Accountability

(Press Statement/21.08.19.)   Senior Japanese Diplomat and United Nations administrator His Excellency Yasushi Akashi met with the Leader of the Tamil National Alliance Hon R Sampanthan member of Parliament, Yesterday (20.08.2019) at his residence in Colombo.   Mr. Sampanthan expressed upon the Special ambassador that though the armed conflict has come to an end, the solution […]

Image: General Shavendra Silva is seen at the Ampara Air Force camp in eastern Sri Lanka August 24, 2009.  © 2009 Reuters/Stringer/Files. Meenakshi Ganguly, South Asia Director, HRW. Sri Lanka’s President Maithripala Sirisena has appointed a general whose forces have been credibly accused of war crimes as the commander of the national army. The move would seem to confirm the […]

The Delegation of the European Union (EU) issues the following statement in agreement with the Embassies of Germany, Italy, Netherlands, the UK High Commission, the Embassies of Norway and Switzerland.  We fully share the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet’s serious concerns about the appointment of Lieutenant-General Shavendra Silva as Commander of the […]

Lieutenant-General Silva commanded Sri Lanka’s 58th Division during the final stages of the military campaign against the LTTE rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in 2009, commonly known as the Tamil Tigers, and UN investigationshave implicated the division in alleged serious violations of international humanitarian and human rights law. The UN High Commissioner for Human […]

Major General Shavendra Silva was appointed as the 23rd Commander of the Sri Lanka Army today (19).He received his letter of appointment from President Maithripala Sirisena this morning.Major General Silva joined the Sri Lanka Army as a Cadet Officer in 1984 and held the position of Chief of Staff of Sri Lanka Army prior to […]

Image:  Tamil refugees under Rajapaksa rule, 2009. By Pranavesh Sivakumar. Days after the announcement of Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s presidential candidacy, a quick voice-of-the-people survey conducted on the streets of Colombo by the Sunday Observer exposed how much minority voters fear a return of a Rajapaksa ruler. They echoed concerns of ‘violence against Tamils’, the white van […]

The return of an authoritarian oligarchy in Sri Lanka could be stopped by a united stand of democratic forces. Sri Lanka is again at the crossroads with presidential elections due before December 9, 2019. The political drive since the newly formed Rajapaksa-led Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP), which swept the local government polls in February […]

Another story about ragging in universities had made headlines last week. 19 senior students of Ruhuna University were remanded after being arrested over an incident where a new student from Gampaha had been inhumanly tortured during ragging. They had been arrested after the victim student, seemingly a courageous boy had published the nightmare he had […]

The European Union Delegation Comprising of Mr Riccardo Chelleri, (Policy Officer Democracy and Electoral Observation) and Ms. Anne Vaugier Chatterjee (Deputy Head, Political, Trade,and Communications Section) and others met with the Leader of the Tamil National Alliance Mr. R Sampanthan today in Colombo. Briefing the Delegation Mr. Sampanthan highlighted that the people in this country […]

To The Most Rev Archbishop Justin Welby, I must begin by saying that I am not a Christian. But the feelings contained in this plea are being shared by many people who have lived their adult lives believing that service to people is our foremost duty. I beg you to read this in full. We hope […]

In Sri Lanka, injustice takes manifestly queer twists and turns. A State signs an international convention on the solemn understanding that it will conform to those obligations. It passes a Constitution or enacts a law consequent to a pact entered into with citizens promising that narrow interests of one specific power bloc or agitators will […]

Attorney General Dappula de Livera PC has requested the Chief Justice to nominate a three member Trial-at-Bar to hear the case involving the abduction and murder of journalist Prageeth Ekneligoda. The Co-ordinating Officer to the Attorney General, State Counsel Ms. Nishara Jayaratne told news media that the Attorney General has already prepared indictments to be […]

07th August 2019 M. S. P. Ekneligoda No. 136/2, Suhada Mawatha, Hiripitiya, Pannipitiya. Mr. Dappula De Livera, PC Hon. Attorney General, Attorney General’s Department, Colombo 12. Request with regard to Prageeth Ekneligoda Case  Honourable Sir, Facts and evidence of the case mentioned above bearing case number B7417/10, which is being heard in the Homagama Magistrate’s Court, were filed by Homagama […]

Image: Sri Lankan chief editor of the privately-owned Rivira weekly Upali Tennakoon (L) is rushed to the Colombo national hospital after he was attacked in 2009 (AFP Photo/Ishara S. KODIKARA) (AFP) Sri Lanka on Wednesday charged two army spies for a decade-old serious assault of a newspaper editor in the wake of the shock assassination of […]

By Rehab Mahamoor/August 07, 2019. Sri Lanka is no stranger to arbitrary laws that are prone to misuse. For the past 40 years, it has had the draconian Prevention of Terrorism Act on the statute books, which has been used to target minorities and is one of the main drivers of human rights violations – including the suppression […]

After visiting Shakthika Sathkumara in prison, I sat down to write about this writer who should never have spent a single day behind bars, let alone four months, for a short story he wrote. Then I reconsidered. Self-censorship — that is the real enemy of freedom of expression and that is what governments and other […]

(4 August, 2019) The National Police Commission (NPC) decision to prevent the transfer of two senior cops in Kurunegala over their involvement in framing a Muslim doctor in a pseudo illegal sterilisation scare has raised serious questions about its alleged role in the communally charged controversy. The NPC stopped the transfers despite therecommendation for Kurunegala […]

By Ana Pararajasingham. In view of its strategic location in the Indian Ocean, Sri Lanka is of interest to both Washington and Beijing as they seek to increase their presence in the Indian Ocean. Washington’s latest attempt to improve its position in Sri Lanka involves renegotiating the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) originally signed in mid-1995 when […]

Image: Candles are burned at the memorial for slain humanitarian workers from Action Contre La Faim in Batticaloa, Sri Lanka, August 11, 2006.  © 2006 Reuters. (New York/HRW) – Sri Lankan authorities have failed to bring to justice those responsible for the execution-style killing of 17 aid workers 13 years ago, Human Right Watch said today. On August 4, […]

Image courtesy of The National: During the anti-Muslim violence in places like Kurunegala, Hettipola and Minuwangoda where 29 mosques were damaged. (Asiantribue.com) Sri Lankan business chambers have failed to stand with Muslim owned SMEs at a darkest hour. “It was very sad for me to see the silence of Chamber of Commerce as the backlash on Muslim owned […]

Image: Keith Noyahr not willing to come to Sri Lanka in person to identify his  abductors. Senior State Counsel Lakmini Girihagama appearing on behalf of the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) informed the Mount Lavinia Additional Magistrate that former Nation Deputy Editor Keith Noyahr has agreed to an identification parade via video technology. Girihagama made this remark […]

Image: “So, please remember this and the earlier  you do it, the better. If you do not do it and abstain from doing the right thing, I do not think the Tamil people will take it lying down for too long,” Sampanthan tells the govt. NEW CONSTITUTION WITH NATIONAL CONSENSUS. R. Sampanthan. Mr. Deputy Speaker, […]

SPECIAL STATEMENT BY HON. TILAK MARAPANA, MINISTER OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS IN PARLIAMENT – 25.07.19 It has been brought to my notice that last Tuesday (23 July) and Wednesday (24 July) several Members of the Parliament have brought up the issue of the visit of the Special Rapporteur on the freedom of assembly and of association, […]

CID Director SSP Shani Abeysekera. Picture by Gayan Pushpika, DN. Senior Superintendent of Police Shani Abeysekera, Director of the Criminal Investigation Department told the Parliament Select Committee on the Easter bombings yesterday that extensive investigations into the activities of Zahran Hashim by the CID had led them to Lactowatte, where the haul of explosives found […]

Let us not dissemble about the fact that the killing of five students of Tamil ethnicity in January 2006 was a cold blooded murder of innocents. The dead victims had been awaiting university entrance when they were mowed down. Bright, eager students, these were the best that Sri Lanka promised. No connection to ‘terrorist activities’ […]

By Skandha Gunasekara. Investigations have uncovered links between controversial military intelligence officer Major Prabhath Bulathwatte and a spate of attacks on journalists prior to 2015, sources at the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) told The Sunday Morning. CID sources said that all new information uncovered through investigations has now been submitted to courts. CID sources added […]

The twists and turns in the ‘Dr Shafi Saga’ are never-ending and every new and sinister development points to a racially-charged political conspiracy. In the beginning, there was a Deputy Inspector General (DIG) of Police. Then the Director of the Teaching Hospital. Last week, two complaints were filed with the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) against […]

  In April this year, Ahimsa Wickrematunge filed a lawsuit against former Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa in the District Court of Central California, alleging his involvement in her father Lasantha Wickrematunge’s 2009 assassination. In response, on 27 June, a petition was filed on behalf of Rajapaksa before the District Court, requesting a dismissal of Ahimsa […]

There is a tragic disconnect between what Sri Lanka’s leaders say to the public and the patent disbelief with which these words are received. This will eventually have dangerous repercussions beyond the electoral defeat of those men, impacting on the nation as a whole as it is pushed in a perilous direction with raw bitterness […]

Image: Anti-Muslim riots at Digana, March 2018 file photo/SO. The recent Easter attacks targeting a number of churches and hotels devastated Sri Lanka. Over 250 people were killed, and many more injured. Within days of the attack, it emerged that the perpetrators of the attack were affiliated to radical Islamist groups in Sri Lanka. However, the […]