Sri Lanka

‘Workers spurned President’s offer to discuss PSP issue’ May 31, 2011,/By Shamindra FerdinandoUPFA MP Dr. Sudarshini Fernandopulle says a section of unruly workers had caused Monday’s brawl at Sri Lanka’s largest Export Processing Zone (EPZ) in Katunayake and forced the government to shut down the facility on the following day. It could have been easily […]

Police, workers trade accusations – Katunayake EPZ closed todayMay 30, 2011By Lal Gunasekera and Norman PalihawadanaOver a dozen police personnel, including DIG Ravi Wijegoonewardene and many garment workers were injured in clashes between the police and the Katunayake Export Processing Zone (EPZ) workers  yesterday. The police alleged that they had no option but to use […]

31 May 2011 The government is behind the attack carried out against the ‘Udayan’ journalist S. Kavidharan states Media Movement for Democracy. The government could prove it otherwise by bringing in the perpetrators of the crime that occurred in a High Security Zone before the law emphasizes the Media Movement for Democracy.In issuing a statement […]

We were allowed to proceed after a Tamil speaking person from the army in civil attire was allowed to sit among us and under the condition that copies of the presentations should be given to him. Soldiers were moving around the hall peeping in on the meeting. As we left, our names, identity card numbers […]

By Charles HavilandAn ethnic Tamil policeman from northern Sri Lanka has said he feels hurt that he and 25 colleagues, also Tamils, were excluded from a big parade by the country’s security forces last week.He said they were pulled out at the very last moment with no reasonable explanation.After decades of ethnic tension and militant […]

V Suryanarayan /30 May 2011 In her first interaction with the media, soon after unprecedented electoral victory, Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa assured the people that she will exercise pressure on the central government to revise its Sri Lanka policy not only to expose the heinous crimes committed by the Sri Lankan government during the last […]

May 30, 2011 Sri Lanka is to hold an international seminar starting Tuesday to share lessons on its bloody defeat of Tamil rebels, but major nations have declined to send delegations amid war crime allegations.The island’s government said the massive military offensive that finally defeated the Tamil Tigers two years ago was a victory over terrorism, […]

By FRANK JORDANS, Associated Press A U.N. human rights expert says gruesome new footage from the final days of Sri Lanka’s civil war is authentic and proves war crimes took place there, challenging the government’s claim that videos showing the army executing captured rebels in May 2009 are faked.The U.N.’s independent investigator on extrajudicial killings says […]

Trade unions have threatened to go on a general strike at several Free Trade Zones in the country if the police fail to release some garment factory workers arrested today following a protest.Trade union activist and JVP member Wasantha Samarasinghe told reporters that the police will be given a deadline to release all those arrested […]

Ms Pillai says HRC should reconsider its 2009 May verdict on Sri Lanka in light of “efforts to combat impunity worldwide”Senior UN officials and sections of the international community have called for an international body to investigate alleged rights violations during Sri Lanka’s civil war.Some other countries including China have opposed the call. Speaking at […]

30.May.2011It is reported that the only remaining suspect who was in hiding in the murder case involving the accused Chandana Kathriarachchi has suddenly been killed yesterday. This murder has occurred at Pusselawa , district. In the preliminary investigations it has been revealed that the chief suspect Nihal Suresh who was in hiding has died not […]

Outdoor thrills and hazards give edge to pre-campus leadership training at Army camps. Nadia Fazlulhaq reportsWild elephants, snakes and ravenous mosquitoes are some of the natural challenges that university students have had to face in their first week of leadership training at Army camps around the country. Hardly five days into their training and students, followed […]

If what the President saying is true, why there is opposition to an independent investigation. Let an independent international investigation tell us, what the President saying is truth and nothing but the truth. Let them assert that the soldiers were holding the Human Rights Charter in one hand and that they did not kill a […]

May 29 / by Rajan PhilipsLast Sunday’s editorials and commentaries were pre-occupied with the Joint Statement from Delhi following delegate-level discussions between External Affairs Minister G.L. Peiris and his Indian counterpart, S.M. Krishna. As a visiting dignitary, Peiris also had an audience with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, and met with Foreign Secretary NirupamaRao and National […]

May 28/ by Austin FernandoProf. Rohan Gunaratne- international terrorism expert- addressing the business community last week convincingly and openly cautioned that “India might ‘punish’ Sri Lanka”, if Sri Lanka leans elsewhere to India’s detriment. This is a very serious statement, especially if Indians do not intend doing so.To prove his point, he quoted a meeting […]

The joint statement is a good point of departure. Nonetheless, the two governments should have prepared a kind of road map with a definite time-frame so that both countries can minimise the internal pressure coming from its own population as well as the pressure on Sri Lanka emanating from the Western imperialist countries and the […]

29 May 2011India could do much better by acknowledging the right to independence of Eezham Tamils, by working for international consensus towards it, by structuring an IC-facilitated transition arrangement for it, and by creating an environment for the diaspora to freely interact through Palaali and Trincomalee, for India’s own reconciliation with Tamils and for relieving […]

By Mirudhula ThambiahDengue is on the rise again with 6,077 cases and 54 deaths in five months, Health Ministry officials said. Colombo with 1,976 cases was identified as one of the most vulnerable districts followed by Gampaha with 709 cases, Batticaloa with 465 cases, Kalutara with 361 cases, Ratnapura with 289 cases and Kurunegala with […]

 Let me also refer to the report of the Secretary-General’s Panel of Experts on accountability in Sri Lanka, which concludes that there are credible allegations of a wide range of serious violations of international law committed by both the Sri Lankan Government forces and Tamil Tigers in the final stages of the conflict. It is […]

28 May 2011 /by Tisaranee Gunasekara “When an opponent says, ‘I will not come over to your side’, I calmly say, ‘Your child belongs to us already’” Hitler (Speech in November 1933)According to the Education Secretary, principals will have to undergo ‘Leadership training’ at the Rantambe camp: “If the Principal is weak that will be […]

May 28, 2011The agitation by university dons for higher salaries is another issue that threatens to upset the applecart. The president of the Federation of University Teacher’s Associations Nirmal Ranjith Devasiri complains that at the discussion held last week with the president, he was not allowed to express his views freely with the president interjecting […]

Hegemonic nationalists oppose any devolution. They assert that any relaxation of direct control or authority introduces the possibility of secession. But safeguards can be put in place both constitutionally and administratively. This problem has to be addressed but it is no fundamental ground for rejecting devolution. The removal of the concurrent list is not enough. […]

May 27, 2011 Carter Center; Human Rights Watch; Enough Project; Democracy Coalition Project; Freedom House; Open Society Foundations; International Crisis Group; Physicians for Human Rights; Citizens for Global Solutions; U.S. Campaign for Burma; and Amnesty International have jointly urged US to act on Sri Lanka at the UN Human Rights Council, in a letter to […]

28 May 2011,32-year-old Staff Correspondent of Uthayan Daily in Jaffna, S. Kavitharan, was attacked Saturday morning around 6:30 by a gang believed to be operated by a paramilitary group, near the Jaffna Hindu College while the journalist was on his way to work, the officials at the paper said. A camouflaged group, of up to […]

Priest and five others acquitted of all charges after court hearingMay 27, 2011A Jesuit priest and five other people who were accused of having links with Tamil Tiger rebels have been acquitted after a court hearing on Tuesday.Father Paul Satkunanayagam and the others, all ethnic Tamils, were arrested in Dambulla on February 9. They were […]

26 May 2011 Despite the ongoing trade union action by university academic staff demanding a pay hike, now thenon-academic staff of universities have threatened to opt for tough trade union action if their ‘longprevailing’ grievances that includes a salary increment were not addressed by the government within 14days.President of the Inter University Trade Union Alliance […]

‘Even though terrorism was eradicated from Sri Lanka, terrorists living abroad continue to work to destroy our country’ 27 May 2011, / by Mahinda Rajapaksa After uniting the country with the defeat of the most ruthless terrorism in the world, today we were able to hoist our national flag with dignity and honour. Today we […]

By Nihal Geekiyanage/ 28 May 2011About 25,000 workers from Katunayake Free Trade Zone (FTZ)—mostly young female garment workers—walked out and demonstrated against the Rajapakse government’s pension bill on Tuesday. They defied their trade unions, which had called off the walkout, to stage the biggest ever protest held in the cheap labour zone since its inception […]

28 May 2011/ By K. S.  Fernando.Panadura Police sought to withdraw charges against eleven suspects including a Panadura Pradeshiya Sabha UNP member following objections raised by the counsel on behalf of the suspects. The request for withdrawal was subject to the right to file a fresh plaint in due course.  The suspects were charged before […]

by G SaravananA statement purportedly originating from the defunct Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) has rubbished jailed ex-LTTE leader K Padmanathan’s recent claim that the Tamil Tigers had once planned to assassinate Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa.“KP’s claim in a television interview that LTTE had once planned to assassinate Jayalalithaa was far from […]