News

Teams to visit Non-Aligned countries; White paper to explain justification for use of force to end terrorismBy Our Diplomatic Editor Sri Lanka will launch a diplomatic offensive in “neutral” countries to meet the allegations made against the government in the report of the three-member experts’ panel that advised the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on […]

By Arthur WamananThe failure of the government to divulge the list of Tamil detainees for the second time has irked the Tamil National Alliance (TNA). The TNA yesterday expressed its anger and frustration at the government for calling off a scheduled visit to the Terrorism Investigations Department office in Vavuniya at the eleventh hour. The […]

Allegations found credible by the UN Panel The Panel’s determination of credible allegations reveals a very different version of the final stages of the war than that maintained to this day by the Government of Sri Lanka. The Government says it pursued a “humanitarian rescue operation” with a policy of “zero civilian casualties”. In stark […]

Saturday 16 April 2011A leaked United Nations report indicates “credible allegations” of Sri Lanka war crimes. Video first broadcast by Channel 4 News, showing alleged Tamil executions, formed a key part of the evidence. A leaked version of the long-awaited report by the United Nations Secretary General (UNSG) panel reveals “credible allegations” of war crimes […]

 CWC Leader and Minister Arumugam Thondaman recently complained to Economic Development Minister Basil Rajapaksa about the non-inclusion of a Tamil description in documents handed over by the government. Interestingly, Thondaman decided to express his displeasure when on stage before commencing his speech at a function organised by Rajapaksa’s Ministry.Rajapaksa visited the Nuwara Eliya District on […]

The politics of habeas corpus and the marginal role of the Sri Lankan courts under the 1978 constitution The protection of the freedoms of individuals and the functioning of public institutions are therefore deeply linked. The public institutions, if they are managed for the achievement of various goals of the government, such as development, national […]

By Matthew Russell Lee WASHINGTON DC, April 14 — On Sri Lanka, the Obama administration would like the Mahinda Rajapaksa government to “use” the Panel of Experts report on presumptive war crimes in the final stages of the conflict, State Department spokesman Mark Toner told Inner City Press on Thursday. Toner said the US has […]

Information smuggled out of the notorious Magazine Prison in Borella, Colombo, reveal that 58 Tamil prisoners, 44 of them with no charges filed or charged without any viable court case or witnesses to prove guilt, are being held under the Island’s Emergency Regulations in the prison for more than 12 years. One of the inmates […]

A crackdown precedes a new report on the end of the civil war SRI LANKA’S government has got its retaliation in first. On April 12th a panel of experts delivered a report to the UN secretary-general, Ban Ki-moon, assessing whether war crimes were committed when the nation’s army bloodily won a long-running civil war against […]

H.Res.177 –Expressing support for internal rebuilding, resettlement, and reconciliation within Sri Lanka that are necessary to ensure a lasting peace. US Congressman GRIMM submitted new and strong resolution on Sri Lanka, focusing on human rights and US foreign policy. With the US State Dept. HR report, and UN Panel report on alledged war crimes by […]

HEARTLESS AND CALLOUS DECISION BY THE CONSERVATIVE MINISTER FOR IMMIGRATION, JASON KINNEY. In one of the most callous and wanton decisions made by the Canadian immigration services, with utter disregard to the 72 year old wife of former Tamil TNA Parliamentarian, late Joseph Pararajasingam, issued DEPORTATION orders on her last week. Tamils worldwide, and  Toronto, […]

By Charles Haviland BBC News, ColomboThe Sri Lankan government has rejected a report commissioned by the UN on alleged human rights violations at the end of the country’s war two years ago. The report, by a panel of rights experts, has just been submitted to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon and to the government in Colombo. […]

UNITED NATIONS (AFP) – UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon is studying an expert report into thousands of deaths during Sri Lanka’s 2009 military drive against Tamil rebels, as calls grow for an international probe. Ban has given himself just days to decide on recommendations made by a panel of experts which handed its report on […]

 Amnesty International Media Release (Washington, D.C.) A United Nations (U.N.) report on accountability for war crimes committed in the Sri Lankan armed conflict must be made public, Amnesty International said today as a panel of experts submits their findings to U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon. “Sri Lankans must be allowed to see the panel’s findings. […]

Secretary-General Should Use Findings to Press for Justice (New York, April 12, 2011) – The report by a panel of experts to United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on April 12, 2011, about laws-of-war violations in Sri Lanka should be used to pave the way for justice, Human Rights Watch said today. Ban commissioned the report […]

Photos of the dead bodies with gunshot wounds of LTTE political wing leader B.Nadesan and S. Pulithevan who were killed by the military after surrendering with white flags at the last stage of the war have been published by the Tamil websites worldwide. The Sri Lankan government has repeatedly said that no LTTE leader who […]

Three senior police officers transferredSuspect left minister’s staff on Thursday – Press Secy By Lal Gunasekera Three top police officials have been transferred with immediate effect over their failure to take action against extortionists. Officers of the Colombo Crime Division on Sunday arrested Public Relations Minister Mervyn Silva’s Parliament Affairs Secretary Jayasena Mudiyanselage Buddhi and […]

by Zacki Jabbar Sri Lanka was under various international pressures because the Mahinda Rajapaksa government had failed to hold a proper inquiry into serious human rights violations against its citizens, Senior Vice President of the UNP Lakshman Kiriella MP, said yesterday. He told The Island that the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission did not have […]

Sri Lanka’s President Mahinda Rajapakse led United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) government has been implementing a planned scheme to settle Sinhalese persons in the southern coastal areas of Mu’l’lik-ku’lam, Thampapa’l’li in Ko’ndaichchi and areas along Madu road in the Mannaar district. Lands belonging to Tamil villagers in these areas are being grabbed to settle Sinhalese […]

The Arab spring proves that Israel is not even the biggest issue in the Middle East – yet it gets all the attention If you want a glimpse of the anger and heartache caused by the Goldstone report into the Gaza conflict of 2008-9, you could do worse than take a trip to the National […]

H. M. G. S. Palihakkara, LLRC, When domestic processes fail to find solutions to internal problems, external forces find space to advocate or even impose solutions for their own political or strategic convenience. Sri Lanka is no exception. Leadership failures since independence by all governments and mainstream political parties contributed to externalizing the conflict from […]

By Srideep BiswasOn the model of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of South Africa, Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa, at the end of three decades of civil war, appointed a Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) on May 15, 2010, to examine the events covering the period between February 21, 2002, and May 19, 2009, […]

By Kishali Pinto Jayawardene Very few thinking people in Sri Lanka will assert in all good conscience that the office of the Attorney General has been free from political controversy as a matter of historical fact. That last rider is important lest it should be thought by a misguided few that all the evil began […]

by Tisaranee Gunasekara “Though everyone bowed down before you,Saying virtue and wisdom lit your way,Striking gold medals in your honour,Glad to have survived another day,Do not feel safe…” Czeslaw Milosz (You who Wronged) Another emergency debate brought forth another apocryphal tale, to justify the unjustifiable. During the previous Emergency debate, the Prime Minister perorated portentously […]

The 2010 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices issued by the US State Department includes serious violations of human rights in Sri Lanka.  It states despite Lanka being a constitutional, multiparty republic President Mahinda Rajapaksa, and his family; two of the president’s brothers hold key executive branch posts as defense secretary and minister of economic […]

A motion presented by the JVP Member Wimal Piyatissa demanding the government to reveal names and places of detention of those persons detained on charges of taking part in LTTE activities during the war period and several other issues confronted by the people in the North was passed in the Eastern Provincial Councils on Wednesday. […]

Traditional seine-net beaches (Karaivalai-paadu) of Eezham Tamils in the coastal tracts of Mullaiththeevu district are grabbed and distributed among Sinhala fishermen from the south by a team of SL fisheries officials from the south. The excuse is that the local Tamil fishermen in the LTTE controlled areas did not register their seine-net stretches with the […]

    * TNA is not interested in separatism    * Proper devolution is healthy for Sri LankaThe UPFA government and the TNA are now put to face each other and both teams are engrossed in talks to find a solution to the day to day problems faced by the Tamils of North-East. Already four rounds of […]

By Rathindra KuruwitaThe government has allocated close to 1000 acres of land to several young United Peoples’ Freedom Alliance (UPFA) MPs to carry out various programmes, said Tamil National Alliance (TNA) MP A Vinayagamoorthy. This has been done in a bid to artificially create an alternative leadership to the TNA among the Tamils, he asserts. […]

The US annual report on human rights says that the government of Sri Lanka, a multi-party democracy, is dominated by the president’s family. “Two of the brothers hold key executive branch posts as defense secretary and minister of economic development, while a third brother is the speaker of parliament,” says the report. The elections in […]