(Press Release/National Peace Council) One of the unresolved and tragic problems of Sri Lanka’s war is the return and resettlement of the Muslim people who were expelled from the North by the LTTE in 1990. An estimated 80 percent of them continue to live outside their original places of residence. Recently the issue of resettlement […]

(IDPs in Jaffna – File photo) The Ministry of Resettlement, Reconstruction and Hindu Religious Affairs is holding talks for the release of 18,000 acres of land in the North from security forces’ occupation to resettle displaced Northern Tamils on their own lands, Minister D.M. Swaminathan told the Sunday Observer. An extent of 44,548 acres is […]

Two hundred and seventy eight political prisoners whose release the Tamil community has been agitating for several years will soon be granted their freedom following talks with the Tamil National Alliance, party frontliner M.A. Sumanthiran MP told the Sunday Observer. The TNA will this week discuss with Justice Minister Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe the procedural methods and […]

“Some rise by sin, and some by virtue fall” “Excellent joke!” Whether this is a Ranil-Sirisena (R&S) government or an S&R one, is significant. It certainly started off with all the trumps and partnership seniority in Ranil’s hands, but time and completion of the 100-Day tasks has moved the equation into an S&R domain; so […]

The Free Media Movement (FMM) elected its new office-bearers at its 24th Annual General Meeting held on May 26, at the Sri Lanka Press Institute (SLPI). The following were elected office-bearers and executive committee members for the year 2015/2016. Convenor: Seetha Ranjanee General Secretary: C. Dodawatta Treasurer: Viranjana Herath Asst. Secretary: Ananda Jayasekara Executive Committee […]

President Maithripala Sirisena said that he has already instructed the relevant authorities to reopen files relating to the abductions and assassinations of journalists during the past few years. “Impartial, methodical and justifiable investigations will be carried out in to the abductions of journalists, since the government strongly believes that the rule of law should be […]

We representatives of the Muslim civil organizations, namely the All Ceylon Union of Muslim League Youth Fronts (ACUMLYF), National Shoora Council (NSC), the Muslim Council of Sri Lanka (MCSL), and the Kandy Forum, on behalf of the Muslim Community of Sri Lanka, after studying the draft cabinet paper on the proposed 20th Amendment called the […]

US thinktank claims post-conflict harmony undermined by military occupation in north and east, combined with land grabs that have marginalised Tamil people. Sri Lankan ethnic Tamil women hold portraits of missing relatives during a protest in Jaffna, Sri Lanka. Photograph: Eranga Jayawardena/AP by Sam Jones  Six years after the end of Sri Lanka’s long and […]

Fourth Estate And Real Estate, Editorial, The Island. Santa won’t have to carry presents for journalists next December. He can bring a smaller sack when he is on the Sri Lanka leg of his world tour this year. The yahapalana government has already started showering goodies on the media personnel. It has apparently taken a […]

 President – PM entrusted to decide way forward; Committee report accepted, subject to alterations; The Cabinet last night decided to entrust President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe with the task of deciding the manner in which the government should proceed with the 20th Amendment. The Cabinet sub committee report, dealing with electoral reforms, […]

David Corlett in Colombo. Sri Lanka’s wartime army chief says his conscience is clear and he would welcome a war crimes investigation to prove his innocence. “The allegations are there,” Field Marshal Sarath Fonseka said in an interview with the Guardian. “We have to clear our name.” In May 2009 the then General Fonseka was […]

Colombo Law Faculty Dean V.T Thamilmaran said, the Police are responsible to probe and place the truth before people; how one of the rape suspects Swiss Kumar, who was handed over and arrested by the police escaped from their custody and was then found in Colombo.  Unless and until that is cleared the mud slung […]

(Anthonythasan with Kaleiswari Srinivasan in Deepan) Jesuthasan Anthonythasan, the Tamil Tiger child soldier who attained international stardom when his film Dheepan bagged the Palme d’Or at Cannes this year, has well and truly abjured violence and separatism, which had marked his life in Sri Lanka. “Though the Tamil diaspora may want it, the Tamils in […]

(Summary of the INFORM report:In the first 100 days of new Presidency; 9th January – 19th April 2015) Compared to 2014 and the Rajapakse rule, the intensity and number of attacks, threats and intimidations against dissent has decreased during the first 100 days of Sirisena’s Presidency. However, very little action appears to have been taken […]

The mob violence that suddenly burst forth in Jaffna has given rise to multiple interpretations, both in Jaffna and elsewhere. Opposition politicians have claimed that the displaced Sinhalese who have been resettled in parts of Jaffna were being targeted. Others claimed that national security had been jeopardized by the demilitarization taking place in the North […]

The Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) has refused to certify ‘Porkalathil Oru Poo,’ a film based on real life story of television journalist, Isaipriya, who was allegedly killed in captivity by the Sri Lankan armed forces in the final stages of the civil war in 2009, on the grounds that the film could strain […]

(French director Jacques Audiard (centre) poses on stage with Sri Lankan actress Kalieaswari Srinivasan (left) and Sri Lankan actor Jesuthasan Antonythasan after he was awarded with the Palme d’Or for his film “Dheepan” during the closing ceremony of the 68th Cannes Film Festival in Cannes, southeastern France. – AFP) COLOMBO, May 25, 2015 (AFP) – […]

( President Sirisena has appointed Champika Ranawaka as his representative to the CC) In spite of heavy ‘confrontations’ both in and outside parliament over allegedly fraudulent Treasury bond issues, the UNP-led government and the Opposition have reached agreement on the formation of a 10-member Constitutional Council paving the way to the setting up of 11 […]

( Protest in Jaffna against the gang rape and murder of Vidya) The Jaffna Magistrate has issued a stay order banning all types of protests in the Jaffna town, the police media unit said. The stay order was issued as a result of the violence which erupted in Jaffna this week during a protest against […]

(The Sri lanka National Women’s Cricket Team at the felicitation ceremony held at Taj Samudra Hotel on Wednesday 2013. Pictures by Sulochana Gamage) Reuters- Sri Lanka Cricket ordered an investigation in November after reports emerged alleging officials had asked female cricketers for sex. COLOMBO: Sri Lanka’s sports ministry said on Friday that an investigation had […]

( Police officer tell Tamil mother ‘ it is up to you to discipline your men’ ) Demonstrations and protests should be peaceful and democratic. Chief Minister C.V. Wigneswaran said some mischief- makers are trying bring the people into conflict with the police and create opinion that it could only be controlled by the Army. […]

By Father Elil Rajendram. Organising a religious service to commemorate 18 May 2009 was like experiencing a horror story, full of fear and suspense, with an uncertain end. Until the last moment I was not sure if anybody would dare to turn up for the event – the first of its kind in the six […]

Amendment of the Provincial Councils Elections Act no 02 of 1988. The present government has proposed to increase the women’s contribution in political decision making in the “MaithriPalanayak” policy statement. The proposal made by Hon. JanakaBandaraTennakoon, the Minister of Provincial Councils and Regional Development, to draft amendments to the Provincial Councils Elections Act no 02 […]

Parliamentarian and former Minister Vasudeva Nanayakkara called Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe a “pakaya” in Parliament today. This was after the Prime Minister attempted to prevent Nanayakkara from raising a point of order during Parliament proceedings today. “Do you think you can make me sit down? Pakaya,”  Nanayakkara said. Nanayakkara accused the Prime Minister of not […]

Dean of the Colombo Law Faculty V.T. Tamilmaran was surrounded by residents in Punkudutivu accusing him of helping one of the ten suspects involved in the brutal murder of Sivaloganathan Vithya. He was rescued from angry residents by Army and Navy personnel on Tuesday. Tamilmaran who hails from Punkudutivu had gone there to assess the […]

I swear this is true! Rajapksas have now started to talk about a police state, Hitlerait dictatorship and press freedom and to file fundamental rights petitions at the Supreme Court. Your stomach may churn, but this is true. Forgetting one’s own past is an illness. It is called Dementia. Some people develop dementia willingly, which […]

Several remembrances events were held across the North and East in Sri Lanka on 18th May 2015 (the day the war ended in Sri Lanka in 2009) by Tamils to remember those killed during the war[1]. They were organized by Tamil politicians, religious clergy, civil society and women’s groups. Many were religious events. Most appear […]

By Harim Peris. May 19 marked six years since the end of Sri Lanka’s civil war, which at that time had been the world’s second longest running civil conflict, after Lebanon. The end of the war was commemorated in two very different ways from two very different leaders, one present and forward looking, the other […]

Rejecting assertions by the Jathika Hela Urumaya, the Tamil National Alliance said today that the protest in Jaffna was only an ‘expression of anger against the brutal murder’ of an 18 year old student. “There was not even a hint of targeting the Sinhalese living in Jaffna or anything of that sort. That is a […]

The domestic mechanism to investigate allegations over the war will be in place by June, President Maithripala Sirisena said. He also said that  a new Parliament will be in place by September this year. Speaking to media heads today, the President said that international investigators will not be allowed into Sri Lanka to investigate the […]