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Eliyantha White By Tisaranee Gunasekara“Even if your people die of hungerWe’ll elect you for life….We don’t have opinionsWe have your light blinding our eyes…” – The Strong Heroes of Moscow (For the Assad Nation) Imagine a man with no medical qualifications or training becoming the ‘official physician’ of the president of a country. Imagine that […]

photo-Mariya Baskalin hangs laundry at her bombed out home in Sri Lanka’s north. She has been home a year, but hasn’t  ”Monday’s ABC Four Corners broadcast of Sri Lanka’s Killing Fields was almost unwatchable horror. It showed in gory detail the killing of children, the mutilation of prisoners, the cold-blooded execution of unarmed people, and […]

The New Indian ExpressTIRUCHY: Urging the Centre to introduce a resolution at the UN for declaring Sri Lankan president Mahinda Rajapaksa as a war criminal, the CPI on Friday made it clear that it was ready to join hands with its arch rival, the BJP, to press for this demand in Parliament.‘It is time to […]

by V. Anandasangaree The sudden demise of Professor Karthigesu Sivathamby is a great loss to the Tamil World. I knew prof. Sivathamby as a student. He was just one year above me at Zahira College Colombo, where he headed the Tamil Association. He was much loved and respected by all students and teachers of Zahira. […]

8 July 2011 In a press statement issued following the APPGT/GTF parliamentary reception this week Chairman for the British All party parliamentary Group for Tamils , Lee Scott MP,said “the event was a great success, attended by over 40 Members of Parliament including Government Ministers, Shadow Ministers, Lords, representatives of NGOs and High Commissions”. So […]

Teachers associations of universities in the south of the island of Sri Lanka held an anti-SL government demonstration and meeting in Jaffna on Friday that was also participated by teachers of the University of Jaffna. It was an impressive demonstration and meeting held in Jaffna in recent times, news sources in Jaffna said. Their demonstration […]

Tamil National Alliance (TNA) leader R. Sampanthan, moving an adjournment motion in Sri Lanka’s parliament Thursday and speaking on it said that his objective was “to develop a just settlement within an undivided Sri Lanka,” adding that this approach has been widely endorsed by the international community, notably India. The co-chairs have clearly stated and […]

Without going into specifics, your general comment on the handling of  the international community infer that you have taken the side of the government to hide the truth about the war and to prevent the much needed fair process of reconciliation and justice for the war victims.by Rajasingham JayadevanThis is my brief letter to you. […]

2011.July.08,  Yesterday night , a most strange and disgracefully despicable vindictive action was launched on a TNA candidate in Jaffna. The dog reared in the house of C . Sivakumar ,Tamil National Alliance (TNA) candidate for the Waligamam municipal council elections , Jaffna had been cruelly killed and its decapitated head hung on the gate of […]

7 July 2011A packed reception in the British Parliament on July 5th highlighted the level of support amongst parliamentarians and key decision-makers for truth, accountability and justice in Sri Lanka.Hosted by Hon. Lee Scott MP and Hon. Siobhain McDonagh MP, Chair and Vice-Chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group for Tamils (APPG – T), and […]

Full Text of Resolution Via Parliament of AustraliaSJ No 41 – 7 July 2011The Leader of the Australian Greens (Senator Bob Brown) amended general business notice of motion no. 323 by leave and, pursuant to notice of motion not objected to as a formal motion, moved—That the Senate:(a) notes: (i) Sri Lanka’s `killing fields’, which […]

July 7, 2011 /By Saman IndrajithThe main Opposition in Parliament, the UNP, on Thursday alleged that the government had created the impression among the international community that Sri Lanka was a military State by packing the Sri Lanka Foreign Service with military personnel.UNP MP John Amaratunge alleged that SLFS was rapidly deteriorating due to inclusion […]

 If Sanga had dropped out of school at a tender age, cut his teeth on crime, taken to dirty politics and become a minister instead of pursuing his studies, playing brilliant cricket and bringing glory to his country, he, too, would have been able to commit murder, plunder public funds, tie public officials to trees, […]

China, seeking to gain influence in the Indian Ocean , has reportedly increased its aid to Sri Lanka dramatically since 2005, a US Congressional report has said.“In the view of some analysts and observers, China is seeking to gain influence with the Sri Lankan government as part of a ‘string of pearls’ naval strategy to […]

Speaking on BBC’s HardTalk program Tuesday, Prof. Rajiva Wijesinghe, advisor to the Sri Lankan President on reconciliation, claimed the UN panel of experts’ report on Sri Lanka’s war crimes had “taken stuff, some of it verbatim” from former UN spokesperson Gordon Weiss’s recently published book, and from Channel 4’s recent documentary. When asked why the […]

While the Nazi-style registration of people in the north by the occupying SL military is challenged in the SL courts by Tamil politicians, the SL Army is now engaged in another way of registering people by a census it is conducting on its own, forcing Tamil school teachers and through them exploiting school students. Earlier […]

”But despite the Indian foreign secretary’s persuasive powers, Colombo is unlikely to budge so easily. India will have to do more than one visit and some good statements. It’s support for negotiations between the Sri Lankan government and the Tamil National Alliance, that began in January 2011, needs to be pressured to move much faster […]

Seeking India’s pro-active role in addressing the Sri Lankan Tamils issue, CPI today said it will organise a nationwide solidarity day tomorrow to highlight the sufferings of the ethnic minority in the island.Even two years after the war ended in Sri Lanka, the Tamils were “suffering” in camps with “no rehabilitation”, CPI National Secretary D […]

Star batsman, smart operator CRICKET is supposed to uphold the virtue of fair play. The preamble to the Laws of Cricket talks about “the spirit of the game”; their English custodians even hold an annual “Spirit of Cricket” lecture at Lord’s in London, the game’s home.In Sri Lanka, cricketers have long been a source of […]

Check point  Omanthai Authorities in Sri Lanka have prevented a group of journalists from visiting northern Sri Lanka despite assurances that there will be no restrictions to travel to the north.Dinasena Ratugamage who was among the group says security force personnel at Omanthai checkpoint told him not to take photographs or interview people, local and […]

 Activists and collegues have been campaigning for justice for Lasantha and familyPolice in Sri Lanka say that there is evidence to suggest the involvement of a Sri Lanka army (SLA) intelligence officer in the murder of Sunday Leader editor.Lasantha Wickramatunga was shot dead in Colombo on 08 January 2009.Police Terrorism Investigation Department (TID) told Colombo […]

The island nation should abide by its promise to meet the legitimate aspirations of its Tamil population. The Sri Lankan President, Mr Mahinda Rajapakse, seems to be having second thoughts on his past assurances.July 7, 2011/ by G.PARTHASARATHYWhen the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister, Ms J Jayalalithaa, paid her first visit to New Delhi after assuming […]

Three persons were injured today when a protest organized by JVP affiliated Ceylon Teacher Services Union (CTSU) in Kurunegala was attacked by a group of thugs.The protest was organized by the CTSU opposite the Wayamba Province office of the Education Department Cooperative Society (EDCS) against the taking over the EDCS administration by the government.The EDCS […]

Abandoned IDPs in Vadamaraadchi East The Raamaavil camp inmates, who were suddenly herded out in the middle of the night by the occupying SL Army to make a show of ‘resettlement’ during the visit of the presidential sibling Basil Rajapaksa to Jaffna, are now facing further misery. Staying in two small schools in Vadamaraadchi East, […]

06 July 2011 06:40The Indian government cannot remain insensitive to the sentiments expressed by the Tamil Nadu government, the Tamil Nadu people and politicians about issues affecting the Tamil-speaking people in Sri Lanka,Indian foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao told journalists. “That is something you have to understand. It will always be there and I think you […]

Photo: Amantha Perera/IRIN  More than two years after Sri Lanka’s decades-long civil war officially ended, returnees to remote villages face tough times and uncertain futures, despite governmental and international efforts at reconstruction. “Everything that we had earned in 50 years, we lost in months,” Supiah Arumugam, 52, and a father of two, told IRIN. Arumugam […]

Sri Lanka maintains that no civilians were killed by troops during the war Continue reading the main story Sri Lanka After WarSri Lanka report: Main allegations The British TV station Channel 4 has strongly rejected claims by Sri Lanka’s government that footage broadcast in a recent documentary is false.The film in question appears to show […]

Shihar Aneez/ reuters Sri Lanka’s sports minister has ordered a probe into former captain Kumar Sangakkara’s comments about the island nation’s cricket administrators and political meddling during his speech to Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) members at Lord’s on Monday.Sangakkara was given a standing ovation after delivering the annual Spirit of Cricket Cowdrey Lecture in which he […]

by Rajani IqbalA recently published book – Invisible, Forgotten Sufferers: The Plight of Widows Around the World – reveals that there are an estimated 245 million widows worldwide, 115 million of whom live in poverty and suffer from social stigmatisation and economic deprivation purely because they have lost their husbands. Following a proposal introduced by […]

05 July 2011According to the highest and most hallowed principles of the free media, their main role is to be a powerful and prophetic voice of the voiceless, marginalized or oppressed people and the instruments through which the common people especially exercise their fundamental right to the freedom of information and expression.The media also need […]