Usha S SriskandarajahThe internal probe commissioned to examine the conduct of the United Nations during the final months of the war in Sri Lanka with a view to putting its house in order is to be commended for being forthright about UN’s own failures.However it’s findings must also be seen as a scathing indictment on […]

Sunanda Deshapriya Minister Wimal Weerawansa, nicknamed as the ‘eldest son of the President’, during the 2010 presidential election campaign, came up with a rather serious proposal some two months back: To have a referendum to abolish the 13th Amendment to the Constitution, the constitutional chapter that deals with devolution of power. Sinhala extremist parties and groups […]

SC issues notice to PSC and Speaker The Supreme Courts today  issued notice to the Speaker and 11 members in the Parliamentary Select Committee hearing the Impeachment Motion against Chief Justice Shirani Bandaranayke. This was after the Supreme Court considered  seven Writ Applications filed in the Court of Appeal in respect of the Impeachment Motion […]

Passport photo of Ravindra Watudura Bandanage, who was a captain in the Sri Lanka Army until he fled to Canada and deserted. He has told immigration officials the army ordered him to place a bomb in the home of a Tamil Member of parliament in Sri Lanka. / Federal Court of Canada Stewart Bell An […]

  NfR Sri Lanka, a net work of journalists and human rights defenders, dismayed and shocked that once again the Government of Sri Lanka has unleashed state terror on students and journalists in Jaffna in flagrant violation of peoples right to peaceful assembly, an universal right enjoyed by people in the democratic world. This is […]

Opposition Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe yesterday told Parliament that there were no judicial powers entrusted to the Parliamentary Select Committee investigating charges in the Impeachment Motion against the Chief Justice and the Supreme Court could not issue notices on the Speaker or the PSC members. Wickremesinghe, participating in an exchange of views, soon after Leader of […]

Speaker Chamal Rajapaksa yesterday declared in Parliament that notices served on him and members of the Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC) probing the charges mentioned in the impeachment motion against Chief Justice Shirani Bandaranayake were a nullity and entailed no legal consequences. Delivering his ruling on the issue last evening the Speaker said: “On careful consideration […]

His policy smacks Jayawardana’s authoritarianism It was the  United National Party (UNP) under President J.R. Jayawardane which laid the foundation for a obedient and politicised judiciary in Sri Lanka. President  Jayawerdane never respected independence of the  judiciary and used carrot and stick policy to control it.   Ranil Wikremasinghe, the present leader of the UNP cut […]

The eight-spoked Dharmacakra. The eight spokes represent the Noble Eightfold Path of Buddhism ”The legislature, Executive and the Judiciary can perform an immense service to maintain morals, law and peace in any civilized democratic society. It should be based on law, justice, patience and fairness. In order to achieve this end, it is not proper […]

Military & police  assault (Photo: Uthayan) E.Saravanpavan, MP, Jaffna November 27th is the Tamil Eelam Liberation Tigers’ Heros Day on which day people offer their commemoration to the demised  warriors.    It is customary for people to pay their respect to the deceased on such days. This salutation offered to their blood brothers, relations and parents […]

The United States Embassy in Colombo is concerned about recent threats to freedom of expression in Sri Lanka. The November 28 beating of a reporter in Jaffna, harassment by Government of Sri Lanka officials of independent media outlets, and searches without warrants of journalists all serve to stifle media freedom. Additionally, the Embassy is greatly […]

Thulasi MuttulingamEver since I landed in Colombo, some 10 years ago (after growing up/ living most of my life abroad), I have been noticing a phenomenon leaching into my subconscious that is not new to many other Tamils living in Sri Lanka; guilt. A sense of having to be answerable for being Tamil. A sense […]

Police intimidating students Students in Sri Lanka’s former war zone clashed with troops and police Wednesday over celebrations to commemorate defeated Tamil Tiger guerrillas, residents said.At least 20 undergraduates were injured when troops and police beat up stone-pelting students outside Jaffna university, a witness said.It was first major clash since security forces crushed Tamil rebels […]

It will have a major impact on poor people Rarely do politicians tell the truth. However, in this instance, the Deputy Minister of Finance, Dr. Sarath Amunugama, has chosen to do so. And in doing so, he has allowed us to have a peek into the sorry state of affairs the country’s economy is in, […]

Jaffna University students who boycotted classes on Wednesday and rallied in front of the university entrance Wednesday at 11:00 a.m. protesting against the SL military harassments inside the University premises on Tuesday on the occasion of Heroes Day, were brutally attacked by SL military commanders who had taken position on the road while the students […]

war-crime The Sri Lankan authorities are reluctant to make good their promises that they will grant lucrative contracts to Czech businesspeople after the Czech Republic criticised the country over its violation of human rights in the United Nations, daily Hospodarske noviny (HN) writes yesterday. Last year, Sri Lanka offered contracts worth billions of crowns as […]

Den Hitoki  UN blundered The United Nations’ team leader for Political Affairs of the Asia-Pacific Division, Hitoki Den, regretted withdrawing UN officials from the war-torn areas in the Vanni region when the war was in progress. Den expressed his dismay over the decision by the UN officials to withdraw from the war-torn area when he […]

Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz. A Parliamentary Caucus on the Abuse of Human Rights in Sri Lanka has been set up, announced Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz.Nazri said members from both sides of the divide agreed to the caucus as they viewed with great concern the alleged human rights violation in […]

Minister Mervyn Silva has apparently experienced an epiphany and a spiritual flash. (That happens to some people when the moon waxes.) He announced a few days ago that he intended to ban the sale of meat and fish in his fiefdom, Kelaniya. Later, he got cold feet and changed his tune. Someone must have reminded […]

Nov 27 University Jaffna Defying the strict instructions by the occupying Sri Lankan military, the people of Jaffna on Tuesday tolled temple bells amid military patrols at 6:07 p.m. in remembrance of heroes. SL soldiers were taken aback witnessing the resolve of the people and hearing the sound of temple bells coming from all directions. […]

Tamil National Alliance yesterday called upon the international community, especially the US and India, to terminate their assistance to Sri Lanka until the government comes up with a political solution to the national problem. TNA Wanni District Parliamentarian Selvam Adaikkalanathan, participating in the third reading stage debate on budget 2013, urged the international community, led […]

The mother of Wijaya Rohana alias ‘Gundu’ believes the death of her son in Welikada prison recently was not accidental. M. Siriyawathi says that her son called her from a mobile telephone at around 8 p.m. and told her about what was going on inside Colombo’s prison complex. ‘Gundu’ had told her that there were […]

The Chairman of Bar Association of Sri Lanka (BASL) Wijedasa Rajapakse and three others filed a petition in the Supreme Court today citing that the impeachment motion against the Chief Justice Dr. Shirani Bandaranaike had violated their fundamental rights. The petitioners cited that the impeachment was unconstitutional and the attempt to impeach the Chief Justice […]

”8. With respect to the parliamentary impeachment with no subsequent judicial remedy the Committee found violations of Articles 14 and 25 of the Covenant referring to the conclusion that such procedure would not ensure required objectivity and impartiality (see Views of the Committee rendered on 24 July 2008 in the matter of Bandanaranayake v. Sri […]

The Supreme Court (SC) is now possessed with several cases where the Court is constitutionally bound to interpret the constitution and to determine the constitutionality of the Standing Order 78A, that deals with the impeachment procedure. The Supreme Court has made a recommendation that the Select Committee of Parliament (PSC) should not proceed with the […]

A new vigour and enthusiasm is noticed in the occupied country of Eezham Tamils this year in paying homage to the fallen heroes on the Heroes Day, despite full-scale efforts of intimidation by the occupying Sinhala military and its intelligence operatives, news sources in the island said. Contrary to the pretentions of genocidal Colombo that […]

The cash-strapped budget airline ‘Mihin Lanka’ has suffered a loss of two billion rupees during this financial year alone and an accumulated loss of a staggering Rs.8.5 billion since its inception in 2007, the Auditor General reveals.  The parliamentary Committee on Public Enterprises (COPE) discussed the Auditor General’s report on Mihin Lanka yesterday.  The Auditor […]

Returning home, Kilinochchi, Sri Lanka ( photo: Practical Action) M. ThiyagarajahWith all the media focus on the militarization of the Northern land, some issues of bread and butter concern have escaped the attention. The damage inflicted by the three-decade old Tiger insurgency was extensive.The fact that it is not easy to make the area turn […]

Jacob-Mathew  The government and parliament must heed the voice of the world and remove all restrictions they have imposed on the media through legislation and ordinances, said Jacob Mathew, Global President of WAN-IFRA (World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers). Delivering the Sri Lanka Press Institute’s (SLPI’s) Press Club lecture titled, “The Media Today-Challenges and […]

Indeed the most glaring example of the Courts holding against the Government is the Supreme Court judgment of August 2005, cutting short the Presidential term from 06 to 05 years. This judgment was even more surprising, in the circumstances that the Chief Justice himself previously gave advice to the President that she could “take the […]