Colombo Additional Magistrate Kosala Senadheera, today   released on police bail eight suspects who were taken into custody from a web site office in Rajagiriya. They were accused of  defaming  the President.On Friday the  Criminal Investigation Department (CID) raided  the office of theSri Lanka Mirror and Lanka X news. A CID   said that they had violated […]

Journalists given bail The nine employees of the Sri Lanka Mirror website, who were arrested yesterday, were released on police bail today.  Among those arrested were journalists including women and girls. They were produced before the Colombo Magistrate at Hulftsdorp this afternoon and given bail and were ordered to appear in court again on the […]

The Defence Ministry said in its website that acting on a court order the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) officials, yesterday (29th June) sealed an office in Rajagiriya where two websites involved in propagating false and unethical news on Sri Lanka were being operated from.It also said that “these two websites were continuously involved in publishing […]

Ron Kirk The Embassy said that United States Trade Representative (USTR) Ron Kirk announced yesterday that USTR has closed the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) country practice review on worker rights in Sri Lanka without any change to Sri Lanka’s GSP trade benefits.The United States has decided to continue with the GSP trade benefits for […]

The forces of genocidal Sinhala State in Sri Lanka fatally attacked Eezham Tamil prisoners of war kept in the prison at Vavuniyaa on Friday. Heads and limbs broken, more than 15 of the prisoners are admitted in Anuradhapura hospital after removing them from Vavuniyaa. The condition of some of them are said to be serious. […]

by Basil Fernando in the previous article, Can the idea of nationalism be separated from the idea of justice?, I discussed the idea that the state that exists in Sri Lanka now is a national security state. The national security state is the result of the operation of the 1978 Constitution. What are the basic […]

journalists arressted By THE ASSOCIATED PRESSThe Sri Lankan police arrested nine journalists and seized computers and documents from the office of an independent news Web site on Friday, said a media rights group in Sri Lanka, one of the world’s most dangerous countries for journalists.The police said they had a court warrant to act against […]

in Westminster ”Both countries have a mostly Theravada Buddhist ethnic majority, and large ethno-religious minorities. Both are in the shadow of a traumatic period in their respective histories. Both have a powerful military with a serious human rights case to answer. Both have a question mark over just how democratic their government may be in […]

Sri Lanka on Friday briefed India about steps being taken towards political reconciliation with ethnic Tamils, amid a growing unease over the slow pace of reforms to enable devolution of power to the war ravaged north.National Security Advisor Shivshankar Menon, who held talks with President Mahinda Rajapaksa as well as the leader of the main […]

The chairman of the Kaaraitheevu Divisional Council (Piratheasa Chapai) who was elected on the ticket of Tamil National Alliance (TNA) to the civic council, has been threatened in Sinhala by telephone on Thursday, according to a complaint made at Chammaanthu’rai Police station, sources in Ampaa’rai said. He would have to face serious consequences if he […]

Nine people were arrested and seven computers including a personal lap-top were taken into custody by the CID from the Lanka Mirror office in Etulkotte this evening. ( see photos below)The CID also inspected the residence of the Editor of Lanka X, the official website of the UNP’s communication wing, Ruwan Ferdinandz in Narahenpita. Four […]

From Point-Pedro in the North to Pa’nama in the East, the Sri Lankan government is suppressing Eezham Tamils from protesting against the State-sponsored land grab, which seeks to Sinhalicise the Tamil homeland, Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarian from Batticaloa P. Selvarajah said adding that a large area in Paduvaankarai region of Batticaloa district has been […]

file photo of Menon and Rajapaksha Indian National Security Advisor Shiv Shankar Menon arrived here late on Thursday night to discuss issues arising out of Sri Lanka’s reluctance to fulfill its promises, more than three years after the crushing defeat of the Tamil Tigers.He will meet Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa, and others on Friday, […]

NfR Alert: 29 June 2012This morning around 11.45 am around 25 offices from police intelligence arms, namely Criminal Investigation Department (CID) and Colombo Crime Division (CCD) raided two popular tri lingual news and opinion web site operated form Colombo. They are http://english.srilankamirror.com/  and http://www.srilankaxnews.com/. Both Sri Lanka Mirror and SriLankaXnews are read by tens of […]

The joint Opposition yesterday called for provincial council elections in the North as a matter of priority. UNP leader Ranil Wickremesinghe, addressing a media briefing of the joint opposition in Colombo, said that the Mahinda Rajapaksa regime was giving lame excuses such as uncleared mines for not giving the Northern people a long overdue opportunity […]

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa writes to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on the plight of Indian fishermen “traditionally fishing” in contentious Katchatheevu.Chief Minister Jayalalithaa has urged Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to impress upon the Sri Lankan government the need to instruct its Navy to exercise restraint and refrain from harassing innocent Indian fishermen pursuing their […]

 Post-civil war Sri Lanka may be on an upward economic curve but, for Tamils in the north, military control remains a way of lifeTamil women in Mullaitivu, north-east Sri Lanka. Locals say the wait for justice and reconciliation continues. Three years after its civil war, Sri Lanka has emerged as a middle-income country on course […]

population dencity map Population in Sri Lanka’s northern Jaffna area has shrunk during a 30-year civil war but parts of the former war zone which was not fully under control of separatists had seen above average growth, new census data shows.The first census conducted in the area since 1981, has shown that the population of […]

  Without a national identity card, many Tamils in Sri Lanka cannot avail of basic services and it makes them suspect in the eyes of the police, writes Ponniah Manikavasagam of the BBC’s Tamil service. In a remote and dusty part of Kilinochchi district in the Tamil-dominated northern Sri Lanka, people gather around a group […]

The constituting parties of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA), Tamil National Peoples Front (TNPF) from the North-East together with Democratic Peoples Front (DPF) led by Mano Ganesan and the United Socialist Party (USP) led by Sritunga Jayasuriya and NSSP activists from South staged a protest demonstration in front of the Pi’l’laiyaar temple at Thirumu’rika’ndi on […]

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information that on 20 May 2012, M.D. Kalum Priyanath, a disabled labourer, went to a local temple to help a monk run an errand. At 12pm, as he was returning home, Mr. Priyanath was arrested by the police and taken to Welikanda Police Station. According to police […]

“In the past the United States and India stood against us. However, in the favourable circumstances that have now come about, the United States and India are to a great extent supporting our position”-Sampanthan (2012) at ITAK Convention-R.Sampanthan’s road map of a long march to bifurcate Sri Lanka is routed through New Delhi. Craftily navigating […]

The government yesterday dissolved the North Central, Eastern and Sabaragamuwa Provincial Councils with effect from midnight.  Deputy government printer L. R. C. Amerasinghe told The Island yesterday that the gazette notification was on its way as this edition went to press.The gazette notification in relation to the dissolution of the three Councils were signed by […]

In July 2005, hot-on-the-heals of the London bombings, the frightened police shot dead an innocent foreign youth inside a London subway; next day the Chief Constable, appeared on BBC and made a bogus explanation, stating that the ‘suspect’ disobeyed orders and ran towards the station, leapt over the gate and forcefully entered the place which […]

by Prof Rajiva Wijesinha One of the saddest aspects of the last three years has been the corrosive distrust between all political players. This is almost relentlessly exacerbated by several factors. The first, and perhaps the most worrying, is what I term a failure of rationalism, the practice of judging situations not in terms of […]

Buddhist Cultural Centre Director, Ven. Kirama Wimalajothi Thera yesterday accused the Buddhist Affairs Ministry of failing to perform its duty.  Ven. Wimalajothi Thera, addressing the media at the Sambuddatwa Jayanthi Mandiraya in Colombo, said that it was the responsibility of the Government to protect Buddhism and to take action against persons like the man in […]

It is said that only 15 families have resettled in Murikandy in the Mullaithivu district. Though 47 families were brought from the Menik farm detention camp today, only 15 families who had land deeds and registrations were permitted to re settle.At the same time families which did not have land deeds were to be distributed […]

after rehabilitation Over 1,800 rehabilitated ex-LTTE cadres turned up at Kilinochchi on Saturday to join the Civil Security Department (CSD) following the CSD’s call for ex-combatants to join its ranks. The government is planning to recruit a large number of rehabilitated ex-LTTE cadres to the CSD. They are slated to take part in development activities […]

by Melani Manel Perera ( Photo feature)Mannar (AsiaNews) – They live in the jungle, on the ground without a roof or a tent over their heads, surrounded by elephants, snakes and other wildlife. MK62512A There are 145 families, 285 Tamil Catholics from the village of Mullikulam in Mannar District (Northern Province, Sri Lanka).In theory, these […]

How long for a solution? by Dr.Dayan JayatillekaWhile everything is debatable, not everything is negotiable. Some things, a few things, simply must not be negotiable.  The territorial unity and integrity of the Sri Lankan state, Sri Lanka as a single indivisible country, must never be up for negotiation.Whoever we negotiate with and whatever we negotiate […]