Sri Lanka Archives - Voice of the Cape

Sri Lanka offers help with new Zealand knife attack probe

Sri Lanka will cooperate with New Zealand's investigation into a knife rampage by an Islamic State-inspired assailant from the South Asian nation, authorities said Saturday. Police shot dead the 32-year-old Sri Lankan after he attacked seven people in an Auckland supermarket on Friday. The man had been living in New Zealand since 2011. "Sri Lanka condemns this senseless violence, and stands ready to cooperate with New Zealand authorities in any […]

5 September 2021

International News

Sri Lanka seeks initial $40m from fire-ravaged ship’s operator

Sri Lanka is seeking an interim claim of $40m from the operator of a fire-ravaged cargo ship that sank off the country’s coast to cover part of the cost of fighting the blaze, officials said on Saturday. Sri Lanka’s attorney general has sent the claim to lawyers representing X-Press Feeders, the ship’s operating company, said Darshani Lahandapura, head of the state-run Marine Environment Protection Authority. She said authorities were still […]

12 June 2021

International News

Sri Lanka arrests Muslim leader over 2019 Easter Sunday attacks

The Sri Lankan police have arrested a Muslim leader and member of parliament in connection with the 2019 Easter Sunday attacks that killed 279 people as pressure to speed up the investigation mounted. Detectives took Rishad Bathiudeen, leader of the All Ceylon Makkal Party, into custody on Saturday under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA), police spokesman Ajith Rohana said, adding that Bathiudeen and his brother Riyaaj were arrested in […]

24 April 2021

International News

‘Racist agenda’: Fear, worries over Sri Lanka’s burqa ban

Sri Lanka’s move to ban the burqa on “national security” grounds while calling its use “religious extremism” has been termed a “racist agenda” used to cause divisions in the country. A burqa is an outer garment worn to cover the entire body and the face and is used by some Muslim women. On Saturday, Sri Lanka’s Minister for Public Security Sarath Weerasekera said he had signed a paper for cabinet […]

15 March 2021

International News

Covid-19: Sri Lanka chooses remote island for burials

A remote island has been chosen by Sri Lanka's government for the burial of Covid-19 victims from the minority Muslim and Christian communities. The government previously forced minorities to cremate their dead in line with the practice of the majority Buddhists. It claimed burials would contaminate ground water. But the government backed down last week in the face of vehement criticism from rights groups. Islam prohibits cremation. Iranathivu island in […]

3 March 2021

International News

Sri Lanka makes cremations compulsory for coronavirus deaths

Sri Lanka has made cremations compulsory for coronavirus victims, ignoring protests from the country's Muslim population which says the rule goes against Islamic tradition. Three Muslims are among the seven people who have so far died from the infectious disease in the country. Their bodies were cremated by the authorities despite protests from relatives. "The corpse of a person who has died or is suspected to have died, of ... […]

13 April 2020

International News

Cricket match-fixers caught in the act in Sri Lanka

Al Jazeera's Investigative Unit has revealed how criminals fixed two Test matches - the highest level of international cricket - and were planning to fix a third. The two fixed matches were Sri Lanka versus India in July last year and Sri Lanka versus Australia in August 2016. Both matches were played at Galle International Stadium in Sri Lanka. In secretly filmed meetings, the match-fixers also said that they were […]

26 May 2018

International News

Sri Lanka: Muslims fear more attacks during Friday prayers

Sri Lankan Muslims say they fear being attacked during Friday prayers by Sinhalese Buddhists, amid accusations that security forces are failing to take action against marauding mobs. Despite a state of emergency and a curfew to curtail violence that broke out last weekend between Muslims and Buddhists in the central district of Kandy, concerns abound that attacks will continue in Sri Lanka. "I am living in fear and could not […]

9 March 2018

International News

Violence continues in Sri Lanka despite emergency decree

A shop and a mosque in central Sri Lanka have been attacked as communal violence continues in the South Asian island nation despite the declaration of a state of emergency over anti-Muslim riots. A resident of Madawala, a village close to the hill city of Kandy, said he saw a shop burning at 11:30pm on Tuesday, just hours after President Maithiripala Sirisena issued the emergency decree and imposed a curfew […]

7 March 2018

Sri Lanka

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