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DMK, a key ally of UPA on Sunday said India and other “human rights respecting nations,” should make efforts to bring to justice those who committed ‘war crimes’ against Tamils in Sri Lanka and called for a plebiscite for a political solution to the ethnic issue in the island.“Human rights respecting nations including India and […]

A controversial advisory panel report, published by the United Nations in late March 2011, called for a full investigation into the perceived breaches in the Laws of Armed Conflict during the endgame of Sri Lanka’s civil war. This has placed India in a difficult position where it must balance its relations with Sri Lanka while […]

Sri Lanka may have won the war, but now it is time to face legal challenges from the international community and the international courts. By S.V. Kirubaharan in FranceThe International Court of Justice (ICJ) began its important task in 1946, dealing with international disputes and arbitration of judicial settlements between states. The ICJ is also […]

All corrupt politicians and officials will be prosecuted by a future UNP government, the party’s Deputy Leader Karu Jayasuriya said in a statement issued on Friday (22).“We solemnly pledge to the people of this country, those who been robbed and wronged by this government, that any individual that gambled with public funds will be prosecuted […]

The governing United People’s Freedom Alliance (UPFA) has secured a comfortable win at the second phase of the Local Government Election 2011 wining a total of 45 LG bodies out of 65 bodies. Illankai Thamil Arusu Katchchi or known as TNA won 18 bodies, while TULF won the power of two LG bodies. United National […]

By KRISHAN FRANCIS – Associated Press  A former proxy to Sri Lanka’s defeated separatist Tamil Tiger rebels swept local council elections held in areas ravaged by the country’s 25-year civil war, officials said Sunday, amid reports of intimidation and vote-buying.The Tamil National Alliance won 20 local councils out of the 25 it contested in the […]

”Instead of telephoning publishers and yelling at them Rajapaksa should have the foresight (he is after all President) to explain why his son was given USD half million? Why indeed did China choose to favour him with over one billion rupees to use at his discretion? Into which fund/account where these monies deposited? How are […]

Just last week, the Channel 4 video Sri Lanka’s Killing Fields was screened at the US Congressional Auditorium in Washington DC. This week, just days after the Clinton visit to New Delhi and Chennai, the House Foreign Affairs Committee in the US capital adopted a resolution to ban aid to Sri Lanka. It was moved […]

Men in uniform accused of participating in polls, according to monitors By Saradha Mohan Kumar The first Local Government (LG) elections in the Northern Province, in an environment free of threats from the LTTE, did not mean an entirely free and fair poll. Instances of threats and intimidation and buying of polling cards were among […]

By Anthony David Sri Lanka stands to lose 13 million dollars (Rs 1.4 billion) in development assistance from the United States if a ban on aid becomes law. Altogether US AID has sought US$ 55 million (Rs 6 billion) for aid programmes for the fiscal year 2012 (October 1, 2011 to September 30, 2012).On Thursday, […]

President Mahinda Rajapaksa has reiterated his long-held view that police powers and land “were not subjects for the Provincial Council.He has told ‘The Hindu’ in an interview that he had seen “what has happened in India, in the recent Mumbai bomb attacks.“How slow it [the police and security response] was, you know, with all the […]

The poll monitoring body of the Intellectuals for Human Rights has asked the elections commissioner to annul elections held to the Karachchiya Pradeshiya Sabha as a number of incidents of election violence and violations have been reported from the area.NEM IHR, issuing a communiqué, said it has received a large number of complaints that armed […]

The occupying Sri Lanka Army let loose its soldiers in civil cloths on house-to-house attack in many of the villages in Ki’linochchi district in the early hours of Saturday, causing panic and fear among the voters in Vanni and forcing the voters to stay inside their houses. The armed men in civil, speaking broken Tamil, […]

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalitha had a long conversation over the current situation in Sri Lanka and felt the need for greater progress towards reconciliation there, a State Department official has said. Last week, Clinton met Jayalalitha during her visit to Chennai. “They actually had quite a long […]

”While it is too early to comment on the outcome of the elections, an important point to note is the tactics used by candidates, political parties and others to influence and deter a free and fair election taking place in the North. Violence and violations of electoral law were also reported from other areas of […]

”While BBC Sports pages carried match information in full, cricket reporting on BBC Sinhala home page was conspicuous by its absence, except when the story was about malpractices or other negative aspect of Sri Lanka’s Cricket administration or politics in general”. United Lankans, comprising Sri Lankans based in the UK, are up in arms over […]

By Shihar Aneez Sri Lanka’s minority Tamils say President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s post-war development and infrastructure projects in the former war zone in the island’s north have yet to address their real concerns and have not excluded their participation.Sri Lanka’s northern cities hold local polls for the first time in many years on Saturday amid opposition […]

 The well-publicized Tuticorin-Colombo passenger ferry service is reportedly floundering. Since beginning operations on June 13, the 1,044-capacity vessel, Scotia Prince, is carrying hardly 150 passengers during each of its twice-a- week trips.A better response was expected as the service was envisaged as more than just a commercial venture. It was the result of several rounds […]

One Killed in Anuradhapura, UNP Mayoral Candidate Assaulted in Nuwera Eliya, Illegal Propaganda Continues   Hours before commencement of polling on Election Day, a shooting incident took place in Paniyang Kadawala, Saliyapura in the Anuradhapura District, leaving one person dead. He was a strong UPFA supporter and this death is reportedly a result of an […]

Nadira GUNATILLEKE Three infants are killed by their young mothers in Sri Lanka daily while one female child gets abused, Foundation for Law and Justice President, attorney-at-law Sumedha Senanayake said. The rate of divorce too is rapidly increasing within Sri Lanka and a majority of couples divorce during the first year of their marriage, he […]

By Subash Somachandran / 21 July 2011Sri Lanka’s ruling United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) is engaging in violence against opposition candidates and flouting election laws in the local government election campaign in war-torn northern Sri Lanka. President Mahinda Rajapakse is mounting a desperate attempt to capture the local government bodies to counter criticisms of his […]

Three film singers from Tamil Nadu who had accepted a Sri Lankan government invitation to perform for Tamils in the former warzone town of Kilinochchi pulled out Thursday after finding out the event was to be part of the ruling party’s election campaign and that Sri Lanka’s President Mahinda Rajapaksa would be attending, Indian press […]

AFPA US congressional committee voted to ban aid to Sri Lanka unless the nation shows “accountability” over the bloodshed in the final stages of its civil war in 2009.In a voice vote, the House Foreign Affairs Committee approved a measure that would ban all US government funding to Sri Lanka except for humanitarian aid, demining […]

By Saman IndrajithSaturday’s elections in the North will have an impact on the whole country, UNP and Opposition Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe told Parliament yesterday.Making a special statement, the Opposition Leader said that the future of the will to find solution to the national problem, displayed by the TNA and the Government to a large extent, […]

By Saman Indrajith The highest number of complaints of human rights violations had been received against the Police Department for violating human rights in 2009, Parliament was told yesterday. Chief Government Whip Water Supply and Drainage Minister Dinesh Gnawardena said that of the 5,454 complaints received that year, 2691 were against the police. He was […]

The Network for Election Monitoring of the Intellectuals for Human Rights (NEM IHR) states by 8.00 a.m. today (21st) it had received 88 complaints of election violence and violations in relation to the forthcoming local government elections.Among them were 36 instances of election violence, 30 instances of election violations, 13 instances of the using state […]

People from various places were transported by 250 buses to the election meeting held under the patronage of the President at Killinochchi said former Parliamentarian of the JVP Ramalingam Chandrasekar. He said people were brought to the meeting making false promises that they would be given houses and relief packages and some were threatened that […]

Chennai, Jul 21.Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa today asked the Sri Lankan government to take immediate steps to resettle Internally Displaced persons, who are currently housed in temporary shelters in the island nation. She conveyed her concern over their plight to the island nation’s envoy to India, Prasad Kariyawasam, who called on her at the […]

Loss equal to total investment in Norochcholai power plant By Harischandra Gunaratna If the Executive had carried out two Supreme Court rulings way back in 2008 in respect of the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC) hedging deal, the country would not have been faced with the prospect of having to pay as much as 400 million […]

By Lal Gunasekera A senior cadre of Eastern Province Chief Minister S. Chandrakanthan’s party TMVP was arrested yesterday by the CID at Wennappuwa for masterminding the robbery of Rs. 160 million cash and Rs 15 million in jewellery from the People’s Bank branch at Puttur two weeks ago. The police said a person who resembled […]