Tag Archives: sri lanka

COLOMBO, June 6, (Agencies): A television network owned by the family of Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe was suspended by the island’s telecom regulator Tuesday, worsening a power struggle in the fractious ruling coalition. The closure of Telshan Network comes days after the station criticised President Maithripala Sirisena, who …

Colombo, March 29, 2018 (AFP) -Sri Lankan police Thursday arrested a top prison official over a massacre of 27 inmates that became an icon of grave rights abuses under former president Mahinda Rajapakse. Prisons Commissioner Emil Lamahewage was arrested in connection with the November 2012 bloodbath at the Welikada high …

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — Sri Lanka’s government has lifted a weeklong ban on social media that was imposed because of concerns that it was being used to fan anti-Muslim violence in the country’s central region. President Maithripala Sirisena said Thursday he ordered an immediate lifting of a ban on …

Colombo, March 11, 2018 (AFP) -Vandals attacked a Muslim-owned restaurant in Sri Lanka on Sunday in an alleged “hate crime”, police said, as tensions remain high across the island following a week of violent riots. The restaurant in Anamaduwa — 130 kilometres (81 miles) north of the capital Colombo — …

Colombo, March 10, 2018 (AFP) -An investigation into anti-Muslim riots that spread in central Sri Lanka prompting the authorities to declare a nationwide state of emergency was announced Saturday by President Maithripala Sirisena. A panel of three retired judges will probe the breakdown in law and order in the picturesque …

Colombo, March 9, 2018 (AFP) -Soldiers and police guarded mosques across Sri Lanka during Friday prayers amid fears of new anti-Muslim attacks after four days of riots that have left at least three dead. Most Muslim-owned businesses in the island nation remained shut in protest at attacks by mainly Buddhist …

KANDY, Sri Lanka (AP) — Residents say Buddhist mobs are still sweeping through Muslim neighborhoods in Sri Lanka’s central hills, destroying stores and restaurants despite a curfew, a state of emergency and heavy deployment of security forces. Mohamed Ramzeen, who owns a small eatery outside the central town of Kandy, …

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka, March 7, (Agencies): Anti-Muslim rioting flared anew Wednesday in the hills of central Sri Lanka despite a state of emergency, residents said, as the government ordered popular social media networks blocked to stop the violence from spreading. The police also ordered a curfew across much of the …

COLOMBO, March 7 (Reuters) – Buddhist mobs attacked mosques and businesses belonging to Sri Lanka’s minority Muslims overnight, police said on Wednesday, despite the imposition of a state of emergency to restore peace in the bitterly divided island. Police imposed an indefinite curfew in the central highlands district of Kandy …

Colombo, March 6, 2018 (AFP) -Sri Lanka on Tuesday imposed fresh curfews and deployed heavily-armed police commandos to a central hill district popular with tourists where riots have left two dead and Muslim homes and businesses in ruins. Police extended a curfew in parts of Kandy, home to famous tea …