Srilanka

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe says those who promise to improve the education today did not do so when they were in power because they didn't have the ability and he was able to provide 13 years of continued education to every student.The Premier said his aim is to raise the allocation for education to 6% of GDP and he is ready to challenge anyone who says they can do more to improve the education than what his government has so far done for the sector.

Concerns on the recent appointment of Sri Lanka's Army Commander expressed by certain bilateral partners and international entities, based on allegations, is regrettable and contrary to the principles of natural justice, Sri Lanka's Permanent Representative to the United Nations in Geneva, Ambassador A L A Azeez told the UN Human Rights Council. Ambassador Azeez delivering a statement during the General Debate at the 42nd Session of the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) on Wednesday highlighting Sri Lanka's position said the appointment of the Commander of the Sri Lanka Army, is a sovereign decision taken by the Head of State.

He emphasized that external attempts to influence decisions and internal administrative processes of public service promotions in Sri Lanka are unwarranted and unacceptable.Speaking of the terrorist attacks over 4 months ago, the Ambassador said although on Easter Sunday Sri Lanka was "put to test", the security forces restored the security with minimum disruption to socio-economic activities while ensuring fundamental rights of people."However we witnessed the continued resilience of Sri Lanka's security forces to protect the country and its people, while ensuring fundamental rights, consistent with the pledges it has made before this Council."Ther statement is as follows:

President Maithripala Sirisena has called on Parliament to expedite the process of amending the rules and regulations and introducing new laws to prevent terrorism. The President made these proposals when participating in the progress review meeting of ParliamentSectoral Oversight Committee on National Security on Wednesday, a communique from the Presdiential Secretariat said. This is the first time in the history of the Parliament that a President has attended this committee meeting.