. The Statement said "Security forces and all intelligence wings wish to give a categorical assurance that they are on full alert to the possibilities of such links or emergence of IS groups round the clock as it is the prime responsibility of the security forces and national intelligence." Read less...

President Maithripala Sirisena has decided to grant a presidential pardon to former Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) cadre Sivaraja Jenivan alias Mohommadu Sulthan Cader Mohideen who tried to assassinate him in 2006, reports Colombo Page on January 7. Sivaraja was involved in an assassination attempt on then Minister of Mahaweli Development Maithripala Sirisena in 2006. He was arrested on April 23, 2006 and sentenced to 10 years Rigorous Imprisonment (RI) by Polonnaruwa High Court on July 3, 2015. Jenivan filed an appeal with the Court of Appeal against the conviction. Read less...

President Maithripala Sirisena on January 8 pardoned former Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) cadre Sivaraja Jenivan alias Mohommadu Sulthan Cader Mohideen who tried to assassinate him in 2006, reports Colombo Page. Jenivan, a resident of the Koviladi area in Jaffna District was arrested on April 23, 2006. He was sentenced to 10 years Rigorous Imprisonment (RI) by Polonnaruwa High Court on July 3, 2015. Read less...

Army Commander Lieutenant General Crishanthe De Silva speaking to media in Kandy city of Kandy District on January 9 said that there will be no threat to national security, reports Colombo Page. He said that on the instructions of President Maithripala Sirisena maximum attention has been paid to the national security and there is no room for terrorism to raise its head once again in the country. The Commander also gave an assurance that he would do everything possible for the welfare of all disabled War Heroes and family members of fallen ones. Read less...

Prime Minister (PM) Ranil Wickremesinghe on January 9 presented in Parliament a resolution for the appointment of the Constitutional Assembly for formulating a new Constitution for Sri Lanka, reports Colombo Page. The Resolution for the appointment of the Constitutional Assembly presented by the PM moved in the House at a special session and thereafter the House adjourned until January 12, 2016. The Resolution, proposes establishing a Committee of Parliament referred to as the 'Constitutional Assembly' which shall consist of all Members of Parliament, for the purpose of deliberating, and seeking the views and advice of the People, on a new Constitution for Sri Lanka, and preparing a draft of a Constitution Bill for the consideration of Parliament in the exercise of its powers under Article 75 of the Constitution.Meanwhile, President Maithripala Sirisena January 9 while addressing the Parliament stressed that the country's Constitution needs to be changed to suit the present era for the development of the country, reports Colombo Page. He said “Sri Lanka must draft a constitution which fulfills the needs to eliminate poverty and to achieve prosperity through economic development and to strengthen unity among all ethnic and religious groups. The constitution must be flexible and it must evolve to reflect the timely needs and the aspirations of the people and to be compatible with the changing cultures to suit the era." Read less...

Deputy Minister of Public Enterprise Development Eran Wickramaratne briefing a media conference held on January 12 at United National Party (UNP) party headquarters at Sirikotha in Colombo said that all political parties can contribute to prepare new constitution, reports Colombo Page. He said that the proposed new Constitution is not planned according to a political agenda but based on the basic requirements of the common masses and therefore the contribution from the common public will also be sought when preparing the new Constitution. Read less...

Prime Minister Ranil Wickramasinghe while addressing the Thai Pongal National Ceremony held in the Weerasingham Hall in Jaffna District said that the Government is in the process of creating a mechanism to implement the proposals in the United Nations (UN) resolution to establish true reconciliation in the country, reports Colombo Page. He said that action would be taken against those who committed war crimes during the war regardless of who they were, whether Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) or Security Forces. The Government is in the process of forming a compassionate council headed by religious leaders for the task. He also said that the drafting of a new Constitution would be done in a very open and transparent manner after discussing and incorporating the views of all 225 Member of Parliaments. Read less...

President Maithripala Sirisena at a special discussion held at the Presidential Secretariat on January 20 instructed the relevant officials to complete the resettlement of 44,015 remaining Internally Displaced persons (IDPs) in the Northern Province within six months, reports Colombo Page. The President issued instructions to the officials to complete the identification of the lands concerned within six months. The development of infrastructure in the North and other facilities for the people was also discussed at length at the meeting. According to the officials, 5732 members of 1688 displaced families are currently living in displaced camps while 38,283 members of 11,073 displaced families live with their relatives. Accordingly 44,015 displaced people would now be resettled within six months after identifying suitable land. Read less...

President Maithripala Sirisena speaking at an event at Puthukkudiyiruppu town in the Mullaitivu District on January 24 promised to resolve unemployment issue in the North, reports Colombo Page. The President said the Government is set to launch many new investment projects in the North where the people are struggling with unemployment and poverty. He added that many local and foreign investors have come up with investment plans for the North to help resolve the burning issue of unemployment among the youth in the North. Read less...

Meanwhile, according to Human Rights Watch (HRW) World Report 2016, although elections in Sri Lanka in January 2015 brought about momentous changes after nearly a decade of increasingly autocratic rule, the Government is yet to take significant measures to end the impunity for security force abuse, including Police use of torture, reports Colombo Page on January 28. The Report said that the Government also had not yet repealed the draconian Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA), despite promises to do so and continued to detain people under it. Read less...

Cabinet spokesperson, Minister Rajitha Senaratne at the weekly media briefing in Colombo on January 28 assured that the domestic mechanism to be instituted to investigate the alleged war crimes committed during the ethnic conflict will meet international standards, reports Colombo Page. He said "We have more than enough specialists, experts and knowledgeable people in our country to solve our internal issues." He further said that the process will be entirely local, meaning the judges and prosecutors will be local, but the government will seek foreign assistance if local judges require international legal assistance Read less...

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on January 29 expressed hope that Sri Lankan Government will abide by the commitment it made to the UNHRC when it co-sponsored the UN resolution, reports Colombo Page. Spokesperson for the Secretary-General Stephane Dujarric said “The UN Chief remains hopeful that the Sri Lankan Government stands by its commitments and fully implements the resolution Read less...

President Maithripala Sirisena in an interview with the Al Jazeera news agency said that there were no allegations of war crimes at the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in Geneva, only allegations of human rights violations, reports Colombo Page. Rejected the allegations apparently contradicting key findings from a UN investigation into the country's civil war, released in September 2015, the President said "I must say very clearly there is no allegations regarding 'war crimes', there were war crimes allegations during the early stages. But at the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva, mainly in the proposals presented in September, there were no 'war crimes' allegations against us. They contained allegations of human rights violations only. When you consider the facts surrounding the allegations of human rights violations, we are committed as a member of the United Nations, to implementing the main points and proposals." Read less...