Cyril Ramaphosa Jehan Perera It cannot be coincidental that hardly two weeks after the UN Human Rights Commissioner named the team that would investigate past human rights violations in Sri Lanka, the South African reconciliation initiative is also moving forward again.  There was a pause for a while, but once again there is an appearance […]

A mosque at Rathmalana was attacked and set fire to on  last Sunday  morning around 1 30 am. At that moment the caretaker of the mosque was awakened, and he manage to mobilize neighbours to help him out. As  they managed to quell the fire immediately, it did not cause big damage. Police investigations began […]

Blood in the mosque, Aluthgama The Sri Lanka Muslim Congress says that the post mortem reports of those killed in the Beruwala and Aluthgama clashes are highly suspicious. Speaking to the BBC yesterday, SLMC General Secretary M.T. Hasan Ali has said that post mortem reports of victims shot dead, cite the reason for death as […]

Martti Athissaari The Nation newspaper today alleges that Martti Ahtisaari, former Finnish President and now a member of UNHRC Chief Navi Pillay’s Experts Panel on Sri Lanka, is a “bribe-taker”. The newspaper, quoting certain international media reports, says that Martti Ahtisaari has allegedly accepted a 40million euro bribe to deliver Kosovo independence. Ahtisaari was the […]

The Bodu Bala Sena alleges that the US State Department has taken measures to cancel its General Secretary Galagodaaththe Gnanasara Thera’s visa to the United States. Speaking to Asian Mirror, BBS Chief Executive Officer Dilantha Vithanage said an official of the US Embassy had contacted Gnanasara Thera and informed him of the decision made by […]

(File photo) The incidents that took place recently in Aluthgama and Beruwela have definitely had an adverse psychological impact on youth who were affected and displaced due to the violence. The clear drop in student attendance in Muslim schools in the affected area is a sign of fear among the community even though the government […]

Asma Jahangir MATTHEW PENNINGTON WASHINGTON (AP) — A new U.N. investigation into allegations of war crimes in Sri Lanka will intensify international pressure on its government and could probe the purported responsibility of senior Sri Lankan officials with U.S. ties. As many as 40,000 civilians may have died amid government shelling in the final five […]

The Bar Association of Sri Lanka (BASL) yesterday accused the government of planning to bring in special legislation to suppress social media networks. The BASL noted that the legislation, which could be brought as an emergency regulation and with provisions in the Penal Code, was an attempt to interfere with social media networks through which […]

President Rajapaksa’s Code is an eight-page memorandum [presented] by External Affairs Minister G.L. Peiris. It calls for significant changes. He has said that the NGO Secretariat (now coming under the Ministry of Defence and Urban Development) and the Registrar of Companies will be tasked “with clearing NGO requests on hosting events and arranging necessary visas […]

Ranawaka Minister of Technology and Research Patali Champika Ranawaka slams English language media and ‘citizen’ journalists on social media for fabricating stories about the incidents in Aluthgama. Those who are eagerly bashing Sinhala Buddhists as ‘racist terrorists’ are conveniently ignoring the rise of Muslim fundamentalism within the country, Minister of Technology and Research Patali Champika […]

Director General of the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption, Lakshmi Jayawickrema, has been transferred to the Presidential Secretariat with effect from 24 June. No reason had been given for her transfer.   Inside sources said they were surprised at her transfer as she had performed her duties well and was methodical in […]

Nirmala Kannangara The Bar Association of Sri Lanka (BASL) is to submit an application to court and seek an order to exhume the bodies of the Muslims who were killed during the recent riots in Aluthgama and Beruwala and investigate the circumstances that led to their deaths after suspicions were raised over the postmortem reports. […]

A senior English teacher in Dharga town says that a group of youth stormed into her home, vandalised its belongings and broke windows and threatened her before handing her over to a group of STF personnel who were nearby. Ms. Sahabdeen has taught English to Sinhalese, Tamil and Muslim children in Dharga town for 37 […]

Police have requested public assistance to identify the Buddhist monks of Bodu Bala Sena who stormed into the ministry of commerce on April 23, 2014. It has become unable to identify the Buddhist monks who are facing charges, police say. The police informed the courts thus after the case on this regard was taken up […]

Ahead of Presidential polls:  Govt. troubled by US-funded project The government would investigate local NGOs involved in an unprecedented US project meant to influence the electorate ahead of national level elections next year, a senior government spokesman said yesterday. The official alleged that the US was planning to fund those who have been opposed to […]

Alleges Government is supporting and protecting Bodu Bala Sena in spite of deadly violence in Aluthgama and Beruwela ◾ Main Opposition takes its own national multi-religious initiative to secure ethnic harmony ◾ Multi-stakeholder meeting convened in Parliamentary complex approves four proposals; further public suggestions sought Blaming the Government for serious inaction and its responsibility over […]

The All Ceylon Hindu Congress (Federation of Hindu Religious Associations and Hindu Temples in Sri Lanka), has strongly condemned acts of communalism and religious hatred again being directed against minority religious groups and in particular the recent incidents affecting Muslims in Aluthgama and Beruwela areas. The ACHC has said, in a media statement, that no […]

AHRC-ART-052-2014-01.jpg Basil Fernando The video footage is fairly clear. First we see a tall policeman wearing a helmet standing with his arm stretched towards the other side of the road. Then we see a scooter stopped just next to him. There is one man sat on the scooter. Looking closer, we see that the policeman […]

World Socialist Web Site reporters this week visited the Sri Lanka coastal town of Aluthgama, 60 kilometres from Colombo, where Buddhist extremist thugs have attacked the Muslim community. The communal violence was whipped up by an anti-Muslim meeting organised by Bodu Bala Sena (BBS), or Buddhist Brigade, in Aluthgama on June 15. BBS secretary Galagoda […]

one of the Monks in the video Kollupitiya Police today informed the Colombo Fort Magistrate today that they have failed to ascertained the suspects of the case pertaining to the incident where a group of BBS monks stormed the Ministry of Industry and Commerce, led by Minister Rishad Bathiudeen. The Kollupitiya Police informed the Fort […]

Welipitiya shops burned (Camp4justice ) In yet another instance of a flagrant abuse of the judicial process, the medical and autopsy reports of three Muslim civilians killed at Welipitiya on June 15th 2014 have been fabricated to show that the victims were hacked to death instead of being killed by gunshots. This blatant cover up […]

D.B.S. Jeyaraj In a shocking revelation that further erodes Sri Lankan public confidence in the upholding of the rule of law and in the impartiality of law enforcement agencies ,it is now leant that 13 Bodu Bala Sena goons who spearheaded much of the anti – Muslim violence in Aluthgama have been released from Police […]

Blood inside the Mosque Dharisha Bastians“They hold harthals now even for small, small incidents. When the LTTE was killing all communities indiscriminately, nobody held harthals” – President Mahinda Rajapaksa, at the Mattala Rajapaksa International Airport on Sunday, 22 JuneInside the Welipitiya mosque premises, the floors and walls of the little scripture learning room are smeared […]

”Ms. Jahangir is a previous holder of several Human Rights Council mandates and member of a recent fact-finding body into Israeli settlements. Her experience as a religious freedom activist is also likely to be considered relevant to Sri Lanka, as the Human Rights Council in March expressed its alarm at the significant surge in attacks […]

424 candidates who passed the education administration examination and were enrolled in the administrative service are being given military training at the Rantembe camp under the guise of ‘leadership training,’ Joseph Stalin , the secretary of the Lanka Teachers union revealed.  Stalin expressing his views to Lanka e news said : the 424 candidates who […]

Martti Ahtisaari GENEVA (25 June 2014) – UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay announced Wednesday that three distinguished experts have agreed to advise and support the team set up to conduct a comprehensive investigation of alleged human rights violations in Sri Lanka, as mandated by the Human Rights Council in March.  The investigation will look […]

Dinuk Kolambage The Australian   AS journalists around the world reel over lengthy prison sentences handed down to three Al Jazeera reporters in Egypt, a media freedom controversy has erupted in Sri Lanka after the editor of the Daily News called for the arrest of a local Al Jazeera journalist for reporting on inter-religious riots.   […]

 Militarisation institutionalised ”Five years after the war, Sri Lanka is still in a post-war phase, the guns have fallen silent, the war is over, terrorism was defeated. However, we haven’t moved yet into what I would call a post-conflict phase. And what I mean by that is that the sources of conflict that gave rise […]

Muslims in Sri Lanka (Reuters) Chamitha Kuruppu The United National Party claims the Government has distorted evidence of the two murders and incidents related to the Aluthgama and Beruwala riots, and alleged there is a plot to divide the communities while trying to damage the long-term friendship with Middle Eastern countries. “There is a conspiracy […]

Veteran political commentator C.A.Chandraprema’s analysis of the Aluthgama clash has given rise to the speculation that the US Embassy in Colombo was behind the whole incident and they exactly knew what was happening in Aluthgama! “The US Embassy should explain to the world how the BBS including the thug Gnanasara were given visas for a […]