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Newly-elected President Maithripala Sirisena today invited all political parties in parliament to unite in forming a national unity government. “I invite all political parties in parliament to join the all-party government to create good governance and drive the country towards expected aspirations,” he said, delivering his first address to the nation. He also pledged that the unlimited powers vested with the Executive Presidency will be transferred to the Parliament, Cabinet and Judiciary. The President addressed the nation from the Paththirippuwa (the Octagon) of the Sri Dalada Maligawa (Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic) in Kandy. Sirisena stated that the first step of his new government would be to eradicate poverty from the country and also pledged to promote religious coexistence and communal harmony in the country by ensuring the freedom and rights of every religion. He further said that the new government would take every measure to also eradicate ...

India’s ambassador urged Sri Lanka’s government on Friday to expedite power sharing with ethnic minority Tamils after a recent United Nations resolution authorized an international war crimes investigation. Ambassador Yashvardhan Kumar Sinha said early talks between the government and the main ethnic Tamil party, the Tamil National Alliance, are a “key imperative” and urged the government to create conditions that would lead to a resumption of the dialogue. The party is seeking wider regional autonomy in Tamil-majority areas ravaged by the civil war, which ended in 2009 with the government’s defeat of Tamil Tiger rebels. The rebels fought for an independent Tamil state. The talks stalled in 2011 when the government said it wanted issues of greater local autonomy to be discussed by a parliamentary committee, instead of in talks with the Tamil alliance. The party now controls the provincial council in the northern region after winning a majority of seats in an election last year. Sinha’...