Events from the year 2014 in Sri Lanka.
Incumbents President – Mahinda Rajapaksa Prime Minister – D. M. Jayaratne Chief Justice – Mohan Peiris
Governors Central Province – Tikiri Kobbekaduwa Eastern Province – Mohan Wijewickrama North Central Province – Karunarathna Divulgane Northern Province – G. A. Chandrasiri North Western Province – Tissa Balalla Sabaragamuwa Province – W. J. M. Lokubandara Southern Province – Kumari Balasuriya Uva Province – Nanda Mathew Western Province – Alavi Moulana
Chief Ministers Central Province – Sarath Ekanayake Eastern Province – M. N. Abdul Majeed North Central Province – S. M. Ranjith Northern Province – C. V. Vigneswaran North Western Province – Dayasiri Jayasekara Sabaragamuwa Province – Maheepala Herath Southern Province – Shan Wijayalal De Silva Uva Province – Shasheendra Rajapaksa Western Province – Prasanna Ranatunga
Events January
1 January – A SriLankan Airlines flight to London Heathrow Airport is forced to return to Bandaranaike International Airport after a crack appears on the wind screen. 5 January – Tropical Cyclone One (01B) makes landfall over northern Sri Lanka, causing thousands to be evacuated from coastal areas. 6 January – United States Ambassador-at-Large for War Crimes Issues Stephen Rapp arrives in Sri Lanka for a six-day visit to discuss allegations of war crimes. 9 January – Tangalle murder and gang rape: The Colombo High Court issues an arrest warrant for United People's Freedom Alliance chairman of Tangalle Pradeshiya Sabha Sampath Chandra Pushpa Vidanapathirana after he fails to attend a bail hearing. 11 January – A flydubai flight to Dubai International Airport is forced to make an emergency landing at Mattala Rajapaksa International Airport after it strikes a peacock during take-off. 12 January A number of churches, including two in Hikkaduwa and one in Homagama, are attacked by mobs including Buddhist monks. Provincial council election: Southern Provincial Council and Western Provincial Council are dissolved by their governors. 16 January 51 Indian fishermen are released by the Sri Lankan authorities but 236 remain in Sri Lankan custody and one remains in hospital. Severe flooding affects Batticaloa District and Polonnaruwa District. 17 January One person is killed and more than 60 injured after a head-on collision between two buses in Pasyala near Nittambuwa. Police disrupt a Democratic Party rally in Balapitiya at which former presidential candidate Sarath Fonseka was speaking. 21 January Tangalle murder and gang rape: United People's Freedom Alliance chairman of Tangalle Pradeshiya Sabha Sampath Chandra Pushpa Vidanapathirana is re-arrested after being found hiding in a house near Ananda Sastralaya, Kotte. The Ontario Superior Court of Justice orders terrorism "expert" Rohan Gunaratna to pay the Canadian Tamil Congress damages of $37,000 and costs of $16,000 after Gunaratna falsely claimed that the CTC was a front for the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. 22 January – The Permanent Peoples' Tribunal on Sri Lanka in Bremen rules that the Sri Lankan state is guilty of genocide against Eelam Tamils, saying that the Sri Lankan military conducted "a oordinated plan whose different components aim at the physical destruction’ of the Tamil people ‘in whole or in part.’" 23 January A 20-year-old Australian student is raped at Gendawana Rock near Ambalangoda. Four million illegally imported cigarettes worth Rs. 112 million is seized in Orugodawatte by customs officials. 31 January United States Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs Nisha Desai Biswal arrives in Sri Lanka for a three-day visit to discuss reconciliation, justice and accountability issues ahead of the United Nations Human Rights Council session in March at which another resolution is expected on Sri Lanka. United States Ambassador-at-Large for Global Women's Issues Catherine M. Russell is allegedly denied a visa to visit Sri Lanka.
February
1 February – Student Sandaruwan Jayaratne dies at Kandy Hospital after falling ill during compulsory leadership training by the Sri Lanka Army at the Gannoruwa Army Camp. 2 February Journalist Mel Gunasekera is stabbed to death at her home in Battaramulla. Anura Kumara Dissanayake is elected as the new leader of the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna. 4 February – The Australian Public Interest Advocacy Centre publishes the Island of impunity? Investigation into international crimes in the final stages of the Sri Lankan civil war report which claims that not only were the Sri Lankan military responsible for most of the alleged war crimes during the final months of the civil war but also that they systematically destroyed evidence war crimes. 5 February – 29 people are injured after a bus veered off the road and toppled over at Dimbulapathana, Hatton. 9 February – Provincial council election: United People's Freedom Alliance candidate for the Southern Provincial Council and former provincial councillor Ajith Prasanna is arrested for illegal election campaign and assaulting a police officer. 10 February – The body of missing University of Peradeniya student Dikovita Kankanamlage Nishantha is found in bushes near student accommodation. 11 February – Five people are killed after a van collides with a stationary tipper truck on the A9 between Mankulam and Kilinochchi. 12 February – Sri Lanka drops two places to 165 out of 180 in the 2014 World Press Freedom Index. 18 February – Assassination of Rajiv Gandhi: The Supreme Court of India commutes the death sentence of three men (V. Sriharan alias Murugan, A. G. Perarivlan alias Arivu and T. Suthendraraja alias Santhan) to life in prison. 21 February – Impeachment of Shirani Bandaranayake: The Supreme Court over turns the Court of Appeal decision in January 2013 to quash the Parliamentary Select Committee's findings, saying that the Court of Appeal had no jurisdiction over Parliament. 24 February In response to resolution 22/1 passed by the United Nations Human Rights Council on 21 March 2013, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights of publishes a report on reconciliation and accountability in Sri Lanka which recommends that the UNHRC establishes "an international inquiry mechanism to further investigate the alleged violations of international human rights and humanitarian law". British citizen Visvalingam Gobithas, who was convicted in 2012 of supporting the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam after being detained since 2007 without charge, dies in Welikada Prison in what his family describe as suspicious circumstances. 27 February A mass grave with at least nine skeletal remains is found in a garden in Puthukkudiyiruppu, Mullaitivu District. 33 University of Peradeniya students are suspended indefinitely for ragging.
March 4 March – Rail services resume on the Northern Line between Kilinochchi and Pallai after an interruption of 23 years due to the civil war. 7 March – Customs officials in Colombo seize of heroin, worth about Rs.360 million, at the Rank Container Terminal in Orugodawatte. 8 March The first phase of the Colombo Outer Circular Expressway, between Kottawa and Kaduwela, is officially opened by President Mahinda Rajapaksa. S. Sathiyasudhan and his young son S. Dinoyan from Sundurampuram are killed after being hit by an express train travelling from Pallai to Colombo as they crossed at a level crossing near Puliyankulam. 9 March – UK broadcaster Channel 4 airs more video which it claims shows Sinhala-speaking soldiers belonging to special forces "laughing and cheering, as they celebrate the deaths of the Tiger fighters and perform acts of grotesque sexual violation on the bodies". Four people are killed and two injured in Kataragama after a man stabs several members of his family before setting the house on fire. 13 March – Human rights defender Jeyakumari Balendran and her 13-year-old daughter Vithushaini, who had protested about their missing 15-year-old son/brother during United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay's and British Prime Minister David Cameron's visits to northern Sri Lanka in 2013, are arrested in Kilinochchi under the draconian Prevention of Terrorism Act for "harbouring a criminal". 14 March Two police officers attempt to rape a 27-year-old German tourist at Ella, Badulla District. Kilinochchi magistrates order human rights defender Jeyakumari Balendran to be detained for 16 days under anti-terrorism law and her daughter Vithushaini is placed in care. 15 March The second phase of the Southern Expressway, between Pinnaduwa (Galle) to Godagama (Matara), is officially opened by President Mahinda Rajapaksa. Dulsan Amalan, a former pupil of St. Patrick's College, Jaffna, is killed during clashes between rival supporters during the annual big match between St. Patrick's College and Jaffna College at the Jaffna College's ground in Vaddukoddai. 16 March Human rights defenders Ruki Fernando and Father Praveen Mahesan are arrested in Kilinochchi under the draconian Prevention of Terrorism Act on suspicion of "inciting racial or religious hatred or disharmony, or violence between ethnic groups". Residents of Hanwella protest against contamination of ground water by the Hanwella Rubber Products factory, resulting in violent clashes with the police which lead to the death of Chief Inspector Prasad Siriwardhana, the Officer In Charge of Borella. 17 March – Indian broadcaster NewsX airs video which allegedly shows a Sri Lankan soldier claiming that the Sri Lankan military used chemical weapons on civilians. 18 March Human rights defenders Ruki Fernando and Father Praveen Mahesan are released by the Terrorist Investigation Division following widespread international condemnation. Provincial council election: United National Party supporter O. K. Piyasena is killed in Dompe after being assaulted by United People's Freedom Alliance supporter Pathberiya Arachchige Wasantha (alias Sunil). Provincial council election: United People's Freedom Alliance candidate for the Southern Provincial Council and former provincial minister D. V. Rohana Priya Upul is arrested for assaulting supporters of another UPFA candidate in Medagoda. Four people are killed in a head-on collision between an auto rickshaw and bus on the Narammala–Negombo Road at Matiyagane. 19 March – Police fire tear gas and water cannons at around 5,000 University of Kelaniya students belonging to the Inter University Students' Federation who were protesting in the Colombo Fort area. 20 March – The Sri Lankan government bans 15 Sri Lankan Tamil diaspora groups, including the BTF, CTC, GTF TGTE and TYO, and 424 individuals as terrorists. 21 March – A 23-year-old German student is raped at her home in Bambalapitiya. 23 March – A 22-year-old Swedish tourist is raped at a hotel in Pelana, Weligama by the former United People's Freedom Alliance chairman of Weligama Pradeshiya Sabha Dikkumburage Kulaweera. 26 March – Tangalle murder and gang rape: The trial of United People's Freedom Alliance chairman of Tangalle Pradeshiya Sabha Sampath Chandra Pushpa Vidanapathirana and eight others begins at Colombo High Court.
27 March The United Nations Human Rights Council votes by 23 to 12 to pass resolution 25/1 authorising an international investigation into alleged war crimes during the 2002-09 period, despite opposition from the Sri Lankan government. The Kandy High Court sentences ten people to death for the murder of an autorickshaw driver in Nagala, Rattota on 8 April 2004. 28 March President Rajapaksa orders the release of all Indian fisherman detained for fishing illegally in Sri Lankan waters, as gratitude for India abstaining during the UNHRC vote. Three people are killed and nine injured following a head-on collision between a bus and a tipper truck on the Colombo–Kandy road in Tholangamuwa near Warakapola.