News

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 […]

‘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 Amantha PereraUNNICHCHAI, Sri Lanka, May 28, 2011  – The road to Unnichchai in eastern Sri Lanka makes for a nerve-wracking journey trying to avoid large crater-like potholes, squeezing across narrow bridges, and passing by a patchwork landscape of paddy fields – both abandoned and cultivated – with not a building in sight.The road looks […]

” In the presence of jumbo sized state military and intelligence service and the state backed paramilitaries and the violent government goons, the HRC is being engineered to do an exercise to undermine any further UN effort on war crimes  against Sri Lanka.”  ___________________________________________by Rajasingham JayadevanMay 27 2011 Media reports of government appointing a five […]

The Dutch judiciary says that Tamil Tiger leaders in the Netherlands have played a prominent role in financing the civil war in Sri Lanka. The 10,000 Tamils in the Netherlands, police say, were under the iron grip of the guerilla group.Marcel Haenen (NRC Handelsblad) Read part 1 ‘Operation Koninck’ has been described by the judiciary […]

As professionals, we have seen the deterioration of the institutional integrity and rule of law in this country for many years. As lawyers we have, from time to time, urged the succeeding governments to protect human rights of the citizens and establish Rule of Law.    2011-05-25 | Press Statement- Lawyers for DemocracyThe war in […]

He paused, as if to assemble the rank and file of forces in his imagination: “I’m a police officer”, he declared, putting his authority to speak in no doubt. “They must be punished! All of them! There must be discipline!” Toxicity leached from his skin. by Terence Stone (May 26, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) We […]

There are active moves to get the Tamilnadu Legislative Assembly to pass a motion of censure against President Rajapakse along the lines of the critical comments made by Smt Jayalalitha on May 14th. Those behind this move are some over zealous young AIDMK alliance MLA’s keen to catch their new CM’s attention.by I.S. SenguttuvanOther than […]

May 25, 2011: The Ministry of Education has decided to provide school principals with a three (3) month leadership training programme. Secretary to the Ministry of Education H.M. Gunasekara said  at a function today that 1000 principals at schools which are being developed with several facilities, will undergo this training at the Rantambe camp.“If the […]

SF says felt he couldn’t work with President, Def. Secy, as Gota doubted his loyaltyMay 25, 2011/ By A.J. AbeynayakeFormer Army Chief Gen. Sarath Fonseka on Wednesday (25) said that he felt he couldn’t work with President Mahinda Rajapaksa and his brother Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, as the latter had doubted his loyalty during a […]

May 25, 2011,By Franklin R. SatyapalanThe Tamil National Alliance (TNA) left the sixth round of Bi-partisan talks, with the government yesterday, disappointed as the latter had once again not responded to its draft on devolution, TNA sources said.TNA Parliamentarian M. A. Sumanthiran said: At every meeting we have been waiting for the government to announce […]

26 May 2011/ By Sandun A. JayasekeraSri Lanka would appoint a five member panel of judges to initiate fresh investigations into Human Rights and Fundamental Rights violations in the North-East and report back to the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka (HRC), officials said.The newly appointed Chairman of the HRC, retired Supreme Court Judge Priyantha […]

Consequently, the President is surely as responsible for what is contained in this communiqué as his minister. Indeed it would not be an exaggeration to say that the joint communiqué contains the measures the regime should take in order to neutralize any adverse consequences of the Panel Report. 25 May 2011/By Dr. Paikiasothy Saravanamuttu The […]

25 May 2011/ by Daniel KittsAn E-Mail Interview with A.R.M. ImtiyazSri Lanka’s ethnic conflict is one of the most polarizing and heated in a world full of ethnic conflicts.For a sample, check out this episode of The Agenda, aired in 2009 shortly after Sri Lankan forces defeated the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE, a.k.a. […]

25 May 2011The military tried to stop a sport meet taking place in Vadamarachchi saying permission had not been obtained from the army and this had created a tense situation in the area.All arrangements had been completed and the sports meet of Nethaji sports club in Kothiyaladi, Valvettithurai was about to start. The club’s flag […]

25 May 2011Around 55,700 people still live the life of refugees in Jaffna, conceded Sri Lanka Government Agent in Jaffna, Mrs. Imelda Sugumar on Tuesday. The number includes people who lost their homes by the confiscation of lands by the occupying Army in Jaffna for ‘High Security Zones’ (HSZ) and those who have Jaffna connections […]

25 May 2011Genocidal Sri Lanka’s ‘reconciliation’ in Vanni, abetted by its international partners is building huge Buddhist stupas there, while keeping Eezham Tamil natives in cloth tents. If building Buddhist establishments and new Sinhala-military townships in Vanni is the job of the state and re-building houses for the war-ravaged people and providing them with ‘milk […]

25 May, 2011For the second time in a fortnight, subscribers to the Daily Mirror newspaper have been entreated to an interesting disinformation campaign that appears to be conducted with those embedded within, and possibly with the full support of the Sri Lankan Army and its network of patriots.The full page ad above was published on […]

Feizal SamathJust as government troops prepared this week to celebrate the second anniversary of the decimation of Tamil separatist rebels, thousands of young, new entrants to national universities across Sri Lanka on Monday began entering military camps for a three-week training course that has triggered an intense debate as to whether the country is heading […]

R. K. Radhakrishnan People in this friendly town woke up on Monday a full page advertisement in its newspapers mocking U.S. President Barack Obama and U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon. The advertisement reproduced in full below, sought to place in perspective the rationale behind Sri Lanka being questioned for eliminating terrorism in its backyard. The […]

Caste divisions in Jaffna are based on professions that people have been hereditarily engaged in. Agriculture is considered the profession of the Vellala caste, which is the most dominant caste in Jaffna. Nalavar and Pallar work as toddy tappers and labourers in gardens. Parayar, who beat the drums at funerals, are treated like slaves. Vannar […]

24 May 2011Members of Non-Aligned Movement have a critical part to play in ensuring these terrible abuses never happen again and that survivors of the conflict can seek justice, thus laying the groundwork for reconciliation.They should encourage the UN and the government of Sri Lanka to implement the panel’s recommendations on accountability, including the panel’s […]

23 May 2011, 8:31 pmThe Friday Forum has demanded that the government ensure that city planning and urban development activities are carried out within a transparent process which takes into account the concerns of people in regard to their homes and property.“We are particularly disturbed at the use of uniformed services personnel to deliver communications […]

24 May 2011The northeast coast of the Jaffna and Mullaiththeevu districts of the country of Eezham Tamils, from Kat-koava’lam in Point Pedro to Mullaiththeevu is encroached in recent days by hundreds of Sinhala fishermen supported by occupying Sri Lanka’s Army and fisheries officials. Exploitation of the catch of sea cucumber for the season is said […]

24 May 2011 15:33The Leader of the JVP Somsawansa Amarasinghe participated at the 5th Asia Riches Forum held in San Men Xia city in China from 18th – 20th May 2011where he made the keynote address .Addressing the Forum where leaders of the Communist Party of China in Hunan Province too were present Mr. Amarasinghe […]

The Friday Forum, a group of intellectuals had issued a statement expressing concerns at the steps taken for accelerated development of the city of Colombo.They say the group was formed to consider current issues of public interest with a view to making a contribution to peace, democracy, good governance and social justice in Sri Lanka.“We […]