News

16 June 2011In what is seen as retaliation for Channel 4 broadcast Tuesday, the genocidal SL Army occupying Jaffna brutally attacked TNA parliamentarians, journalists and public in Jaffna on Thursday, causing injuries to an unspecified number of people, according to initial reports. The blatant attack by SL Army in uniform took place when the TNA […]

16 June 2011/By Andrew Buncombe, The British Foreign Office Minister Alistair Burt said he was shocked after seeing footage of attacks on civilians shown in the Channel 4 documentary. The British Government has renewed calls for an independent investigation into allegations of war crimes against Sri Lanka after a documentary showed civilians being shelled and […]

16 June 2011 Three undergraduates who had been held under detention orders in the Mirihana Police for allegedly conspiring against the State had been taken to the CID for further interrogations, Inter University Students Federation (IUSF) yesterday charged.IUSF Convener Sanjeewa Bandara yesterday said that the detained undergraduates were allegedly forced to give statements and a […]

Denying the truth will not bury it15 June 2011, By Yolanda Foster, Amnesty International’s Sri Lanka researcher Tonight Channel 4 screens its harrowing new documentary, “Sri Lanka, The Killing Fields”. The film highlights massive human rights abuses and violations of the laws of war by both parties to the conflict.Some of the more shocking imagery includes […]

Political reforms should be urgently introduced with further possible delineation of powers to the Provinces by transferring some of the itemsfrom the Concurrent List to the Provincial List as per the aspirations of thepeople, especially the Sri Lankan Tamil Community. Relavent section of the Memorandum submitted by Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Selvi J. Jayalalithaa to […]

15 June 2011 /By Yohan PereraThe government decision to appoint a Parliamentary Select Committee to work out a political solution to the national question is a ploy adopted to overcome international pressure, UNP parliamentarian R. Yogaranjan charged today.He said this was his personal view though it was backed by his party. Mr. Yogarajan called for […]

The most pressing need is perhaps not to punish the offenders but to relieve the problems of the survivors and minimise the risk of further violence. Sooner or later, if the government’s response to disagreement is repression, discontent will boil over in one part or another of the island. Bloodshed is likely to follow, unless […]

16 June 2011 /  By Duminda BalasuriyaWhile rejecting the contents of the video aired on the British Channel 4 news channel, Defence Ministry Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa yesterday said they have received information that a fake video had been created by Channel 4 news after obtaining money from pro-LTTE elements.“Once again some pro-LTTE elements have used […]

Britain has renewed calls for Sri Lanka to investigate allegations of war crimes after video footage apparently showing the summary execution of naked and bound prisoners was broadcast on UK television, in the documentary Sri Lanka’s Killing Field.The film, shown on Channel 4, reportedly shows “trophy videos” taken on mobile phones by Sri Lankan soldiers […]

By Serena Davies Sri Lanka’s Killing Fields went out at 11.00pm but was a flagship news programme for Channel 4, presented by the great Jon Snow and pitched as a clarion call for the world to wake up to the war crimes that allegedly took place during the final months of Sri Lanka’s 25-year-long civil […]

Innocents in the line of fireReviewed by Tom Sutcliffe This film contains very disturbing images,” warned Jon Snow at the beginning of Sri Lanka’s Killing Fields. It would, he continued, depict “death, injury, execution and evidence of sexual abuse and murder”. He was right too, though when the final credits rolled you couldn’t help but […]

Great controversy and concern surrounds the ‘leadership’ training programme designed by the Ministry of Defence for under graduate students, conducted in around 28 military installations around the country. As the Young Researchers Collective recently noted on Groundviews, “Although the government has stated that this will be a leadership training program rather than a military training […]

The 18th Amendment, we were told, would make the President more accountable to Parliament. The Editorial of the Sunday Observer noted back in the day, By making it mandatory for the President to attend Parliament at least once in three months to answer questions by MPs, the 18th Amendment has not only made a vital […]

14 June 2011/ By Col R HariharanRecently there had been a series of seemingly disconnected events in India, UK and the UN that have a common thread: Sri Lankas conduct in the post war period.Though these events were not unexpected sequels, surprisingly Sri Lankas response had been reactive than proactive. Peevishness, rather than calculated strategy, […]

‘Sri Lanka trying to pretend events of summarily executed prisoners are history, as the economy and tourism pick up. They are not’ Evidence that won’t be buried: On this occasion there are reasons why it was right to dispense with the responsibility broadcasters have to avoid causing distressGuardian UK Editorial, Jun 15, 2011 The footage […]

Other than the film by embedded “trusted” reporters and trophy mobile phone videos by the soldiers, the Sri Lankan authorities and the Sinhalese were in too much of a victorious mood, to realise that all their actions in the battlefield were under scrutiny by satellite surveillance of several nations. 12 June 2011/by Dushy Ranetunge in […]

15 June 2011 / By Lakna Paranamanna‘We are Sri Lankans (WESL)’ an organization agitating for the release of Tamil political prisoners said yesterday Tamils held in prisons and detention camps countrywide were allegedly being abused and neglected by prison authorities.WESL Executive Committee member and former Inter University Students Federation Convener Udul Premaratne told a media […]

15 June 2011/ by Lakna Paranamanna‘We are Sri Lankans (WESL)’ an organization agitating for the release of Tamil political prisoners said yesterday Tamils held in prisons and detention camps countrywide were allegedly being abused and neglected by prison authorities.WESL Executive Committee member and former Inter University Students Federation Convener Udul Premaratne told a media briefing […]

Tue Jun 14 Sri Lanka has dismissed as fake a new documentary to be shown on British television on Tuesday, alleging atrocities were committed in the final weeks of the island’s war with Tamil rebels.The defence ministry in Colombo said the videos, to be broadcast publicly for the first time on Channel 4, were a fabrication […]

Wednesday 15 June 2011 The Foreign Office says Sri Lanka must give a serious response after “horrific scenes” and “convincing evidence of violations of human rights law” were broadcast last night on Channel 4. The film ‘Sri Lanka’s Killing Fields’ documents the final bloody weeks of the Sri Lankan civil war – in which at […]

2011-06-14 In any military conflict injured and captured fighters are supposed to be treated in a dignified manner according to international law and Geneva Conventions. Injured fighters are supposed to have been given medical attention without any undue delay. However Sri Lankan military personnel seem to have disregarded all international law, humanity and abused dead and […]

Once you’ve got past its annoying ‘take me seriously’ tics, Luther is pure escapist TV drama He’s deep, he’s troubled and he doesn’t play by the rules. It’s the generic tag-line for every maverick cop show and Luther (BBC1) is no exception. At the end of the last series, Luther’s wife had been killed by […]

The government presented a bill to the parliament on 2011.05.08 allegedly to grand pension benefits to employees in the private sector. It is clear that by this retirement benefit bill, the government is aiming to gradually prune the   EPF, ETF and Gratuity Benefits and to get control of these funds to gain economic benefits out […]

What new footage and new evidence of war crimes is in the Channel 4 documentary?•    Previously unaired mobile phone footage of point-blank extrajudicial executions of three people, including a woman.  •    Previously unaired mobile phone footage of dead Tamil Tigers, including women,,that suggests sexual abuse.•    First video testimony of a Tamil woman who says she […]

 Basil Fernando,This is a discussion on the serious crisis of law in Sri Lanka. 33 years of the promulgation of the present Constitution, what is legal and what is not has been obliterated in Sri Lanka. As an illustration of the crisis of law, three incidents are discussed:• The killing of young Chanake Roshanne; a […]

 V. Anandasangaree, D. Sitharthan and T. Sritharan met the Indian Delegation at the India House on 11th Saturday at 11.30 hrs and the TULF Leader submitted a memorandum, the contents of which are as follows:- Without allowing things to go out of control, the delegates should explore the possibilities of persuading the Government to agree […]

13 June 2011/ by Nirmalan DhasIn General, The imposition of this leadership training program or any training program on the human community – with the exception of programs that train people to resist programming – is likely to interfere with the free evolutionary development of human being and therefore deserves to be resisted.The education system […]

 13 June 2011 The Police Department has launched an awareness campaign via local newspapers informing the public that they would able to get details of detainees and those who are already released from detention by the Terrorist Investigation Division. Accordingly, “…a round-the-clock mechanism has been established in the following  locations from 01.04.2011, to provide details […]

Creating waves on her first visit to the national capital after her landslide victory, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister arrived here on a two-day visit, ostensibly to meet Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to discuss problems concerning her state.However, within two hours of her landing here, the chief minister made it a politically high-profile visit as she […]

| IANS –  Jun 13, 2011 New Delhi, June 13 (IANS) Sri Lanka is treating people in its Tamil-majority northeast as ‘aborigines’, a Tamil delegation told a team of Indian officials in Colombo. ‘It is very unfortunate that the (Sri Lankan) government does not allow people and officials of the north and east to manage their […]