Attitude of welcoming different opinions and thinking of others ‘is decreasing now’ Peace and minority rights are illusory even two years after the end of a 30-year civil war, the secretary of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference said September 3.“Minority rights were not respected by the majority of the people. Most of them do not like […]

Amali WedagedaraThe decision of the Sri Lankan government to lift the Emergency Regulations (ER) has been received in good faith by many. The international community has expressed its pleasure and satisfaction. The Indian minister of external affairs, S.M. Krishna welcomed the move as an “effective step leading to genuine national reconciliation in the country” (The […]

Zacki JabbarDespite the committee that probed the CPC’s import of sub standard petrol, recommending the recovery of the loss of around Rs.410 million from those responsible including the supplier, no action has been initiated, the UNP said yesterday.Media spokesman of the UNP Gayantha Karunathikalle, told a news conference in Colombo that Petroleum Industries Minister Susil […]

Harsha de Silva Ph.DWe understand that the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is planning to compound undisclosed securities fraud by some billionaire investors. Media reports have begun to circulate that Environmental Resources Investments (ERI) and its Directors have agreed with the SEC to pay an insignificant fine of Rs 10 million and compound an offence […]

Dianne SilvaThe private sector is concerned that the dispute on accountability issues between the government and the international community would lead to grave consequences for Sri Lanka’s industrial sector.These fears are expressed in the ‘Sri Lanka Private Sector Assessment of the Panel of Experts Advisory Report to the UN Secretary General’. “The Sri Lankan private […]

Four activists of the ‘people’s movement for safeguarding schools’ have been taken into custody by the Wariyapola Police last night (04).  They had been pasting posters on ‘threats on free education’. Two of them had been assaulted by two allies of the Government who were under the influence of liquor along with a principal of the […]

President shown photos of shelling civilians  ‘The Foreign Minister insisted that satellite images did not provide information needed to determine the source of fire,’ says the US embassy cable  US diplomats in Sri Lanka have shown satellite images of damage by shelling in “safe zone” even after the government announced ending heavy artillery and aerial […]

The Auditor General in a highly critical report has drawn the attention of the parliamentary Committee on Public Enterprises (COPE) as to how the top management of the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CEYPETCO), one of the major semi government institutions which is in deep financial trouble had among other financial misdeeds misappropriated funds, made false tax […]

‘Satanic Force’ contained over 1,000 names of women raped, men butchered by IPKF Jaya Menon, Material Objects (MO) 124 and 125 are now just piles of paper gathering dust in a court vault. But they helped enlist an army of fighters, and assassins, for the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. ‘Satanic Force’, two large volumes […]

Carol AloysiusSri Lanka holds the record of the country with the highest incidence of Non Communicable Diseases (NCDs), Communicable Diseases (CDs) and Injuries in the world. Mortality rates from NCDs are currently 20-50% higher in Sri Lanka than in developed countries – especially for cardiovascular disease and asthma. In 2008, the percentage of all deaths […]

Kelum Bandara The Tamil National Alliance decided to legally challenge the regulations imposed under the Prevention of Terrorism Act on the principle that things done by the government under the state of emergency could not be done under a different legal regime, TNA MP M. A. Sumanthiran said yesterday. The government imposed these regulations on […]

Some countries are providing a “safe haven” to “theoreticians of terror in Sri Lanka”Coming down heavily on countries that demanded accountability for the civilian deaths in the last stages of the Eelam war IV in early 2009, Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa said that for most of those who demand accountability, it was only a […]

Confusion over new laws amidst mystery of the missing Gazette Attempt to placate international community but US and India maintain pressure Sunday Times political editor A five-year long state of emergency, which saw the military defeat of Tiger guerrillas, ended midnight Tuesday closing a historic and sometimes controversial chapter in the country’s history. However, another […]

International donors were aware of artillery attacks on Tamil civilians by the Sri Lanka military in the last stages of the war against Tamil Tigers, according to recent Wikileaks revelations. However, donor nations have stopped short of making their knowledge public. The international co-chairs in a meeting held on 05 March 2009 was told by […]

US Congress is yet to vote on reinstating GSP, says US embassy The United States says that the suspension of trade concessions to Sri Lanka is still in force. Rejecting media reports in Colombo that the US has decided to restore the withdrawn Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) facility, the US says that the Congress […]

More than 120 people have been arrested in Jaffna for vigilante attacks   Saroj PathiranaThose who attack military and police installations are “terrorists” and will be charged with country’s anti-terror regulations, says Sri Lanka military.Military spokesman Brig Nihal Hapuarachchi told BBC Sandeshaya that over 120 people were recently arrested in Jaffna as they came to […]

21 Embassy Colombo EAC meeting 01/20/2010 22 Sri Lanka: assessing progress on key issues 23 Subject: leftist JVP explains support for Fonseka 24 Ambassador summoned by Foreign Minister 25 Sri Lanka: Elections Update No. 11 26 Sri Lanka: Elections Update no. 12 – Morning generally peaceful, turnout high so far 27 Sri Lanka: Elections Update […]

 16 Sri Lanka: Elections update No. 9  17 GDP growth is not enough as popular economic discontent imperils president’s reelection 18 Election developments in eastern Sri Lanka 19 Rajapaksa pollster says race is neck and neck 20 Elections in Ampara: Intimidation and weak allegiances  16 Sri Lanka: Elections update No. 9 “Other contacts told Post […]

11 Tissanayagam out of prison   12 Post recommends not accepting Sri Lanka GSP petition for review  13 Sri Lanka war-crimes accountability: The Tamil perspective  14 Sri Lanka pledges its support for Haiti   15 Sri Lanka: Elections update no. 8 11 Tissanayagam out of prison “PolChief met with him later in the day. He […]

06 Sri Lanka Proposal for biotechnology outreach strategy and department resources 07 Fateful Step: Main Tamil party announces support for Fonseka 08 Journalist Tissainayagam released on bail. 09 Sri Lanka – Elections Update No. 6 Here’s the first five for 2010. Mostly about the 2010 Presidential election and economic issues in Kandy and the east. […]

01 Opposition Presidential Candidate has little economic agenda; focuses on corruption. 02 Economic difficulties in Sri Lanka’s Central Province 04 Campaign Strategist says Fonseka wants truth and reconciliation commission 05 Eastern Sri Lanka makes post-war economic progress; Economic resentment lingers. 06 Sri Lanka Proposal for biotechnology outreach strategy and department resources“We plan to spur discussion […]

Mr Rajapaksa says army would act against anyone making trouble just as it defeated ‘terrorists’ Charles Haviland  An opposition MP in Jaffna in northern Sri Lanka says many people there are in a state of panic and afraid to go out at night because of the security forces’ behaviour.Reports say the police and army beat up […]

Kelum Bandara A legal lacuna exists with the lapsing of the state of emergency on Tuesday, as the government has failed to print the gazette notification giving the new regulations imposed under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA), the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) and the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) charged yesterday. This had led to […]

Rajapaksa adviser says majority of the soldiers behaved impeccably. Sri Lanka can initiate inquiries into allegations that have been levelled against its Army of war crimes in the final stages of the war against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam in 2009 only if it is provided specific instances with prima facie evidence, a parliamentarian from […]

One broad question that arises is whether this – this issue about training the youth – was actually an ulterior motive of the Government’s plan to give ‘leadership training’ to those selected to University. The Government argued that it has no such intentions. But then, if the above author is to claim that the ‘recent […]

BHARATHA MALLAWARACHI, Sri Lanka will still detain hundreds of terror suspects and outlaw the defeated rebel Tamil Tiger group despite lifting wartime emergency laws, an official said Thursday. An ethnic Tamil lawmaker condemned the moves as undemocratic and said the anti-terrorism law the government is expanding is too restrictive and should be abolished.The emergency laws […]

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Charles HavilandMilitary believes former Tamil Tigers were behind some of the crowd violence An opposition MP in Jaffna in northern Sri Lanka says many people there are in a state of panic and afraid to go out at night because of the security forces’ behaviour. Reports say the police and army beat up 20 people […]

The ‘grease devil’ terror, staged by Sri Lanka’s occupying forces in the country of Eezham Tamils in a systematic way, clearly shows signs of a master-minded genocide emboldened by international inaction, said political and civil activists in Jaffna, commenting on terror unleashed on Wednesday and Thursday in the Jaffna University locality and in the Kurunakar […]

A top executive with an independent private radio station was hospitilised after he was severely beaten up by a three-member gang close to his residence at Boralesgamuwa a short while ago.According to police three unknown persons had assaulted Ruwan Sugathadasa-Managing Director of V-FM while he was returning home shortly after dusk today. They said the […]